About US!

Hi! We are Carolyn and Erik Schonsett.  We're a husband and wife team who started Whatever Inspires as a collaboration and creative outlet to make and share inspiring things.  

People often ask us how we met, and the story is a long complicated one.  We'll spare you, and stick to the shorthand version here.  We both grew up in the western suburbs of Chicago, only about a mile away from each other. We've been going to the same school since first grade, but we didn't know each other until high school  because we're a year apart in school. We shared interests in architecture and design, and we ended up going to the same community college near our homes. Eventually we both moved out to L.A. to attend the same architecture school. Now we are married and living in Long Beach CA, across from the wonderfully inspiring Pacific Ocean (you can actually see the ocean from our home studio). Who could ask for more?













I'm a thirty-something wife looking for inspiration wherever I can find it.  I'm working in architecture right now, and in my spare time I enjoy making my own jewelry, taking random photos, listening to country music and going to concerts with my friends.  Disneyland always makes me feel like a little kid again, so my hubby and I go as often as possible! 

~Carolyn




I'm a designer and photographer.  I was trained as an architect and currently work as a designer in an architecture office in Culver City, CA.  I'm excited to be a part of Whatever Inspires and hope to use the blog as a vehicle to explore ideas and interests related to the combination of architecture, design and photography.  My main focus is the communication and translation of spatial ideas across varying media types, and how these ideas can have a deep poetic connection to the human spirit. 

~Erik

Welcome to our little piece of inspiration on the web. We’re so glad that you stopped by and we hope that you find something that inspires you too.