Women In Business

These are just some of the tools of the trade for the passionate fiber artist. All these and more local, domestic and international products can be discovered at Fiber Creek, Prescott’s only fiber arts shop.

Textile art is one of the oldest forms of art in human existence, with the fashioning of clothing and blankets to provide warmth.

This ancient practice has reinvented itself through the ages, gaining new popularity since the 1920s, with original art developments in textiles.

Arizona native Carma Koester took her lifelong passion for all the fiber arts to a new level when she established Fiber Creek in 2008, with the goal of creating an environment for learning and sharing in the community.

”I have done handiwork of different disciplines since about the age of 5, from sewing, quilting, knitting and crochet,” said Koester, who will be 75 this month. “My grandmother and mother were the ones who guided me. I was such a tomboy. My grandmother thought I needed balance in my experiences.”

Koester located the current 1,950-square-foot space after purchasing “A Good Yarn” from Debra Dorrell, who now teaches classes at Fiber Creek.

“I knew we needed a bigger space and easier access for customers,” Koester explained. “Since I have been here, there have actually been about four fiber stores in this area. We are the only remaining fiber arts store.”

Early in 2020, the frightening march of COVID-19 across the land brought many new challenges, including the task of remaining in business.

“The pandemic has been very difficult for many businesses,” she said. “We are hanging in there through sheer will and determination. We have had many people from all over Arizona, as well as locally, telling us, ‘Please do not go out of business,’ but the climate is guarded because of everything that has happened in the last year and a half.”

Koester, who was born in Phoenix, calls herself “a worker bee” and routinely works six-day weeks, including weekend hours, repairing looms and spinning wheels. Her husband, Mark Koester, who is retired from the heating and cooling business, sometimes assists her with a variety of repair projects.

The couple lived in Prescott for 34 years before moving to Chino Valley three years ago. They have one living son who lives in Chino. “Our other son passed away 15 years ago,” she said.

The heart of Fiber Creek is the full schedule of classes, including weaving, taught by Koester, and beginning crochet, taught by Dorrell.

“My staff, Anna Sue, Gale, Katie, Kristin and Verla, are the greatest workers and team players, with hundreds of combined years of experience,” she said proudly. “Our success can be attributed to them.”

Koester has a philosophical take on creativity.

“I have found over the years, people who do tactile things learn to use their creative mind to accomplish tasks that can be mundane and boring because they allow their subconscious mind to get involved in what they’re doing.”

In some ways, the pandemic may have benefited the fiber arts.

“I think fiber arts are having a new resurgence because many who were home realized that they needed to be productive,” Koester noted. “Classes are now starting to pick up, but until the climate is right for some, they are still hesitant.”

Although some local fiber artists were working with yarn and inventory that they had in their homes, they did order supplies online. In the store today, sales include supplies and equipment for the fiber arts disciplines and occasionally some of the handcrafted items throughout the store.

Sandra Miner is one of the local artists using many of the services and materials the shop offers.

Miner said Fiber Creek “functions unofficially as a community center” for people with any of the fiber arts hobbies of knitting, crocheting, weaving and spinning.

“Carma and her well-qualified staff and instructors are welcoming to learners at any level. They offer classes, private instruction and free on-the-spot help with any project,” she said. “Personally, this is where I learned to knit when I retired and that has created a hobby as well as a group of friends. This business has provided a place to come to, especially for those of us who are aging. We are seeing the young generation developing their creative skills also.”

The town of Prescott has “many small business owners with compelling stories,” she continued, including Koester, who has sacrificed so much to keep her business afloat.

“Carma has subsidized it during the pandemic downturn with her own funds,” Miner said. “She views the shop as a business that also provides a community service.”

For Koester, being a “worker bee” includes exercising her boundless creative energy.

“I do everything: I carve in wood, I hand build ceramics, I paint,” she said. “I learned to carve wood when I was 9 or 10, and I’ve drawn my whole life. I’ve sewn from before I started school.”

However, her greatest love is weaving, which came later in life.

“I got into weaving by accident when my friend wanted me to be her substitute teacher at the college,” Koester said. “She told me I needed to learn one more thing and that was weaving. Spinning followed that.”

Fiber Creek also provides a place for “charity-minded people to do things for the local shelter,” such as creating comforting blankets. “When you accomplish something, you can get through the rough spots in life,” she said.

Recently, Koester has been experimenting with challenging media like dichroic and glass fusing.

“Well, I do it all because I like the challenge of learning new things. Age 75 is not too old to learn something. I think being productive is one of the best things. Accomplishment is the cherry on top of the sundae.” QCBN

By Betsey Bruner, QCBN