Kata
“I am more open now — I figured out how it works. I’m still me, I’m still European, but I figured out how to be happy here. I’m much more independent than I was at the time. I’ve made friends, I go out with people — I drive! I was too afraid to come here, and it was a difficult decision to come here. I was a little close-minded. It’s not America that made me unhappy, it was me. Yet I feel I’ve changed.”
Kata Witorsch is an Empowered Women International member and a graduate of the Training for Success Program. Little did this former piano teacher know that she would make it as an artist in the DC metro area.
Kata is from Hungary, and in her home country she went to the University in Pécs to pursue a degree in music. For two years she taught piano and worked as a conductor, while she dabbled in jewelry-making as a hobby. She would peruse Hungarian shops, looking for different beads to make creations with. “It was only for fun,” she says of her creative pursuit at the time. “I just discovered beads and stones. I just started it.” Kata is a self-taught artist who never took a jewelry-making class. “I just didn’t have the patience. I believe that if you use your imagination you can do it without going to a class.”
While studying in Hungary, Kata met her future husband, an American named Ben, who was studying in Vienna. Ben moved to Hungary a year later to work for a contract job, and he fell in love with it. Ben extended his stay to eight more years. When the job was transferred from Budapest to the United States in 2005, Kata and Ben moved along with it, where Kata had to learn to assimilate to a new world and a new culture.
Kata had visited the US in the past, but living there was shocking and a completely different experience for her. She didn’t have a strong grasp of English, didn’t know how to drive and get herself around, and she felt lonely. “It was strange, it was different,” Kata says about getting accustomed to the US. “The way people interact is different here. People are more distant here than in Hungary. It’s hard for a European to get used to this type of interaction. My language skills weren’t that good so I was kind of afraid to go to a shop and ask for something, even that was hard for me to do. So I was pretty limited, language-wise. I didn’t drive, I didn’t know how to drive on the highways or find places, so I was just locked into my room. That’s how I figured out that I should do something, something which is good for me.”
Ben hated seeing Kata struggle in her new home, so he tried his best to help her acclimate. “He is an accommodating person and he tried everything,” Kata recalls. “Even when we chose a place to live, it was five minutes from the office where he used to work. Every day he came home and had lunch with me – he tried to help me in so many different ways to make me feel more comfortable here. Sometimes it wasn’t successful because I still was alone.”
In his quest to help his wife overcome these obstacles, Ben stumbled upon an article about EWI in an Alexandria community paper. The article had information on contacting EWI’s founder, Marga Fripp, about a program that would help get female immigrants involved in the arts and give them an opportunity to develop their skills and flourish.
“EWI had a little gallery on King Street at the time. We tried to go in, but they weren’t there.” Since the couple couldn’t meet with someone at that time, it was decided that they should call EWI instead. Since Kata was still feeling unsure about her English communication skills, Ben made the call on her behalf.
“A meeting was set up with Marga, I met her, and that was the start,” Kata says. “I took the Training for Success Program two years ago, which was really helpful, not just the training itself, but meeting other people, other artisans who are in the same boat. It was really nice, not being alone anymore. I’m still in contact with them.” Kata says the program also helped in a financial sense, by giving her an online venue to sell her jewelry pieces.
Since getting involved with EWI, Kata’s confidence has improved and her support system has widened. “I have people I can contact now,” she says. “They’re real friends. We help each other out.” One of those friends is Evelyn Brooks, a fellow EWI member and jewelry artist. Though they work in the same field, instead of competing against one another, they help each other out, exchanging ideas, scoping out venues and shows and networking with others involved in the arts. “We’ve got a good group.”
Kata currently sells her jewelry every Saturday at National Harbor’s American Market in Maryland, and she found out about this venue through EWI. “It was a very good suggestion, and much of my income is coming from that,” she says. Kata also sells her pieces in a Del Ray gallery called A Show of Hands, a venue that features local artists’ works.
The materials Kata uses for her pieces are semi-precious stones, crystals, sterling silver wire, glass beads, and pearls. Kata doesn’t have a favorite stone, but she loves using “strange color combinations – colors that you would never think about.” She also loves the roughness of unpolished stones. “I love things that are more close to nature,” she says. “I love the shape, feel, the natural look of it.” She makes necklaces as part of a line she calls “Neck-Romance,” as well as earrings, rings, and bracelets.
Kata’s biggest inspiration for her pieces comes from the fashion industry. “Sometimes I see a very nice design in the magazines, and I try to [recreate] the same idea,” Kata says. “Back in Hungary my last job was as a marketing executive for a hair product company and we did a lot of fashion shows, so fashion was my thing.” Other sources of inspiration to her are the openness of the city, nature and the whims of her own imagination.
Kata recently connected with a DC-based photographer she met working at National Harbor Market, who will shoot photos of live models wearing her pieces. Those shots will be used on her website, Design by Kata Witorsch, in the future.
Kata’s Hungarian family wondered why she switched from music to jewelry. “First, when I started to make jewelry, my family was surprised because I already have an artistic background and they didn’t understand quite well why I changed from making music to making jewelry. But now everyone appreciates my designs and my art, and I think they are proud of me. My mom is not a jewelry person, but appreciates it and she thinks I should continue to do it. ‘She’ll be famous one day!’” Her in-laws are supportive in her artistic endeavors, and Kata considers them her biggest customers. “It shows they really like my stuff, because it’s not obligatory to buy from me,” she says. Though Kata’s husband Ben is a businessman, he is creative and helps Kata with ideas. He draws and has an eye for design. If Ben spots jewelry while out and about he takes photos to bring back to Kata. He even tried his hand at jewelry-making by creating a pair of cufflinks.
Kata has plans for the future, such as learning more about silver and making her own pendants. She’d also love to open her own shop. “Even if it’s just a small, cubic place somewhere, I’m dreaming about it, but I’d try to make it,” she says. Though Kata and her husband are relocating to Kyrgyzstan in a year in another job-related move, she would’ve loved to open the store in an area such as Old Town or Georgetown, or downtown DC.
Kata notices how she changed from the diffident Hungarian woman who spoke little English to the self-assured entrepreneur who is making a name for herself through her jewelry. “I am more open now – I figured out how it works,” she states. “I’m still me, I’m still European, but I figured out how to be happy here. I’m much more independent than I was at the time. I’ve made friends, I go out with people – I drive! I was too afraid to come here, and it was a difficult decision to come here. I was a little closed-minded. It’s not America that made me unhappy, it was me. Yet I feel I’ve changed.”
Kata also has no regrets about switching from music to jewelry design. “First when I started making jewelry it was a hobby, a part-time thing. But now jewelry is more than a part-time job. It makes me happy, much more happy than teaching.”
Dienna Howard
Dienna Howard graduated from Buffalo State College with a BA in theatre arts. She also has a history with writing, working on both her high school and college papers as an editor and a writer, as well as taking journalism courses in college. She is currently based in the DC metro area where she devotes her time volunteering for numerous organizations, such as The Studio Theatre and Greater DC Cares. Dienna’s interview with Kata Witorsch is her first volunteer experience with Empowered Women International. In her free time, Dienna takes tae kwon do, which she has recently received her black belt in.