In this enlightening and aspirational conversation with Dr. Karen Nyberg, we learn how she combines her experience in space with her passion for textile art and design—especially as it relates to conservation and sustainability. 

Karen’s mom taught her to sew at the age of six, and she made her first shirt complete with interfacing before she was 10.  When she wasn’t making her own clothes, Karen was drawing with pencil and charcoal. Eventually, she started mixing her art with fabric. When she got into college, she stopped sewing clothes and started using her artistic talent to make gifts for people, including blankets, quilts, and pillows.  

By college, Karen knew she wanted to be an astronaut, and she knew engineering was the best route to get her there. Why she decided to choose mechanical engineering as her discipline is fascinating. One of the reasons is because of the drawing. The whole design process appealed to her, and she believes that the things she learned as a young girl would prove to be beneficial to her in mechanical engineering: learning to use a pattern, following directions, understanding how tolerance is built up in sewing, and learning patience. Like sewing, mechanical engineering is the coming together of the left brain and right brain. (4:46- 6:46) 

After her first trip to space in the space shuttle Discovery in 2008, she launched on the Soyuz Spacecraft in 2013 and lived on the International Space Station for 166 days. Only a small allotment of personal stuff was allowed: she brought a little fabric, needles, a magnetic needle case, and some thread.  Although she really didn’t have a plan for them at the time, when the International Quilt Festival put a call out around the world for people to submit star-theme quilt blocks, she created a 9-inch quilt block. It was one of 2400 quilt blocks submitted from around the world that were sewn into king-size quilts and showcased at the Festival.  They are currently being housed at the Briscoe Center for American History at the University of Texas at Austin. (7:05 -8:27). 

While she was on the International Space Station, Karen made things out of upcycled things that were already on the space station. Her first creation was a dinosaur for her son, made from fabric that lined the food containers, and an old t-shirt she cut into strips and used as filler.  This dinosaur later became the inspiration for the fabric she designed for SVAHA USA, a STEAM (Science Technology Engineering Art & Math) inspired clothing company. 

Being on the Space Station sparked a new level of creativity for Karen. She says, “Seeing the earth from space forever changed how I look at the earth and think about how we live on the planet.” She talks about seeing the earth from that unique vantage point, and how you see that there are no borders on the countries, everything is interconnected, and how it’s evident even in the cloud patterns. She uses the analogy that Earth is our spaceship, we are all crewmates, and our primary focus is to maintain the health of the spaceship because that’s how we survive. She describes seeing Earth from space as the most beautiful thing she’s ever seen. She shares how her creative process evolved while there, and why she is committed to sharing her experience with others through her art, which is based on photos she took while in space.  (11:56-14:43)

Karen talks about the creative process of working with the designers at Robert Kauffmann Fabrics to create a signature line of fabric; with Aurafil Threads to design “Earth Views,” a line of curated threads that will be released this summer; with Svaha USA on her “Dinos in Space” collection. Karen has also started a new online store for her artwork, which can be accessed via her website, karennyberg.com (15:30-21:05)

Karen’s perspective on sewing is fascinating, and her description of how sewing is different in space can be seen on YouTube and heard in this spellbinding interview, that’s rich in discovery.

You can connect with Karen at:  karennyberg.com, and on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.

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