Kat Kuziel
Interior Designer
Kat is a Chicago based interior designer. She is passionate about fusing vintage into modern and utilizing independent artists and artisans to create spaces that show beauty and individuality. Kat also is a feng shui practitioner and vintage dealer. She runs an Etsy shop called Urban Lark Vintage. Find Kat at UrbanLark.co
Connect with Kat...
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_urbanlark/
Website: https://www.urbanlark.co/
Full Transcript - Episode 17
Chantelle:
So Kat, I can't wait to hear what 6/2 feels like for you, where it resonates and all about that.
Kat: Thank you, Chantelle. I would say that the 6/2 resonates mostly on, believe it or not, more the subconscious side, which is the 2 line, and that's known as the naturalist. I have kind of felt that like my whole life that things just, not that they come easy to me, but when something is a passion or a talent, it just naturally flows through me as opposed to something that has to be schooled.
Chantelle: I can attest in just talking with you, that the bits of knowledge and experience are constantly flowing through you, because I feel like every time we talk, you say something that I think, to you, feels almost like, that's common knowledge. But to me, I'm like, Oh, I didn't know that about that thing.
Like before we got on, [00:02:00] you just randomly said Oh, well, springtime's the best time for thrifting. And I'm like, wait, what? I want to know that information. I didn't know that before. And I am an avid thrifter. So I can say just from being around you and knowing you that, that two line expression is real from the outside. It looks very natural and feels very natural.
Kat: And it's kind of funny because I have friends that sometimes point that out. Like when I go to their homes, I'll just sort of move around in their space and start moving furniture.
I may tweak a chair here there, put something on a different angle or I might like take vases or glassware or something and just start moving it around. And my friends always say, Oh, that looks like so much better. How did you do that? They always say, how did you do that?
Yeah. I don't know. It just feels better. It feels like it belongs there. It sort of flows through [00:03:00] me and it always has. Even when, you know, I think about space planning in my business with interior design, it just sort of comes through more than me
having to plan things out and organize. And of course we always do, you know, in my business, but I can visually look at something and feel how something will look within the space. So, yeah. So I, I always feel like the two has definitely emerged more. And as I've gotten into human design, it has emerged more as an aha moment.
Like, oh, I get it. I see it. I see what my friends say. It's a lot more overt than the conscious, which I think is so ironic that the sixth placed in the conscious side, because I see less of that. Even though I've seen it emerge, it's been a little more subtle for me.
Chantelle: [00:04:00] Well, practicing intuition has been something that you've been doing for a long time. It was obviously a natural gift, like that two line natural ability, but then also you've really strengthened that over time by listening to that and following that guidance.
Kat: Definitely. And another part of the two line that I really am drawn to is my need for alone time.
I am a hermit. I love being a hermit and I'm not somebody who necessarily can come up with an answer instantaneously. Mm-Hmm. Something like maybe Manifesting Generators do it really well. But I am somebody that really needs time to go back to my little cave or go back to my home and reflect and say, okay, I'll get back to you.
And that's basically with everything, you know, with answers and just having sort of like time to myself to reflect on my own decisions as well as how I want [00:05:00] to present myself in the world. And I need that alone time just to energize too. And that may be, I'm a Projector, so that might be playing into it, but that, time to really like delve deep into myself is a very, very necessary part of me.
Chantelle: What's interesting about your profile is that the Projector energy has that need for rest, which aligns with your two line. And then the Projector energy also has that guide energy, which aligns with your six line. And there's like a lot of cohesion really between your type and your particular profile, which is an interesting observation, right?
Kat: Yeah. And even my channel the 40 I think it's the 40 37 that is more about like the aloneness, the gate of aloneness and the need to be withdrawn and the need [00:06:00] to kind of set yourself back and really think about energizing yourself so you can serve the community.
So yeah, I feel that as well. It's all kind of intertwined.
