Meet Some of the Makers Bringing Their Creativity to Life
The next piece of art you buy, book you read or handmade gift you give could come from someone living just down the street. Issaquah Highlands is home to a growing community of makers who are turning their passions into businesses with support from neighbors like you.
From woodworkers and glass blowers to authors, artists and musicians, local makers turn their skills and passions into businesses, often working for themselves and building something from the ground up.
For many independent makers, there’s no large company or team behind the scenes. They are the business owners, creators, marketers and salespeople all at once. That makes community support especially important. Choosing to buy from a local maker, attend a performance or tell a friend about someone’s work can help turn a creative passion into a sustainable business.
There’s no better time to discover some of the community’s makers than the holiday season. The Village Market: Holiday Pop-Up will bring local makers and artisan vendors together at Blakely Hall on Sunday, Nov. 22. Stop by to find something unique, meet the maker behind it and support a small business close to home.
What inspires people to make? We asked some of our local makers to tell us more about what they create, why they do it and what it means to build a business in Issaquah Highlands.
John Riziki, Musician
For Kirk Park neighbor John Riziki, music started with a guitar and a choice. When he was 15, his grandfather offered him either $40 or a guitar as compensation for helping with a move. John chose the guitar, and he’s been playing ever since.
John taught himself through YouTube videos and eventually began performing at open mics around the region, sometimes driving to two or three in a single night. Now, he performs throughout Seattle and the Eastside at venues and businesses, while also writing original music and collaborating with other musicians. For him, creating music is more than a creative outlet.
“My art comes from a place of necessity,” he said. “I have to do music. It’s how I express myself, how I make sense of things, how I cope. It’s honest, vulnerable, pieces of me. It is me.”
Turning that passion into a business hasn’t always been easy. John said one of the biggest challenges is maintaining his love for music while navigating the practical realities of making a living from it. Still, he’s seen meaningful growth in recent years and plans to keep pursuing the dream of supporting himself through music.
He describes the Issaquah Highlands community as a peaceful place that gives him room to reflect and create, calling home “a safe place to be vulnerable.” He has performed at open mics at Blakely Hall and other community events, giving him the opportunity to connect with neighbors and perform close to home.
For John, being able to share his music in his own community is part of what makes the journey worthwhile, he said.
Carlos Ortiz Garcia, Stained Glass Artist
Central Park resident Carlos Ortiz Garcia first turned to stained glass as a way to unwind. After watching a YouTube video of creator Simone Giertz making a stained-glass window, he decided to give the craft a try.
“She made it look accessible, and I felt drawn to it,” he said.
For Carlos, what began as an experiment in stained glass eventually became CioGlass. Through his artisan studio, he now creates handcrafted pieces that combine color, light and design. Much of his work consists of suncatchers made with the Tiffany copper foil and
solder technique.
Each piece begins with an original design, he said. Carlos designs his own patterns, carefully considering every detail, from where to make each cut and which colors and textures to combine to how and where the finished piece will be displayed.
The process is both creative and technical, requiring him to consider how a finished piece will look while making sure it’s structurally sound. He said the payoff comes when someone connects with his finished work.
“It’s difficult to describe the joy I feel when someone sees my creations and thinks, ‘I need this for my home,’” he said.
Carlos initially made his pieces as gifts for family and friends. After sharing his work on Reddit and other social media, people began asking if they could purchase his art. He eventually participated in a Village Market pop-up at Blakely Hall, which prompted him to officially launch CioGlass LLC.
He said the biggest challenge when turning a hobby into a business, besides the bureaucracy of running one, is trying not to lose the spark. He found early on that focusing solely on the business side made stained glass art feel like a chore, which he wanted to avoid.
Today, he balances the business with his full-time job as a software engineer, allowing him to approach his craft on his own terms.
Carlos said Issaquah’s Salmon Days, Farmers Market and Village Market pop-ups provide opportunities for local artists to share their work, while other makers offer ideas and advice.
For adults who want to try something creative but feel intimidated by starting from scratch, Carlos encourages patience and giving themselves time to learn.
“My first pieces were horrible, but that’s alright because I was just starting,” he said.
His advice is to start small, make art for the joy of it and remember that imperfections are part of what makes handcrafted work unique.
Katie Weaver, Multi-Media Artist
Ashland Park resident Katie Weaver often finds inspiration just beyond her doorstep. She creates paintings and linocut prints inspired by nature, drawing from scenery, flowers and leaves she photographs around her neighborhood.
Although she had always enjoyed making art, Katie returned to it later in life after realizing how much she missed having creativity in her life. Part of what she loves most about creating is the element of surprise, she said.
“You never know exactly how a piece of art is going to turn out and that’s part of the adventure,” she said.
She also finds inspiration in home design, garden and art books, collecting ideas that eventually make their way into her work. As her collection grew, Katie decided she wanted to share her art with others.
“I wanted to keep creating art and share the thing that makes me happy with other people,” she said. “At a certain point, it gets to be too much to keep to yourself.” 
With a master’s degree in marketing, Katie enjoys many of the business aspects of being an artist, though she admits that switching between making art and running the business can be a challenge.
“Sometimes I lean too far one way or the other!” she said.
Katie has found opportunities to connect with other artists and art lovers through events at Blakely Hall and around Issaquah. For her, those connections are one of the most rewarding parts of sharing her work, she added.
“I wish everyone brought more art into their lives and homes,” she said.
Jim Halas, Woodworker
What started with a simple thought, “I could do that,” has grown into a creative hobby and business that fills a home workshop with repurposed wine barrels, exotic hardwood and salvaged materials.
