24 Jul SaS Featured in the Newspaper
It’s official! Skulls and Succulents has been featured in the local newspapers!
LAS CRUCES – From desert flowers and cacti to skulls and roadrunners, these are just some of the things incorporated into the designs of local artist Keena Wolff, who recently started an online apparel business called Skulls and Succulents.
Along with apparel for men and women, including t-shirts, tank tops and long-sleeved shirts, the website, skullsandsucculents.com, also offers art prints, posters and mugs featuring Wolff’s southwestern-themed geometric and nature print designs.
“While I do see a lot of New Mexico t-shirts around, I want to get into the niche of more ‘trendy and cool,’ because I feel like my designs are (two words) you don’t hear a lot together, which is contemporary southwestern,” Wolff said.
Wolff said while she likes the traditional New Mexico and southwestern t-shirts, she thinks younger people are looking for a more modern way to showcase their New Mexico pride.
Contemporary southwestern
“Yes, it’s southwestern, but I don’t want you to think, ‘cowboy hats,’” she said. “None of that’s bad, but the newer generation that’s coming up, they have pride, but they don’t want to wear the yellow shirt with the red Zia symbol. My designs are a little more special in the fact that I try to do eye-catching designs — just trying to (create) that contemporary vibe a little more.”
Wolff said the tagline for Skulls and Succulents is “Amazing Apparel for Desert Dwellers,” and that she hopes her designs give customers a new way to show others that they are proud of where they come from.
“I was born and raised here in New Mexico, and I’ve also lived other places as well,” she said. “I came back because nowhere else has the culture and the pride that (New Mexico) has. This is a really beautiful place and there’s really nowhere else like it.”
The current collection of designs featured on the website is called the Gold Series, which includes a little bit of the color gold in each design. A wide range of colors and sizes are offered for each piece of clothing. All t-shirts and tank tops are sold at $20 and long sleeved shirts are $25. Other products range from $10 to $16. Shipping is free for all products.
Wolff said she picks out all the colors and clothing styles for her designs to ensure that customers are getting a quality product.While Wolff just launched her online business on June 22, she has already made a few sales. So far, one of the more popular designs is titled New Mexico Flowers, which features the outline of flowers, cacti and pecans in the shape of the state of New Mexico.
Drawing inspiration
Wolff said she has been creating art her entire life and that she was initially trained by her parents. She also took a graphic design internship in St. Louis, Missouri and has worked at several studios. The designs featured on the Skulls and Succulents website are the finished product of drawings that Wolff has been hard at work on in her spare time.
“All the sudden, it hit me,” Wolff said. “This would be an amazing t-shirt design. When the Gold Series was born, it was just a collection of designs focusing on the desert and the flowers and the animals.”
Wolff said as her business expands, she hopes to sell additional products online, as well as branch out, selling her apparel and products through other outlets.
“Right now, I wanted to see if people would be interested (in my products), but in the very near future, I want to look at doing the farmers market and reaching out to local retailers and giving them a small supply station to sell directly to customers,” she said.
Wolff, who thinks it’s important for people to follow their dreams, said she has put other things in her life on hold to focus solely on growing her business.
“(I’m) putting all my eggs in the basket and counting on this to really work and really going for it,” she said.
Wolff encourages people to visit the Skulls and Succulents website and view some of her products on the Skulls and Succulents Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest pages.
“It’s amazing apparel for desert dwellers, so anyone interested in art and (southwestern) pride should definitely check it out,” she said. “You’ve got to wear something so you might as well make it something cool that makes a statement about you.”
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