Chantelle: It is. And I wonder too, like the drive to create spaces that are restorative- that lines up really well with the niche that you've chosen, right? I don't know if all hermits need to have their particular spaces, but it feels true that space would be very important in that resting and hermit mode.
Kat: I think that could be very true. That's a good point. And I think just being somebody that my whole life has been more withdrawn, not that I'm shy. I just enjoy being by myself and I think feeling that need to have a beautiful surrounding in order to be alone and to be restorative.
Like you said, [00:07:00] I think that's definitely played into it. That's actually a really great point.
Chantelle: Remind me what your environment is in human design. I forget.
Kat: I'm actually wet kitchens.
Chantelle: Ah, right. We have that in common. I remember that now. Yes.
Kat: The alchemist, which is funny. I'm in my kitchen right now.
It may not look like it from what you see from behind me, but I am in my kitchen right now. For whatever reason, I have two offices. I just built an office outside in a coach house outside of my house and I have an office within my house. In the kitchen for whatever reason, I take everything out of my office and I put it into the kitchen and I work from here just because I'm home.
Close to my tea and my snacks and, you know, I line up all my pencils and pens and my drawing and I put everything here and it just feels good when I'm in my kitchen. I draw concepts out. So if I've got an [00:08:00] idea, I have a sketch pad that I keep by me and I just draw things out.
For example, like I've got a painter coming tomorrow to my coach house that I've just built and in lieu of wallpaper we're doing some little printed kinds of things on the walls. And so I just drew out my concept so she can follow it.
Chantelle: Very neat. So back to that six line aspect. How do you feel like guidance has been a theme in your career, in life? Obviously, you're guiding people to create spaces that feel beautiful to them and that feel individual.
But how else do you feel like that leadership theme comes through in guidance?
Kat: What I have noticed the most is that the people that are drawn- my clients as well as just throughout my life, the people [00:09:00] that are drawn to me for guidance have always been the millennial generation and not my own generation.
I have like my really great friends in my generation that it's more of like a support system, but for whatever reason. I've got two kids who are millennials and their friends come to me for advice and just want to seek out like, Oh, I'm thinking of this and, you know, just wanted to get your thoughts on whatever it is, whether it be a life question or there's one friend of my daughter's who will email me, Oh, you know, I want to change some things in my apartment.
What do you think? And then he'll send me little snapshots of different things in his apartment.
And so I've always noticed that it's not really like the people of my generation as much as people of younger [00:10:00] generations, even my clients that seek me out. I seem to draw in a younger population for whatever reason that is.
Chantelle: Right. Well, it makes sense with the role model energy that makes sense that we're looking for wisdom one generation up, right?
That wisdom that you have gained is attractive to us, especially us directionless millennials. It's, I think there's a certainty to that six line energy that is just very attractive.
We look up to our role models, even in that language, right? We look up
Kat: to our role models.
Yeah. That's very true.
I really love surrounding myself with younger people anyways, and finding their ideas fascinating and bouncing things off of them and yeah, it energizes me as well. Yeah.
Chantelle: I'm curious because I know thrifting is a big part of what you [00:11:00] do and curating vintage pieces. Do you feel an energy off of pieces that You then respond to?
Kat: I think from that 2 perspective, if I'm thrifting, I, well, I love art.
I've always been fascinated with art and for whatever reason I can scan a thrift store very easily and just find a piece of art that I think is like really great art and would belong in a certain spot or be a perfect piece for a client. I'm really drawn to that. I think my energy just scans things just naturally and identify something very quickly.
It doesn't take me long to be in a thrift store to know exactly what it is that I would gravitate towards. Right. So, you know, I can do that pretty, like, efficiently and get to a [00:12:00] lot of thrift stores in a day because of that.
Chantelle: That's saying something because thrift stores are notoriously cluttered and sort of confusing to navigate.
