West Valley College’s Bill & Leila Cilker School of Art and Design has a bold goal: cultivating systemic change by offering accessible arts education. The school achieves this through its wide range of interdisciplinary offerings designed to encourage well-rounded and thoughtful students.
Cilker School of Art and Design is coming up on its second year in its new Visual Arts Complex, which opened in the fall of 2023. The building houses five different art studios for painting, digital media, sculpture, ceramics, as well as computer labs and machine shops. Designed to be a hub for the arts, the facility helps students further explore their interests and experiment with their craft in a safe and welcoming environment.
The complex is the site for the school’s 2025 Art + Design EXPO, which celebrates graduating students. The annual three-day event features work from current and graduating students across Cilker’s diverse set of disciplines, including architecture, art, graphic design, fashion, industrial design, film, music, photography, theater, and dance. The EXPO provides a space for students, faculty, and guests to connect across disciplines and collaborate, in line with Cilker’s goal of systemic change.
Clyde Elloso took his first class in fashion by accident; his high school mistakenly enrolled him in the wrong elective. Although he’d consciously cultivated his personal style, Elloso had never thought about designing clothes before. He stayed in the class, eventually taking a tour of West Valley College and its fashion lab. Elloso knew then that’s where he belonged. Elloso was born in the Philippines and moved to the US with his family in 2012. As a kid, he felt like he was always caught between two cultures—Asian and American. From this, he developed a mentality that would later influence his artistic perspective: doing what he wants to do and avoiding people pleasing. Now, in his second year at West Valley, he’s in a “gothic” design phase. At the beginning of his career, Elloso is excited to explore a wide range of aesthetics in his work.
Natalie Pineda learns something from each character she plays. Acting has helped develop her confidence as she embodies different roles. As a child, Pineda always wanted to act, but her parents couldn’t afford community theater, and her high school didn’t have a drama program. She later became a nursing major at West Valley College, but fell behind during the COVID-19 pandemic. Then, in the spring of 2021, she attended the school’s production of Into the Woods. The show changed her whole perspective—she decided to change her major to theater. She enrolled in her first acting class for the fall semester and auditioned for her first role a year later. Since then, she’s performed in seven shows with the school and has taken all the acting classes West Valley has to offer. She’s hoping to transfer to UC Santa Barbara to continue her theater major in the fall.
Griffin Hennessy told himself that if he was ever injured skateboarding, he’d pivot to painting. After he broke his leg skateboarding two years ago, Hennessy decided to enroll in West Valley College’s studio art program. Years earlier, Hennessy studied business at West Valley and later moved to Washington. While working in sales, he also painted. He realized he didn’t see a future for himself in sales, and his injury further catapulted him into majoring in studio art. He’s now finished his degree at West Valley and hopes to transfer to UC Santa Cruz. Hennessy attributes parts of his surrealist style to his love of bold and wacky visuals from skating subculture. He works as a painter, illustrator, and sculptor, and says his process is materials-focused. The constraints of his materials and space help him conceptualize the direction for his work.
Exhilo is short for Creatio Ex Nihilo: Creation From Nothing
As a young boy, Curtis Ying always reached for the pen tucked away in his mother’s purse. Anything his five-year-old imagination would dream up, he could magically translate into mini masterpieces on restaurant napkins with his mother’s pen. Filled with awe and wonder, Curtis doodled anywhere, so long as his mother remembered to carry her pen.
But his fascination with creation didn’t stop there. Curtis’s mother read Biblical nursery poetry every night, which captured his heart. From very early on, Curtis found inspiration and faith through stories of God’s mysterious and miraculous creation of the universe. From mountains to music, from skyscrapers to sea creatures, Curtis became enamored with how the universe came to be.
Curtis’s parents immigrated from Hong Kong when they were teenagers, and he was born and raised in the Bay Area. Growing up surrounded by California’s beautiful landscapes and Silicon Valley’s renowned tech industry, Curtis became fascinated by how each was uniquely creative and continues to find inspiration in both. This led him to pursue a degree from San Jose State University (SJSU) in graphic design and photography. Throughout his time at SJSU, he decided to use his gifts and knowledge to not only grow in his craft, but to help others grow as well.
