Today we’d like to introduce you to Kristin Reyelt.
Hi Kristin, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
Hello! Perhaps I’ll start my story from the beginning as a child – as I feel when most artists subconsciously stem their creative identities from. I grew up in South Florida and was raised by highly creative parents. One that enjoyed all of the interior design decisions that came with decently frequent moving of house/home (this included many-a-trip to Home Depots and furnishing stores) until settling in my high school years. My mother had a variety of perfectionist crafting skills, her favorite being a stained glass artist. My dad had a master craftsman level of woodworking which manifested itself in interior trimmings, a castle that encompassed my bed and a boat for my brothers, and a twenty-foot pirate ship that floated in our pool for one of our massive, immersive Halloween parties we had one year. Besides being raised in a creative household, we were fortunate enough to take regular trips to Disney World over the years where I was inundated with more immersive and imaginative entertainment.
One more bit about my childhood, which I promise will tie into everything later, is that I was always active from a young age until college – I played on soccer and softball teams since I was five and started riding horses at around age nine (and still do now). I credit my consistent athleticism to teach me the concept of kinesthetic awareness which massively helped through the next parts of my journey.
My life’s passion began to unfold when I started as a self-taught oil painter at the age of thirteen, as after then, I wasn’t truly ever able to put down the brush.
Fast forward to 2012 where I graduated from Florida State University with a B.F.A. in Design which had a fine art focus with a digital art companionship. I sailed right into starting my M.F.A. in Production Design from the Savannah College of Art and Design in 2013. SCAD was one of only a few schools in the country that actually offered scenic design for theater/film as a degree; I had realized that as an artist, I wanted to be able to influence environment and the psychology behind immersive experiences through design. And while I was making my way through my master’s degree, I chose to take a stage combat class as an elective, fusing my love of movement and the badassery that came with sword-wielding. Little did I know that one class would start a massive parallel thread to my professional path.
After finishing my graduate program with a portfolio and resume full with design and stage combat experience, I moved to New York for a two-month theater internship in the city. After that ended, I landed a job working for Anthropologie as Display Coordinator for their massive Manhasset store location where I was responsible for designing and building all of the large-scale interior and window installations. When my time is New York was done, I made my way back to Savannah to pick up a job assistant teaching stage combat with my old professor at SCAD while developing an immersive fantasy experience on the side.
And when my time in Savannah was complete, I made the move to Atlanta in the summer of 2017. For the next three years, I dual pursued scenic design jobs and stunt work in the film industry – needless to say, I met some of the coolest people in the area. Did I mention I also was hired as a Wonder Woman character performer for events?
Then, 2020 happened.
Right before the shutdown of life as we knew it began, I had just finished working on The Rock’s Season Two of Titan Games as an athlete tester/stunt performer, which had been my biggest job in the industry yet and I was riding a big professional high.
Quarantine came, and as someone who doesn’t like to sit still, I decided to open a macrame shop on Etsy, Sacred Knot Studio, to see if I could sell some wares and keep my hands and mind busy with a new endeavor. Again, little did I know this shop would evolve into what it is now. In the first year, I made and sold things I thought people would buy – wall hangings, various decor, functional items like camera and guitar straps. I did pretty well for my first year in business, not really knowing how to do and run things!
As time went on into the next year and the industry remained closed, I poured more effort into my shop and started to expand my creations to wearable goods while infusing more of my spirituality honoring nature and the divine feminine. I was given a brilliant idea from a photographer friend and niched down into making boho macrame maternity dresses and festival wear. During this phase, I built my own separate website and rebranded the shop to One With Goddess. Many wearable pieces were made and professional photoshoots were had – overall business elevation. And although this course change for the business proved successful as well, my true artist brain and heart weren’t fully satiated.
I needed more creative alignment and fulfillment to balance the very left-brained aspects of a business.
Finally bringing us to the most recent iteration of my shop, The Goddess Armory, which is creating armor and fantasy dresswear in the style of macrame. Sculptural, hand-knotted pieces from a variety of materials that bring fantasy aesthetics, empowerment and mobility to cosplayers and renaissance faire go-ers alike. As a yearly professional renaissance faire go-er and past performer myself, I have extensive knowledge in costume wearing as well as a sculptor’s knowledge in reverse engineering patterns and build construction.
To my knowledge, I am the only one making pieces in this style and have developed some game-changing concepts when it comes to armor by way of materials and construction design: lightweight, mobile, yet structural.
And that’s not even my favorite part. Most of my orders come from my marketed specialty, which exists in creating personalized armor/fantasy dresswear pieces. The process begins with a video chat design consultation where I get to know the client, after which I design and craft their personal armor based on their essence or personal journeys. The joy I receive from connecting with people and being able to make something that encompasses their true essence while empowering them (and making them look badass, let’s be honest) is on a level of it’s own.
I’ve had the greatest personal and professional success weaving these concepts into my shop in the last year and cannot wait to see what this art is capable of transforming into.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Being an artist who is trying to run a business for the first time? Definitely not the smoothest!
I would say the biggest challenges lied in the decisions that were battled between my head and my heart: What should I make next that I think would be profitable? What do I want to make that will satisfy my creativity? Should I spend money upfront on these materials if I don’t know if they will sell? How should I spent my time throughout the week with the twenty different jobs/task types it takes to run a business? The list goes on…
The other major challenge was understanding the true nature of fluctuation of a business and the impact it has on mental health. Pouring all of your time, love and creative energy to ensure you stay successful and self-made doesn’t always result in a positive balance as an entrepreneur – especially when it’s a one-woman show.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
As most of us know, being an artist of any kind in this day and age is arguably the most difficult career path to choose as art, historically, has taken a downturn as far as appreciation and cultural importance. And also arguably, as a millennial, the economic timeline has been that much more difficult as most of us feel we have been swimming upstream during our professional journeys.
Slightly pivoting, I have always been one of the most hardworking people I know. Part of it being my personality/how I was raised, and the other part being the cultural conditioning of hustle culture and capitalism. Even though I am still in the process of rewiring some of those “ideals”, I have always been one to be more aligned with working for myself and very determined to make it as an artist – I thoroughly believe in living a life that brings you joy, fulfillment and balance in every aspect, and I strive to make decisions, as an artist and professional, to curate that life.
Are there any important lessons you’ve learned that you can share with us?
Trust your intuition.
Pricing:
- Custom Armor Design Consultation & Sketch – $105; This is for those curious to know what their armor would look like and receive a hardcopy rendered sketch.
- Designs in the armory for purchase – $165-$3,500
Contact Info:
- Website: www.onewithgoddess.com
- Instagram: @lonewithgoddessl
- Other: TikTok (35k) – https://www.tiktok.com/@onewithgoddess
