Life & Work with MacKenzie Westra & Katie Skinner

Today we’d like to introduce you to MacKenzie Westra & Katie Skinner. 

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
Mac and I would frequently meet up for coffee and thrifting dates and amidst all the sipping and shopping we would always talk about how cool it would be to open up a shop near where we both grew up. It first started out as touring some spaces for rent in Hastings and when we weren’t getting that magical “This Is It” feeling we started believing that our dreams may only be dreams. That is until one of our friends told us to check out this church in Middleville that has been up for rent. We literally stepped one foot inside that church and immediately knew this was the place. Every single image we both had in our heads matched up perfectly with the layout of this church. With the kind heart and graciousness of our new landlord, we began our shop in March of 2021. 

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle-free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
For the most part, everything has gone pretty smoothly! Thankfully! The only minor bumps in the road we had was the fact we opened a business during the pandemic so we had a lot of precautions and rules we had to make sure we were following correctly. That and all of the business legalities is just a lot to go through and is stressful because you want to make sure you are doing everything right! 

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
Katie is a self-taught photographer based out of Grand Rapids, MI with a passion for travel and meeting new faces from around the world. She loves the quiet moments of wedding days, clean and natural aesthetic, and letting her imagination wander when putting together a creative shoot. Katie specializes in portraiture and weddings which she is most known for. She is most proud of taking on a huge project that took place in Bali, Indonesia where she traveled around with a group of women and created branding content for a yoga retreat company. Not only did she get to create and capture a lot of memories but this became one of the most profound experiences of her life. Katie tries to let every shoot come together organically, this is so important to her because it turns a photo from just a posed picture to an actual moment, rich with emotion. She aims to curate timeless photographs with the intention of bringing the stills to life. 

MacKenzie is a ceramic and fiber artist who grew up in Middleville Mi. She drew close to the arts and crafts at a very young age that stemmed this need and want for something deeper in the realm of art. She pursued a degree in the Arts and graduated from Kendall College of Art and Design with a Sculpture and Functional art degree back in 2017. In her studies, she dabbled in many things ceramics: functional wares, sculptures, installation work, and wood-firing kilns with the KCC at Oxbow School of Arts. She also had a great passion for fiber work and the ideologies and studies with the Arts and Crafts Movement. MacKenzie’s portfolio work was guided by ceramics and fibers’ tactile natures and its labor-intensive qualities. MacKenzie was an instructor at Kendall College of Art and Design from 2017-2019 for ceramics and wheel throwing before the pandemic hit. Amongst being an instructor, she owns her own Ceramic and Fiber business called Smallholding Craft. Where she created woven wall hangings and beautiful ceramic wares with kisses of gold luster. MacKenzie’s work is all hand done by herself & fired in her home studio. You can find MacKenzie’s work inside of Kindred Shop & Studio and it adds the perfect texture and sparkle to the shop floor. 

What does success mean to you?
Success is having dreams and fulfilling them to where you are the most happy. Success is happiness. 

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/kindred.shopandstudio
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/kindred.co

Image Credits
Katie Skinner Photo