Dahlia Park neighbor Jim Halas creates household décor and functional pieces that range from charcuterie boards and kitchen utensils to planters, seasonal luminaria and holiday décor. He said each project is an opportunity to solve a problem, try something new or make an existing idea better.
Jim finds inspiration everywhere, including requests from neighbors and things he encounters at stores, in magazines or on television. Custom requests have challenged him to create everything from a wine-barrel ice chest and dog bed to a 6-foot-long charcuterie board, he said.
“I enjoy the problem-solving process, turning the idea of something into a product,” he said. 
What began as a creative pursuit eventually grew into a small business, with Jim first selling through the Downtown Issaquah Association’s Wine and Art Walks. During the COVID-19 shutdown, he started the Historically Hip Artisan Market in the former Rogue brewhouse at Front Street and Sunset Way.
Today, he participates in farmers markets, holiday markets and other artisan events in the area. He said local markets have also connected him with fellow makers and neighbors, including through Village Market pop-ups at Blakely Hall, where he has showcased his work and received custom orders.
Jim noted that he has found it difficult at times to find the right places to sell. Each market attracts a different audience, so he looks for events where the customers and demographics are a good fit for what he makes.
Rather than focusing on profit, Jim finds fulfillment in creating something worthwhile and sharing it with others. He views the business more as a hobby that allows him to keep creating and connecting with others, he said.
Tiffany Smith-Fleischman, Fabric Design
For Roanoke Woods resident Tiffany Smith-Fleischman, a lifelong love of fabric and design eventually grew into a small business rooted in Issaquah. She learned to sew at age 7, inspired by a mother who made most of her clothes. Years later, a spontaneous block printing class in 2018 opened the door to a new creative pursuit.
Tiffany began filling fabric with her own designs, then learned screen printing and developed a system for creating seamless patterns across entire bolts of fabric. Eventually, she found the linen that became the foundation for Northwest Makes. She prints the fabric herself before turning it into table and kitchen linens, aprons, pillows, bags and other useful objects made from production scraps.
“I make things that are useful and make me happy,” she said.
After people encouraged her to sell her work, Tiffany registered Northwest Makes as an LLC in December 2018. She experimented with online sales and larger craft shows but found that in person markets were a better fit for her tactile products.
She tried major Seattle events, including Renegade Craft, but the high booth fees and long weekends didn’t provide enough return. Instead, she focused on local markets like Salmon Days, the Issaquah Farmers Market and pop-up markets hosted by Issaquah Highlands. That’s where she gained traction and built a loyal following among her neighbors, she said.
She noted that local support is one of the most rewarding parts of running her business. Salmon Days has become a sort of homecoming, where longtime customers return each year to shop for the holidays and tell Tiffany how they’re still using pieces they purchased years ago.
“It’s the most gratifying thing in the world to hear that someone is regularly using something I made,” she said.
Tiffany moved her production out of her basement and into a dedicated studio at the Issaquah Worklofts in 2020, allowing Northwest Makes to grow. Although her efforts to establish a brick-and-mortar shop ultimately didn’t work out, she continues to build her business in the community that supported it from the beginning.
“I take a lot of pride in having a small business here in Issaquah, where I’ve been a resident since 2002,” she said.
Photos by Toni Pinto.
Sandra Byrd, Author
For Westridge South resident Sandra Byrd, creating means bringing stories to life. Her own love of storytelling began with reading, which she considers an essential part of becoming a writer.
“The rhythm of story gets imprinted on our minds and hearts when we read, building a reservoir from which we write,” she said.
Sandra is primarily a historical fiction writer, finding inspiration in both history and contemporary life. She enjoys weaving pieces of herself, the eras and stories she loves, and the interests of her readers into her work.
She said stories may take place in different worlds and feature different characters, but they often explore the same human experiences that transcend generations and cultures.
Writing is more than a creative pursuit for Sandra; it’s her profession. Like many professional writers, she approaches her career as an “authorpreneur,” working across different parts of the writing and publishing industry.
For aspiring writers, her advice is to be patient and persistent. Building a writing career takes time, she said, but writing can provide a meaningful side income, and a growing catalog of books can build on itself over time.
“It snowballs,” she said. “Keep at it!”
After moving back to Issaquah Highlands last spring, Sandra has found inspiration in the trails, outdoor spaces and welcoming community, she said. She especially enjoys seeing families of different generations spending time together, which hits close to home for her, as she and her family are a three-generation household.
For Sandra, creating is a way to express yourself while leaving something behind that can continue to reach readers for generations.
Yukiko Crandell, Clay Artist & Jewelry Maker
What began as a creative outlet for Grand View Park resident Yukiko Crandell quickly grew into a love of painting intricate details and developing her craft. Inspired by the nature and wildlife around Issaquah Highlands, she creates hand-painted polymer clay pieces, including earrings, magnets, ornaments and suncatchers featuring Pacific Northwest wildlife.
Yukiko especially enjoys the finishing touches, from painting fine details with acrylics to applying a protective finish that brings out the vibrancy of each piece.
She said encouragement from friends and family eventually led Yukiko to turn her hobby into a business called RenkaCrafts. Since launching her shop, she has learned the many practical details that come with running a creative business, from designing packaging and perfecting finishes to producing her work in small batches.
She said finding enough time to create while keeping up with the administrative side can be challenging, but seeing people smile when they discover her work makes it worthwhile.
Living in Issaquah Highlands keeps inspiration close to home and has connected Yukiko with supportive neighbors and fellow makers, she said. Every piece is handmade in Issaquah Highlands, and she hopes her work encourages others to bring more handmade art into their homes.
“I want to express my sincere gratitude to the local community for their support,” she said.
Her advice for aspiring makers is simple: begin, experiment, enjoy the process and focus on progress rather than perfection.
