Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Ulrike Kranz De Gonzalez. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Ulrike , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.
By trade I am a custom tailor, undergoing three years of extensive training in Germany, after the training I was looking to enter design school and start a career in the garment industry, but cupid interfered and I immigrated to the United States, over 30 years ago. Here lady fortune had a different idea about my career path.
After years of honing my English skills and working in retail and services industries I entered the corporate world of medical billing and office management. Eventually leading me down the path of Human Resource and Operations management, in medical and non-profit industries. All the while earning a BA in Political Science and a Juris Masters focusing on Risk Management and Compliance, helping me along the way.
However, I never abandoned my love for color and design, using it in the meantime to create a welcoming and comfortable home for my family. Experiencing the loss of my father and taking care of my sick mother until her death, while also maneauvering an HR Dept. through the pandemic something changed internally. Prompting my husband and I to leave the Lowcountry of SC and moving to the Upstate of South Carolina, seeking a quieter life.
Living quieter my creativity was reignited, having found equilibrium and calm, I decided to venture full speed and headfirst back into a colorful and creative world. I was intrigued about fluid art and jewelry making, I learned what I could from watching YouTube and doomsday scrolling, eventually opening Ulrike Art Studio.
Now my husband participates actively, not only supporting my ideas but also hands-on with his woodworking skills, as a sounding board and collaborator. Leading us further down the path of separating the woodworking side from the Wallart and Jewelry business of Ulrike Art Studio and adding Ajolito Woodworks und the Art Studio umbrella.
In short, the idea is born out of a never-ending love of color and design, recovery after burnout and early retirement.
I now create abstract wall art and jewelry, utilizing fluid art techniques. Especially the Feather Series is a direct homage to grief and overcoming, the Looping Series is a take on mental health’s “looping” condition.
When creating the jewelry each piece of jewelry is hand painted using the same techniques and paints, as for fluid art works. This creates unique pieces that cannot be replicated, essentially little pieces of fine art, that can be worn to any occasion.
Whereas my husband creates woodworking pieces, mostly seasonal items for home decor and outdoor living.
Ulrike , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
By trade I am a custom tailor, undergoing three years of extensive training in Germany, after the training I was looking to enter design school and start a career in the garment industry, but cupid interfered and I immigrated to the United States, over 30 years ago. Here lady fortune had a different idea about my career path.
After years of honing my English skills and working in retail and services industries I entered the corporate world of medical billing and office management. Eventually leading me down the path of Human Resource and Operations management, in medical and non-profit industries. All the while earning a BA in Political Science and a Juris Masters focusing on Risk Management and Compliance, helping me along the way.
However, I never abandoned my love for color and design, using it in the meantime to create a welcoming and comfortable home for my family. Experiencing the loss of my father and taking care of my sick mother until her death, while also maneauvering an HR Dept. through the pandemic something changed internally. Prompting my husband and I to leave the Lowcountry of SC and moving to the Upstate of South Carolina, seeking a quieter life.
Living quieter my creativity was reignited, having found equilibrium and calm, I decided to venture full speed and headfirst back into a colorful and creative world. I was intrigued about fluid art and jewelry making, I learned what I could from watching YouTube and doomsday scrolling, eventually opening Ulrike Art Studio.
Now my husband participates actively, not only supporting my ideas but also hands-on with his woodworking skills, as a sounding board and collaborator. Leading us further down the path of separating the woodworking side from the Wallart and Jewelry business of Ulrike Art Studio and adding Ajolito Woodworks under the Art Studio umbrella.
I now create abstract wall art and jewelry, utilizing fluid art techniques. Especially the Feather Series is a direct homage to grief and overcoming, the Looping Series is a take on mental health’s “looping” condition.
When creating the jewelry each piece of jewelry is hand painted using the same techniques and paints, as for fluid art works. This creates unique pieces that cannot be replicated, essentially little pieces of fine art, that can be worn to any occasion.
Whereas my husband creates woodworking pieces, mostly seasonal items for home decor and outdoor living.
I am incredibly proud of what we have created in a few short months. We started in 2025 and entered the market circuit with the intention to spread the word about our name. We have found many customers and honed practices, jewelry is already being displayed in the Mary Praytor Gallery in Greenville, SC and market organizers re-invite us to events across the State. We further were able to expand out online presence and include build plans for our wood products, downloadable plans so they can be build anywhere, expanding our reach to across the nation and beyond, by incorporating Spanish and German translations into our social media postings.
In the meantime in the creative world continuous learning is a must, I learn daily. Not only are days spend now working on all aspects of a business, including social media marketing, its important to expand skills the creative realm as well. Learning new techniques, expanding the repertoire is of utter importance in creating a well rounded offering to our clients.
Excerpts from two core series being produced in the Art Studio:
Inspirational Feather Series – ongoing
When moving to a quieter setting I started to become more and more interested in birds. I recalled all that we associate with birds and their feathers. You probably have heard that a Cardinal represents a visit from a loved one that has passed on. When a friend of mine, an avid birder, introduced me to the wonderfully colorful and vibrant world of birds my interest was peaked. We added some birdfeeders with cameras and started watching our feathered friends closely.