Kat: Well, I try and go with the mission and put some questions in my head beforehand, like, okay, I'm here for the art or I'm here for, you know, a specific reason, for a piece of furniture, whether it be that or just home decor. But I also think that my gate 19 is a huge role in my life because it's come up at least, I think I have it like three or four times on my conscious side.
And the 19 is all about sensitivity and being super sensitive to your environment. I would definitely say sensitivity is a ruling theme in my life. So, I get very sensitive to [00:13:00] environments and to what I feel and touch and smell and just that whole, you know, even though they call it the gate of wanting, which, you know, I think it is.
It's about wanting to find the right things for yourself and for community in order to survive. But I just feel that need, that pressure that comes from the root to, find those things that feel right. So I think that plays into the thrifting pieces as well. Yeah.
Chantelle: And I was even going to say like sensitivity and then just like from sensitivity to sensory, because there's so much, there's so much of sensory feedback that comes into play when curating a space and I know that's an important part of your design process, too. To just think about textures and sensations. That's a really important part of what you do, and so it checks out that that gate is really present. It's [00:14:00] calling to you in a sensory way, right?
It's appealing to your senses which is a really cool gift to turn into a business the way that you've done.
Kat: Yes, definitely. Thank you. These gates all interact so well with each other because I also have that, I believe it's 64 in the head to the Ajna where it's more of like the visual. So when I feel those senses and feel something I immediately have like - it's like a movie camera.
Like I flash lots of different visuals in my head of places that things would belong in.
Chantelle: Yeah. And then you have to come away for a bit to integrate those things. How do you work that time into your process? Like when you're going from a client space to then thrifting, then back to the client space. How does that all work?
Kat: When I have a visual in my head I can put something down, but I think [00:15:00] my mind is always active and super busy. the visual never seems to stop. It's constantly, it's a channel actually from my crown and my Ajna and it's just constantly playing in my head.
So that need to retreat- even if it's going into my car and just taking a deep breath or whether it's going to get a cup of coffee I just need that time away to kind of like, process.
Chantelle: Well, that makes sense, too, because you're having so much sensory input all the time, and also sensory output, right?
There's so much of that going on. It makes sense that a little bit of a processing time every once in a while, especially as a Projector, would be needed.
Kat: Yeah. And there's definitely times when I think in my head, if I've been with a client for like two hours like, oh, I can't wait to get in my car.
I can't wait to go to a coffee shop. I just need. time to be alone and breathe this out and think about what next steps [00:16:00] are.
Chantelle: And probably depending on the energy of the person that you're with as well. I know in our work together, I think my sacral can sometimes wear you out.
And you need a little bit of a break from that, I think, because just different energy types and how we all interact together.
Kat: Definitely, definitely. But I also so appreciate Manifesting Generators. I'm forever in awe of their ability to multitask. I'm always like, how did you do that?
How can you think about four different things at once? Cause I'm just like, it's almost like one vision forward and sometimes hard for me to, you know, kind of like separate and compartmentalize into all these different, modalities and things that I have to do., It's like, okay, I can think of one thing at a time.
I'm very enamored with that. And it's funny because energetically all of my [00:17:00] closest friends are Manifesting Generators. Hmm. None of 'em are Generators even. They're just Manifesting Generators, so. Mm-Hmm . There must be something I to that.
Chantelle: There is a connection between MGs and Projectors for sure.
A lot of my clients are either MGs or Projectors. I know very few Generators and I know very few Manifestors and only two reflectors.
Kat: Yeah, it's interesting.
Chantelle: Yeah. I know that you have gone deeper than some on aspects of your chart in Human Design. Is there anything else from your chart that you find particularly significant or resonant?
Kat: Hmm. I would definitely say, even though I have an open spleen, I would definitely say the gates that come from my spleen, I feel that energy a lot. Particularly like gate 28, which is in my Sun, which is sort of that excitement to do things new, to take risks, to have adventure.
