Meet Kate Shields-Campbell | Indie Dyer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Kate Shields-Campbell and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Kate, what inspires you?
Absolutely any form of media (movies, books, anime, etc.) that evokes an emotional pull. Now that’s not to say that I’m out here hand-dyeing yarn based off of Charlotte’s Web or It’s a Wonderful Life (though an entirely grayscale collection would be a unique challenge). I’m pulling from media such as Avatar: The Last Airbender and the Twilight movies, or the ACOTAR series by Sarah J Maas. I take all of these forms of media and create my own form of fan art, yarn.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I’m an indie dyer (which means I hand-dye yarn used to knit, crochet, or weave) within the fiber arts community! I know it totally sounds like one of those weird jobs people have on House Hunters where you can’t believe the person glueing butterflies to purses can afford a mansion, but it works for us.

As for how we started, the story is honestly very boring. Red Door was an idea I had that was born out of desperation during the pandemic. I was running a knitwear business (hand knitting hats and scarves etc.) when COVID hit and it cancelled all of our big ticket shows for the year. 2020 was supposed to be the year that business entered a new tier of handmade goods, and then my income stream vanished overnight. As much as I hate to say it now (and wouldn’t even allow myself to think then), I was growing deeply unhappy with the constant workload and my inability to find balance between that and my personal life because of the nature of that job. Because instead of panicking at the loss of our much-needed second income, it felt like a way out.

I’d been talking to my friends and husband about possibly trying out hand-dyeing yarn for about a year at that point, so it seemed like the perfect opportunity to pivot. I bet you’re thinking, “Why not just head back into the traditional workforce?” and I’ll forgive you for that since you don’t know me. As a deeply creative person, working in labs studying antibiotic resistance mechanisms in highly infectious bacterial species just wasn’t cutting it. So we took the leap and bought our first home with the last of our savings in June of 2020 after begging our landlord to let us out of our lease. I commandeered the garage to get to work the week after we moved in. It’s insane to think it’s only been a year and half since then and 3 years since the last time I ran a Western Blot lol.

I will say I’m not very good at talking about my own accomplishments without feeling like it’s self-serving, however, I am incredibly proud of the community we’ve built online (mainly on Instagram) in the last year +. A lot of businesses put product/sales first, and that is a strategy that I’m sure works for a lot of people. But here at Red Door, I do my best to put *people* first. We’re where we are today because I’ve always placed more value in who is buying our product than the product itself.

What I mean by this is that my hope is that everyone who purchases from us feels like they belong. That every time someone has made fun of them for playing Pokemon Go, watching Avatar: The Last Airbender, streaming the Twilight movies for a marathon, or reading a smutty romance novel is forgotten. That the next time someone does, they don’t let it get under their skin, because they know they aren’t alone.

And I get that this sounds so dramatic, right? Like, “Kate, it’s just yarn, and you’re a 25 year old who isn’t even using their Microbiology degree, calm down.” But I don’t think it’s nothing. As someone who never felt like I belonged because I was “too” whatever (loud, annoying, time-consuming, etc.), it can be everything in a space like the knitting community. Where Rhinebeck is expensive, crowded, and not centrally located so it feels like a cliquey “cool kids” club. Where finished projects aren’t always judged by the skill needed to finish it, but by how pricey or unique the fiber is used to make it. We all have to walk the line of paying people what they deserve for their work and putting everything behind paywall. Patterns are paid. Retreats are paid. Needles and hooks are paid. Yarn is paid. Nearly every single aspect of community in fiber arts is paid, and it isn’t inexpensive. But Instagram… Instagram is free, and my hope is that someone can still feel included in this overarching community without having to do any of the other stuff simply because they belong with us at Red Door whether they buy our yarn or not.

That’s what makes us different. That my favorite part of what we’ve built is the genuine friends I’ve made along the way. From customers to other dyers, I could not be here, loving my job every second, without them. Building working relationships with people all over the globe is an incredible privilege that I do my best to not take for granted. And if being an idiot on the internet helps us do that, well, I guess I better get back to it.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
My brother and sister-in-law live in the DFW area and we always have the best time when we get to visit! A must-stop for all fiber artists is the McKinney Knittery located in historic downtown McKinney. From yarns of every fiber and weight, to fabric for any quilter, and notions or needles galore, I could spend an entire day in this store alone.

It’s so beautifully crafted with the artist in mind which is something that is extremely hard to come by in this sector of craft. Open concept floor plans and friendly staff (Hi Emily!) make it somewhere I will go back to each and every time.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Far and above, I would love to dedicate this to my husband, Thomas. Without his unconditional support and love, Red Door would not be what it’s grown into. Thank you, honey, for always being my best friend first.

Website: www.reddoorfs.com

Instagram: @reddoorfs

Image Credits
Aimee Westrich. @aimee.elisabeth.w on instagram.