This was the prelude to the Inspirational Feather series. I wanted to create something vibrant in color and yet comforting in meaning. Feathers represent so much to so many cultures. A beacon of freedom, messages from another realm, trensendence and the ability to move beyond barriers we often trap ourselves in. Think about what a feather that is found means to you. What were you thinking about or doing in that moment?
With this in mind the Inspirational Feather Series was created. Aspiring to bring inspiration, reflection and good energy to the observers life.
Looping Series – ongoing
The premise behind Looping is getting stuck in repetitive thought patterns, actions, behavior(s), and emotions. Looping isn’t linear, it has ups and downs, twists and turns and is unique to those who experience it.
This series is trying to explore and depict looping, using colors and form to give expression to its intricacies.
Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?
Other than having some social media accounts for “doomsday’ scrolling I was not familiar with creating a brand on social media. However, I was fortunate enough to have closely worked with the marketing department at my last corporate position. Being the ever so inelegant eavesdropper I overheard a lot of conversations at that department. (perhaps a clumsy attempt at humor)
All jokes aside, this department helped inform a novice marketing mindset. I learned about branding in that position and that at least formed a foundation and instilled the knowledge into me that there is a lot to learn.
I started making videos using iMovie, today I must say what a clumsy set of trials and tribulations. Obviously, from having been on social media as a consumer I knew videos are a must, and then I heard this line in a reel, “it is you, yes you, you are afraid to be seen…”, mind blown. In short, don’t be scared to be in front of the camera and don’t be afraid to be authentic. This is the most important thing for anybody to overcome, stop wanting to be unseen, small and invisible, this is over. Get out there, also being a creative also means having to have a business mindset, feeling your art is great, but it won’t make you a dime if you are not seen.
So, when the Art Studio was formed I reached out the social media manager at my old company. We discussed using some different tools for reel creation, metrics, scheduling, authenticity.
What changed my follower county however the most was adding the woodworking items to my line up. I am not saying for people to add woodworking items but rather it just take one super good and widely distributed something and people will start following. For this to happen it’s a combination of many things that I listed below. But, once you get some views and likes it is starting to multiply.
Not all platforms are equally conducive, they all have their quirks and market penetration. Ultimately it’s about getting the name out there, kind of like “you build it and they will come” mentality. I don’t have a huge following but managed to increase my following by 1000% since October/November 2025 on Facebook alone (3400 followers), and TikTok 330% (335 followers), IG is slow and gained only 50 followers,
How I revamped my/our online presence:
Edits, is a simple editing app that allows for videos and photos to be turned into reels, that can be downloaded into pretty much all social media platforms.
TikTok creator insights, at minimum it helps you find good hashtags for your reels
Captions: be descriptive, the algorithm pics up on words in your descriptions too, google good captions…attention getters, don’t be beyond this
Video: use a good microphone or do a voice over with a good microphone, allow accessibility for the hearing impaired, allow transcription/on screen text, not all videos have to include presence but sometimes throw in a video of yourself doing something, make an announcement anything really.
Scheduling: try to post about three times a week
Invitations: use the Facebook function to invite people to follow your page, every like go in and ask them to follow (Facebook) (make sure you have a creator/business page, do not do the private page and business/creator page mix up, it looks completely unprofessional)
Invitation video: make a special video for your friends and larger friendly audience, let them know what you have been up to and send it to them, tag each and everyone in the video and ask them to follow your creator/business page, add the link so its easy for them to click and follow.
Reuse videos: reuse old reels, give them new music, new text, alter something, add hashtags, if you don’t have any, four/five max,
Hashtags: don’t use artist etc. use words that a potential customer is using to find their ideal piece of art/jewelry etc.
Engagement: say thank you when someone leave a comment, however brief the comment it. give a thumbs up and a leave a message back to them. Engage, whenever you can. Even if it’s a non desirable comment, say thank you for your feedback, …,
Language: if you speak different language, translate your content and put it out there, it might not garner a lot of views but its out there, views grow over time
Content: do not delete content, let it percolate, Christmas will be back around, don’t pull holiday specific content or past market announcements, it’s about getting the name out there,
Algorithm: train your algorithm, meaning don’t do your personal scrolling on your creator/business account, only view stuff that is related to your products, wall art, jewelry, woodworking, sculptures, etc. do your political scrolling, meme posting etc on your personal account,
Stories: use this feature and post your content also to your stories
The above are things I learned in the past six months and they have helped, thus far.
This year’s focus is going deeper into metrics, approaching posting from a numbers perspective and spurring conitued growth.
What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?
Honestly, face to face encounters. Going to markets and getting the name, face and products out there, right in front of the client. Allow them to see, feel and engage with the products, and the faces of the Art Studio.
Talking to anybody who wants to listen and is open, really is what it is about for us right now. Even when strolling through the city and stopping at a shop, don’t be afraid to be seen, engage and talk about the business, in drives interest, helps grow social media and may land you a spot in somebody’s shop. Worked for us.
Also, social media helped a great deal, not for all but for some products, which then drives website engagement.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.ulrikeartstudio.com; www.ajolitowoodworks.com
- Instagram: @ulrikeartstudio
- Facebook: @ulrikeartstudio
- Other: TikTok; Pintrest: @ulrikeartstudio