As Curtis expanded his skill set, his imagination and fascination with creation expanded along with him. “There’s a magic and wonder with everything we create,” says now 28-year-old Curtis, creator of the Exhilo clothing brand. Exhilo (pronounced ex-he-low) is a faith-based brand made for creatives, by creatives. Each piece of clothing is “unique and limited edition,” and the brand has “grown to collaborate with artists all around the world.” Curtis explains why he chose a clothing brand. “The symbolism of clothing—it speaks to one’s identity. The images you wear can speak to your values.” Curtis’s values are built on his faith in Jesus, and he desires to represent the Creator through creative expression. “There’s so much beauty in creativity, and self-expression is such a gift.” He is passionate about creativity and blank canvases. His fascination with the creative process from imagination to the final product is what keeps Curtis creating. It’s what inspired him to name his company Exhilo. Exhilo is a condensed word for the Latin phrase creatio ex nihilo, which means “creation from nothing.”
“It’s about Community over competition.” – Curtis Ying
Beyond creating clothing apparel, Curtis builds up creatives within his community through Exhilo Creative Meetups (ECM). “The initial desire for the creative meetups was for people to study together…but we changed the direction to be a place to inspire, grow, and encourage each other,” Curtis says. He shared how ECM has helped both him and others grow in confidence and help guide one another through their creative journey. Curtis is thankful that ECM provides networking opportunities, which has led to referrals for jobs and collaborative projects. Though the culture of Silicon Valley is exceptionally competitive, Curtis refuses to let that seep into his own. “It’s about community over competition,” he says. It is important to the passionate leaders of ECM that their community is built on creativity, love, and inclusivity.
Outside of ECM, Curtis and his team organize other hangouts such as rock climbing, bowling, or watching anime films. Curtis says, “I love the feedback because people say they feel loved and accepted…and that they can be their natural selves.” Curtis explains that this is how both he and his team can show love for their community while working out their faith. Exhilo may be a brand, but it has expanded beyond T-shirts, hats, and duffle bags—it has become a family. Regardless of faith, experience, or background, Exhilo welcomes anyone and encourages everyone, uniting one another in creativity and purpose.
Over the last several years, Curtis has used both Exhilo’s successes and failures to help other creators within the community. A colossal component to social media culture is burying failures and exalting successes. Curtis, on the other hand, shares both on Instagram. “I had to throw away over 300 license plate frames that I ordered from China…I had spent about a year dreaming and designing, and it all ended up in the trash.” He adds that although it is extremely uncomfortable admitting defeat, sometimes that is where some of the most valuable lessons are learned.
You will find creativity, community, and cohesivity in all of Curtis’s creations. He is constantly searching for ways to grow beyond apparel and relate new forms of creativity to Exhilo. Some of those forms include photography, dance, and music. Although it is challenging to find ways to relate these outlets back to Exhilo, Curtis invites the challenge and relies heavily on his community for feedback and support.
Curtis’s curiosity and creativity cannot be contained. Though now an adult, he is still as full of awe and wonder as he was as a child. He may not doodle on restaurant napkins with his mother’s pen anymore, but he will always be inspired by his faith and the wonder of creation by the Ultimate Creator.
West Valley College believes in the power of a well-rounded education to shape a future that extends beyond the classroom. Each year, graduating students have the opportunity to showcase their capstone work—a testament to their growth and achievements—to peers, instructors, and the community. In the third year of the Cilker School of Art and Design’s EXPO, they have expanded the event’s reach to celebrate the dynamic relationship between art and design and science and math. The inaugural three-day STEAMD (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Math, & Design) Fest will create a platform that ignites interdisciplinary collaboration between students and faculty, reinforcing the essential symbiotic relationships between disciplines.
We also feature three notable students from the various disciplines of the Cilker School of Art and Design as they move forward in their craft and careers.
Joel Hangai Music Education
More than just being a student who is passionate about music, Joel Hangai is dedicated to helping others. Growing up, Hangai learned any instrument he could get his hands on. He put in many hours of work every day to become a more knowledgeable and capable instrumentalist. When he was unsure of where to go with his talents, West Valley College asked him to become a peer tutor for music majors. He fell in love with sharing his passion with others. Hangai has since delved into music education, teaching all types of students across the Bay Area. He hopes to one day become a music professor. No matter what, he will always find a way to keep music a part of his life.
