D I Y L I F E //
Creatively Tackling the
Kristen Kator looked at her big screen TV and asked, what else could it be? Photos by Kristen Kator.
K
risten Kator ’04 designs for the future. A big part of her job as a lead designer with Samsung Research America is to look at things as they are now and ask what else they might become. Like flat-screen TVs mounted on walls. Since these sleek devices are already hanging among prized family pictures and framed art, why not turn the TV into a work of art itself? Kator’s team turned an idea into reality with the creation of Samsung’s The Frame TV. Basically, a television when it is on, but a platform for displaying world renowned artwork when it is off. 66
UTAHSTATE I FALL 2020
Picture perfect ideas just keep bubbling up from this Soda Springs, Idaho native. She can’t help herself. She was that kid who loved to color and do artistic things. Luckily, she never grew out of it. She found a good fit at Utah State University that allowed her to build upon her interest in computer programming and computer graphics. When she graduated in 2004, computer graphics was a relatively new field. It intrigued her to work in a medium in which design and function were so tightly interwoven. In addition to Samsung, she
has worked for five other technology and communication giants including British Sky Broadcasting and Sony Corporation of America. When it comes to technology, Kator is like a horse whisperer for humans. She adopts a sympathetic view of the motives, needs, and desires of those who interact with high-tech to improve the way they experience it. It is her passion, she says. It also happens to be her main creative source—a passion for not only making things, but also making them meaningful. Here are six other creative forces that lift her imagination.
