Born in Philadelphia, PA, Kim began her interest in art and design at her father's side. At an early age she helped him while he designed and built scale models representing the architectural drawings he had created. She cut windows, painted and glued trees, soldered lights, and other fine details. She loved putting together all the tiny pieces.

Kim dabbled in various arts and crafts, until the eventful day when she saw an antique crazy quilt in the Fort Bridger museum in Wyoming. The intricate stitching and embellishment caught her eye and her fancy!

Kim spent close to a decade honing her skills with various techniques and developing her style before opening "shop" as Crazy By Design to market her work.

Kim shows her work at the Greenville Arms 1889 Inn in Greenville, New York, as well on this web site. The first showing of her work as Crazy By Design was at a Neiman Marcus InCircle Party in May of 1998.

Kim is also the director of the Hudson River Valley Art Workshops, a program of art workshops for painters and fiber artists hosted at the Greenville Arms 1889 Inn. The workshops are taught by world-class artist instructors.

Marguerite’s Stitchery is another of Kim’s creative endeavors. She designs whimsical cross stitch charts inspired by her daughter’s watercolor illustrations and her grandson’s love of trains and tractors.

Artist's Statement

Kim captures nuance and duality in her stitched, layered, and embellished fiber art. She creates her art using a combination of spontaneous inspiration and passionate design. Constantly looking for the elements of design in nature and everyday objects, Kim LaPolla enjoys the challenge of interpreting these elements in unexpected colors and patterns.

Subject matter ranges from abstracts, landscapes, dogs, rabbits, horses, nature, and more.

Kim assembles her art using a variety of construction and surface design techniques.