Almost two years ago, before Katie, Mario and Tate of Curated Catholic ever even considered going into business together, they first bonded over how hard it is to find Catholic art that fit their taste. As Katie explained to me: “We’re very particular about what we’re willing to commit wall space to”. Looking up at the smattering of handmade doodles and scribbles covering my own studio walls, I smiled. It’s so important to have people like Katie and Mario and Tate; people who hold the world to a standard of beauty in all things.
And through that shared love of beauty in the domestic, a friendship and a business plan formed. They agreed that together, they would bring minimalist beauty into Catholic homes. Of course, right as they began to put their plan into action the pandemic began. And so, their families began to meet, at first over FaceTime, to discuss the daily gospels. Their kids joined in too, and almost every day, the two families would chat about their days, reflect on the word of God, and pray together.
However, like many parents at the beginning of the pandemic, their families also each ran into the obstacle of providing their children with the materials they needed in order to adapt to online learning and become fully immersed in these FaceTime Bible studies. Both families quickly surmised that in order to find and share the daily gospels, they had to go to the USCCB website and print it out each day. But admittedly, keeping printed copies of the gospel in sight and in good shape with a house full of kids can be a tall order!
And that’s how the idea for their liturgical prints was born!
The friends tested out the idea with a set of four prints on the cardinal virtues in order to see how their kids interacted with the prints.
The children absolutely loved learning from the prints and their parents loved that it was a minimalist design that complimented the aesthetics of their home.
And so their company, Curated Catholic, was born through both necessity and community. Tate was put in charge of the design and Katie, the logistics. Together, they put together a subscription model of liturgical prints, some of which you’ll be able to sample in this quarter’s box!
These two families came together at first to serve God and their children but in the end, have gone on to create something larger than the sum of its parts: something that serves their entire community and church as well, in a shared pursuit of beauty that radiates from the heart of the home and back out into the world.