Meet Julia Arredondo

We recently connected with Julia Arredondo and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, so we’re so thrilled to have Julia with us today – welcome and maybe we can jump right into it with a question about one of your qualities that we most admire. How did you develop your work ethic? Where do you think you get it from?

I grew up in my Mom’s office, the Corpus Christi Chamber of Commerce, where Mom pulled late nights and long weekend hours regularly. In lieu of a babysitter, Mom would bring me to the office and give me free reign over office equipment and early internet access. From typewriters to copy machines, to early desktop publishing platforms – I worked alongside Mom in my own world, designing fantasy publications and coupon sheets from my imagination.

When Mom clocked out, I too clocked out. We worked the same hours. It was as though I had my very own grown-up office. Mom continues to work for non-profit organizations and I’ve watched her cultivate community and bring businesses back to life over the course of her career. She taught me that hard work is a fact of life (growing up in a working-class family) but she always took pride in her work and her communities reflected that pride back to her.

I also learned work ethic in my Aunt Marian’s commercial printshop, Foil Creations, where she folded family employees into the culture of the printshop. The radio played country music all day, the printers chugged, and I worked alongside my cousins to bring quinceanera invitations and graduation notices of all styles to life. Every day we’d eat lunch together and joke around, and every day we’d clock out and find comfort in knowing that we’d all be together the next day. At Aunt Marian’s printshop, I learned more about the ideal culture of a workplace than about work ethic – but we always worked hard to maintain the shop and the quality of work that we brought to life.

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?

First and foremost, I’m a visual artist. I draw, I design print ephemera, I publish my own personal work and the work of others on occasion. I am formally trained in printmaking and my favorite forms of practice are silk screen and letterpress printing. Having substantial experience navigating punk scenes around the country, my professional foray into publishing began when I started designing, printing, and publishing zines to sell and circulate in the underground music circuit. Through this experience, I expanded my community and readership and I now give lectures at Universities about zines and occasionally teach on the creative practice of independent publishing.

I have bootstrapped two independent publishing platforms over the years, Vice Versa Press and Curandera Press, and I launched a DIY shopping channel , QTVC Live!, at the onset of the pandemic. Currently, I am in the midst of a creative career pivot and hope to focus on redefining my graphic design aesthetic while continuing to study trends in artist-run businesses and creative entrepreneurship.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

1). Learning how to navigate shipping and packaging via the USPS (and the fees associated with these services)
2). Customer Service (communication goes a LONG way!)
3). Screen printing and graphic design (I was able to prototype products without having to invest a ton of money up front. Having the skills to print and design my own products saved me a ton of money while allowing me ample room to experiment with ideas).

Okay, so before we go we always love to ask if you are looking for folks to partner or collaborate with?

In grad school, I had the opportunity to work for the Columbia College Fashion Department and that experience blew my mind. The fashion world gets a bad rap for being superficial, when in actuality the fashion world is full of historians, craftsman, and trend observers. I would love to partner with brands, whether it’s on a single campaign for a featured product or on an entire line of products, I’d love to collaborate with larger brands to bring a garment or line of lifestyle goods to the larger commodities market. Anyone interested in this should email me at [email protected]. I’m simply a conversation away.

Contact Info:

Image Credits

Joel Tsui / Art Archival credit to the image of the red/silver heart-themed paper tapestry

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