In the Jungle: Karina Jambrak
Home Beautiful, January 2020
ILLUSTRATOR KARINA JAMBRAK TOOK MATTERS AND MARKERS INTO HER OWN HANDS TO CHASE HER CREATIVE DREAMS
​
At the beginning of 2019, illustrator Karina Jambrak made a New Year’s resolution to pursue her love of drawing. “I thought I’d just take it and run with it, really give it a good crack,” says the Sydney- based creative, whose cheerful disposition is reflected in her colourful, hand-drawn designs. While New Year’s resolutions are often quickly forgotten, Karina made the leap from working a conventional day job to illustrating full-time. “I was just ridden with anxiety,” the artist admits of the plan to launch her own business. Judging by her growing Instagram following and recent partnership with online store The Jungalow, she had no need to worry.
​
Karina has always been wired for creativity, entering colouring-in competitions as a child and completing a design degree as an adult. While studying at UNSW, she sold her rst original canvas at Sydney’s popular Bondi Beach markets before graduating and launching her career, which included roles at fashion brands such as bohemian clothing label Tigerlily. But after a series of unfortunate events in 2018, Karina decided to pave her own path. “My husband Shaun was diagnosed with a heart problem, so he had to have surgery, and then while I was on maternity leave I was made redundant,” she says. “When that happened, we discussed what we wanted out of life. I just wanted to draw because that’s the only thing that makes me content.” So she took on a part-time job and invested more time in “her happy place”.
​
Fast-forward just over 12 months, Karina couldn’t be more fulfilled. Each day, she lives and breathes her dream job without having to step outside the family home she shares with Shaun and their two children, Ivy, five, and Beau, two. Flooded with natural light, the studio is a heavenly retreat – and even when Ivy and Beau’s toys are playfully scattered across the floor of another room, her workspace remains pristine. “I like to create a little haven where I feel like I can get in the zone,” Karina says. “I can’t work in my pyjamas.” Her vibrant art prints are pleasing on the eye and soothing for the soul. “It’s the patterns in nature that I love,” explains Karina. “I feel like everything around us has evolved from nature and I love looking at the intricate details.”
​
She’s also eager to return to her roots in painting after a breathtaking visit to The Daintree in tropical north Queensland earlier this year that awakened a desire to tackle more of the Australian landscape in her art. With her creative sights set on the Northern Territory and Western Australia, it all comes down to one thing: “I just want to bring happiness to people’s homes; a sense of calm and bright colours.”