[00:18:00] I think that's kind of played out in my entrepreneurial spirit that it's worth taking the risk. You only live once, so let's just go for it and go for it all the way. Right. So I have a lot of gusto with that gate. 28.
Chantelle: Is that a hanging gate or do you have the 38?
Kat: I don't have the 38. It's just a hanging gate. It's interesting, being open.
Chantelle: We're in one of the transits of 38 right now, as we're recording. I think we're at 38. 6 currently. I'm trying to get into transits this year. I know very little about it so far, but so currently you have that full channel.
Kat: Well, when my daughter and I come together, she has that 38. I have 28 and she has 38. Yeah. Which, sometimes it's kind of funny, it can be like, you
Chantelle: know. Isn't that the Gate of, I think that's the Channel of Struggle, 2838, I think I have that one. Yes.
Kat: Yes. We do have a joke , whenever we are together and we're like struggling, [00:19:00] we look at each other and we go, it's the Gate of Struggle, we've come alive, it's the Gate of Struggle.
Chantelle: You, I think, are one of the people who I know who's integrated Human Design the most into understanding your relationships. You just offhand know, okay, this person's got that gate or this person has that type, which a lot of people are at the stage with human design where they know their own chart, but they don't really know the charts of people around them or how those other energies work.
What has it been like for you to go beyond learning about your own chart and then also see how that factors into other relationships?
Kat: I think it's really helped me be way more aware, way more sensitive to others and help me understand myself and how I make decisions. When I need to pull back, when I need to, you know, take charge and go [00:20:00] forward.
But also like as a parent, it's really helped me in my relationships with my two kids, because through this, I've also been able to inform them of their charts and the way we interact with each other. We interact through Human Design. My son is a Manifestor.
He's got all of that energy. And sometimes the one thing I've learned, and it's funny because I have like, my nephew is a manifestor, my son's a manifestor, and I have a brother who's a manifestor.
And all three of them, you put them in a room, and they all want to be in charge. They're all like, huge big energy.
More than MGs or Generators. Giant energies. But the one thing I've learned about my son and I wish I had known, when raising him was how much authority he [00:21:00] really needs in order to be successful.
And then my daughter is a mental Projector, which means she doesn't have any defined centers except for one definition- of a center in her head.
She's very close to being a Reflector. And so she is highly, highly sensitive. Because she takes in a lot of energy from the environment and from others. And on her level, she loves to talk everything out. My awareness of this when she calls me, I understand she's calling me not for me to be the fix it mom, but to just listen to her and be a sounding board.
And then she comes up with her own, solutions, but right. It's been really powerful. It's really deepened my relationship with both of them, in allowing them [00:22:00] to understand themselves more, but also in the way we interact. It's a lot healthier.
Chantelle: Yeah, I found the same, that the more I can understand the charts of those around me, the better I can show up to those relationships with a greater understanding and awareness.
One of my stepkids has an open spleen. And I see the tendency towards fear show up a lot. Not that I would tend to discounting that fear otherwise, but I think it does give me a greater awareness that, that experience is really deep, and so responding in kind to that, is easier because I have that knowledge of the chart.
It's almost like having a manual for yourself and for the people around you which feels like just a great life hack. Thank you.
Kat: It is such a great life hack.
Chantelle: Well, it has been great to talk to you. I want to shift into our ritual now of drawing a card, which I'm very excited about. I've got the 6/2 deck [00:23:00] here from Christina from Glow Glow Juice HD, and you and I will take a deep breath in together,
and a deep breath out.
The card that I've pulled today reads: It is safe to do things my way, on my own time. I know my time to shine will come. How can I boldly claim my own space today?
Kat: I think just being,
Chantelle: Just being in that kitchen space that you're in, even though the two offices beckon.
Kat: Exactly.
Chantelle: Kat, where can people connect with you?
Kat: Well, I'm on Instagram, I'm @the_urbanlark and on my website, urbanlark. co.
