In this episode of Beyond the Trailhead, I sit down with Katie McKinstry Stylos, the artist, graphic designer, professional climber, and creator behind Hyalite Designs. Katie is based in Bozeman, Montana, and Hyalite Designs is named after Hyalite Canyon, a place close to where she lives and climbs. She shares how the canyon, the mountains, and the places she loves outside continue to inspire her work. The main part of Katie’s work is something incredibly unique: she takes retired climbing rope and turns it into one-of-a-kind mountain-inspired wall art. These ropes have lived real lives. They have protected climbers, traveled through the mountains, been part of big days, scary moments, and personal memories. Instead of throwing them away once they can no longer be used safely, Katie gives them a second life as art. We also dive into: • How Katie went from the horse world to climbing • Why she chose graphic design as a career path • How Hyalite Designs started while she was still in school • Why she registered her business before graduating • How old ropes from the climbing gym became her first art material • Why she stopped making rugs and focused on wall art • How pricing artwork became one of the hardest parts of the business • Why galleries helped her understand the real value of her work • Why every rope art piece is one-of-a-kind • How custom pieces, design fees, edits, materials, and shipping all affect pricing • The mental side of running a creative business • How saying yes too much led to burnout • Why she had to email clients and admit she could not take on every project • How she balances rope art, graphic design, climbing, and time outside • Why building your own brand can be harder than building one for clients • The ventilation and safety side of cutting and melting rope • Why professional communication is better through email than Instagram DMs One of my favorite parts of this conversation is Katie’s honesty about creative burnout. She talks about how saying yes to too many commissions eventually started hurting the quality of her work, and how she had to step back before she ruined the thing she had worked so hard to build. This episode is full of art, climbing, business, creativity, pricing lessons, burnout lessons, and a behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to turn a very niche idea into a real business.
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