We caught up with the brilliant and insightful MacKenzie Westra a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

MacKenzie , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you share a story with us from back when you were an intern or apprentice? Maybe it’s a story that illustrates an important lesson you learned or maybe it’s a just a story that makes you laugh (or cry)? Looking back at internships and apprenticeships can be interesting, because there is so much variety in people’s experiences – and often those experiences inform our own leadership style.

When I went to college I was heavily influenced by clay & all of the ceramics programming at Kendall College of Art & Design. I dove right into the Clay program, working as “Work Study” in the ceramics studio, it opened up a lot of opportunities for me very quickly. A few months in we were going out to Saugatuck, MI to fire a wood kilns with a group of 25 or so people who also had this large passion for pottery. Whats so great about wood firing pottery is it takes a team, and once you pull out the pieces from the firing process. Each piece tells a story by the way it was fired, where it was in the kiln by flashing or ash deposits. I think why I am so drawn to clay is because it takes so many different forms. Raw, Leather Hard, Bone Dry, First Firing, glaze, Second Firing, and I also am a sucker for gold luster on my work as well so it will go through another process of glazing & firing again. I think because clay is malleable it reminds me that things can always be changed, arranged and formed to a certain extent. Then once its gone so far we have to move on to the next process to evolve.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

HI I’m Mac! The gal behind Kindred Shop & Studio – I am an artist, creative, collector, shop owner & new mom. I grew up in the town where Kindred is located – Middleville MI. I tried racing out of this small town as fast as I could after high-school. I went on to getting my BFA at Kendall College of Art and Design with a focus in Fiber Arts, Ceramics + Instillation. When I graduated back in 2017 owning a shop was always a lifelong dream of mine, but something that seemed so far away from reality. So I hustled and got my own work into shops around West Michigan to help support and grow my passion for my craft. Until early 2021 the opportunity arose to open up a Brick and Mortar location I so longed to get away from & decided to take the jump.

Kindred is a shop full of local artists, gift-able items and vintage goods. When opening up a store location I loved the idea of blending all of the things I am passionate about, creating a space for artists to sell their products that is well thought out & curated. Collectable vintage items that bring sparkle and uniqueness to any space while also offering new items that are perfect to gifting to that special friend. I really wanted a versatile space in many ways.

I am really proud of staying true to an esthetic that is very much me in a since.

How did you build your audience on social media?

When building my social media page I really stand by posting true content to YOU & YOUR BRAND. With Kindred, I like to post images of product, reels of how things are used, and content that is just so damn good to look at. It makes customers want to come and shop the store just by seeing our esthetically pleasing social media pages.

What else should we know about how you took your side hustle and scaled it up into what it is today?

I would say YES! My side hustle has slowly evolved into something larger, I created a career out of being an artist & shop owner. While I was in college I started showing my fine art work in local galleries then decided that I wanted my artwork to be used in peoples everyday routines. So my fine art work turned into consumer products & quickly started pushing my products into local shops and was surprised by the amount of great feedback I was getting. I loved being the producer of my own goods but felt I could totally curate my work within a space full of other amazing products. So when the opportunity arose to take the jump of opening my own shop I took it. The best part about it was I had so much experience of having my work in shops that I knew how I wanted our artists & makers to be treated. We chose a system that would notify the makers of when their items sold, monthly checks & keeping track of each product that comes in. Now supporting other local artists & small businesses in my shop has just came full circle for me.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://kindred-shop-studio.myshopify.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kindred.shopandstudio/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kindred.co/

Image Credits
Kindred Shop & Studio & Elle Design & Photography