Shraddha Karalkar was raised in India’s colorful and creative environment, a country of rich culture, wellness, and spiritual wisdom that shaped her views on critical thinking and aesthetics. Immigrating to the United States after earning multiple degrees in pharmaceutical science was challenging. In the fall of 2021, she enrolled at West Valley College. She was drawn to the thoughtful design of creative spaces after noticing how design elements could impact the moods and actions of others. Her interior design courses fueled her passion and led her to become a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Green Associate.
Since then, she has won multiple student design competitions held by the International Interior Design Association (IIDA) and received a Design Excellence Award from the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID). Shraddha is continuing her journey towards excellence in the field of interior design.
Joshua Cruz began his journey in fashion with a high school graphic design course, where he made designs for classmates. He was motivated by creating cool things and the hope that his work could inspire others to create and share artwork of their own.
Born and raised in Mexico, Cruz is inspired by his childhood. He experienced the realities of growing up in a poor and dangerous neighborhood, surrounded by graffiti, dirty sidewalks, walls with bullet holes, and cartel members on the corner. Cruz uses that imagery as inspiration and hopes to show the beauty behind what could be viewed as chaos. His fashion designs include a variety silhouettes, textures, and fabrics to represent a multitude of lives—lives which may seem unbearable to some. His goal is to mix art and fashion to create a combination that inspires others.
At West Valley College in Saratoga, Shannon Mirabelli-Lopez and Mel Vaughn have joined forces to launch the college’s first interdisciplinary graduation expo, STEAM’D Fest, where “Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Math, and Design” reimagine collaboration.
Guided by the collective vision of Dean of The Cilker School of Art & Design, Mirabelli-Lopez, and Dean of The School of Math and Science, Vaughn, STEAM’D Fest represents a step towards fostering future integration across traditionally divided academic disciplines and further building a culture where all disciplines at West Valley recognize their connections and contributions to problem-solving in this modern world.
STEAM’D Fest plans to catalyze cross-pollination between sciences and arts by showcasing the work of students graduating from both schools. The 3-day public event will feature an art & design industry night portfolio review, film festival, Cilker School of Art & Design Fashion Show, and Dance Caravan, as well as birds of prey raptor show, chemistry and physics demonstrations, planetarium exhibition, and moon garden tour. As educators, Mirabelli-Lopez and Vaughn believe that STEAM’D Fest creates a unique platform for students and faculty members to break down boundaries between respective disciplines and leverage the complementary nature of their fields, emphasizing user experience and human-centric approaches.
Mirabelli-Lopez’s success in organizing two previous graduation expos for her school fuels her desire to support Vaughn in elevating his disciplines, aiming for increased visibility and recognition in Silicon Valley’s tech hub. In their eyes, a successful STEAM’D Fest would allow visitors to seamlessly engage with the event’s artistic and scientific dimensions.
In our conversation, we discuss Mirabelli-Lopez and Vaughn’s journeys toward higher education, their thoughts on how teachers impact students’ lives and academic success, and the music they are listening to. RSVP Here: https://bit.ly/pup163perform
The benefit of loving your hometown is that if you close your eyes, you can see it in any season. It imprints itself onto you. Artist Rubén Darío Villa can see his hometown of Gilroy clear as day. Through his art he speaks of his culture, his home, and the history he lives with. His art tells the story of growing up in the Bay Area as a first-generation Chicano.
Like a lot of designers, Villa reached the pinnacle of success early in his career. His first major job out of Santa Clara University was as a designer at Apple. Years later, he transitioned to a similar position at Google. After a decade-plus tenure in tech, Villa was let go during the pandemic. As a husband and father of two, Villa recounted, “It had, for me, a beautiful awakening of what I called my year of cleanse and curate. Let go of things. You begin to be very particular about what you bring back into your life. It started with the four of us, my family. What else could make this better? The beauty of the yin and yang of the pandemic.”
