Creativity, exploration fuel Courtney Hiatt on and off campus

Few people have the opportunity to turn their hobby into a second career, but Courtney Hiatt is on her way to doing just that.

Originally from Covington, Hiatt came to Western Washington University as a student, but ended up loving it so much that she decided to call Bellingham home permanently.

Hiatt graduated in 2004 with a degree in marketing. She began working as the manager of marketing and special events in the College of Fine and Performing Arts at Western in 2006, a position that she held for seven years. She now works as a communications consultant in Extended Education.

"I really appreciate the atmosphere [at Western], particularly in Extended Education," Hiatt said. "We work hard, laugh loudly, and love our baked goods."

When Hiatt isn't working in Extended Education, she can be found pursuing her creative endeavors; Hiatt makes jewelry, paper goods such has handmade cards and gift wrap, and home décor pieces. Although she's busy with her job at Western, she makes sure to dedicate one night a week and time on Saturdays to nurture her creativity.

"I love that making anything, including jewelry, allows me to explore," she said. "I am always looking for new techniques, to learn about new materials, or to find inspiration in the textures and colors that surround me. It helps me see things in a different way as I try to break them down into their core elements."

Creating various handmade goods has been a longtime hobby. From a young age, she was inspired by her father, a machinist, to create and make things, and by her mother, who paid close attention to aesthetic details.

She first began experimenting with homemade goods by making candles and became interested in making jewelry after taking a course on the subject at a Fairhaven business roughly eight years ago.

"It was my first introduction to wire-wrapping, and I was hooked," Hiatt said. "For years, I made jewelry for friends for every holiday (you can never have too many pieces of jewelry), and over the past year and a half I have been developing an aesthetic that represents my style and interests."

What is that aesthetic?

"I am most inspired by texture and color, and love mixing different types of metals and chains with natural accents such as stone or bone beads," she said.

Although Hiatt makes a variety of crafts, jewelry is particularly fun to work with, she said.

"I love that jewelry is so forgiving," Hiatt said. "You can build a piece and then rip it apart and try again. There is a lot of flexibility in the design process, allowing you to be incredibly creative. My latest jewelry adventure has been to take apart vintage pieces and reimagine them into something new."

Although crafting has been her hobby for most of her life, Hiatt always had it in the back of her mind that she wanted to turn it into a business. This past spring, she made the conscious decision to begin pursuing her hobby as a business, explaining that she now establishes goals and makes an effort to dedicate time to them.

Hiatt is now a vendor at The Bureau, a gift and souvenir shop downtown that primarily features items made by local Pacific Northwest artists, where she sells her different handmade crafts.

"Last spring I held a pop-up shop at the Black Drop Coffeehouse downtown. Marissa McGrath, one of the owners of The Bureau, attended and approached me afterwards about having a booth space in their newly renovated shop," Hiatt said. "It was such an incredible opportunity as it affords me storefront space but doesn’t require that I staff it, which is a huge challenge, as I work full-time."

You can also find Hiatt’s work on Instagram and Facebook under the name Create with Coco. She also plans on teaching classes and starting a website this year where she can sell her items online.

"My long-term goal is to create my own online boutique that features a full range of handmade goods," said Hiatt.

[ Editor's note: This article is one of a series running this week in Western Today in conjunction with the state’s Classified School Employees Week March 14 to 18. ]