During his time at Google, Villa took on the volunteer role of global brand lead for Google’s Latinx employee resource group, HOLA. Inspired by his experience there, Villa curated the event Sin Miedo (fearless), Google’s first all-Latinx art exhibit. Villa scheduled the event to coincide with Hispanic Heritage Month, with the intent of highlighting the ocean of Latinx talent tucked away in the Googleplex.
This was in 2017, at the dawn of Trump’s presidency, when his harsh rhetoric towards Mexico was at its zenith. Talking heads across the media landscape were occupied with fact checking and proselytizing the then-president’s accusations that Mexico was sending criminals, rapists, and drugs into the country. Sin Miedo would let the Latinx community voice their truth and experience. To further the concept, Villa constructed an outdoor gallery of fences, explaining, “There’s a good neighbor fence and a bad neighbor fence. And the bad neighbor fence is the one where the other neighbor doesn’t want to pitch in to build a new fence between your properties. The one that pays for the fence puts the wood planks on their side so it’s beautiful. You don’t see the post and then you leave the other side completely open. That’s the bad neighbor fence. If you help pay for it together, both sides look nice. We’re being a bad neighbor to Mexico right now.”
The exhibit also acted as the unveiling of Villa’s personal art piece, Frida 4587. The unveiling of the portrait—crafted from 4,587 pieces of candy-covered Chiclet gum—coincided with Frida Kahlo’s 110th birthday. The piece made the rounds across social media and was lauded by major outlets like HuffPost, Pop Sugar, and Yahoo! News.
Villa was a ceaseless voice for the Latinx community while ensconced in the tech world—but that is an industry he has no plans on returning to. “I learned all the lessons God needed me to learn,” Villa goes on to explain, “The culture at Apple had me thinking that there was something wrong with me. I thought that the way Apple did things was the norm. It was my first big job after college. I just thought, ‘This is how it has to be.’ What I realize now is that I’m a big picture person, and I just didn’t fit the secretive, need-to-know work environment. And although I found a better home at Google years later, I don’t think I would ever go back to tech.” Once free of the constraints inherent in multinational conglomerates, Villa went on to fully represent that community that means so much to him in his art and his line of Mexican-themed air fresheners, Fúchila Fresheners.
Fúchila, slang for “smelly” in Spanish, takes the novelty car air freshener and instills it with a collective history, the nostalgia found in the Latinx community. Villa opened shop on Fúchila Fresheners in 2015 with six original designs: Frida Kahlo, Pancho Villa, Blue Demon, Cantinflas, Selena Quintanilla, and a sugar skull. Over the years, there have been over 100 different designs, with Villa dipping further into the iconography and nostalgia of his youth. Villa named this pool of inspiration “Chicanostalgia,” the experience of Western pop culture as lived by the Chicano community.
In the background of all this, Villa was also a board member at youth services organization Digital NEST, an advisor on the San Jose Public Arts Advisory Council, and was recently elected commissioner on Gilroy’s Arts and Culture Commission. These roles are as vital as the design and branding work. In March of 2023, Villa opened the doors on his latest venture, Fúchilandia. Based out of the non-profit 6th Street Studios and Art Center in downtown Gilroy, Fúchilandia will not only be Villa’s home base for design work but will act as the final resting place of Fúchila Fresheners, which is slowly being phased out. “Fúchila Fresheners was never really about air fresheners. It was about feeling seen in even the smallest of products, about honing my craft, about inviting other artists to join me, and about activating the community in ways that amplify our humanity. The fact that the air freshener production has slowed is only an indicator of my cleanse and curate ethos,” he says.
As the final stock of Fúchila Fresheners runs out, Fúchilandia is just getting started. Joining Villa on his new project hangs Frida 4587 , his visual signpost looking to the future from the past.
It’s one of those slow afternoons, and a few lowriders from the Low Conspiracy Car Club have gathered at the garage of current head Sergio Martinez. Surrounded by vintage car prints, show trophies, and shelf upon shelf of model cars, members reminisce over slices of pizza on the organization’s 40-plus years of history.
These memories are bittersweet, reflections trigged by the recent loss of José “All Nighter” Martinez, president during the club’s first decade, and later in life, a regular judge in Lowrider Magazine’s car shows. Last week, the club honored him with a memorial cruise down Santa Clara Street. Now, as they pass around old photos and magazine clippings, a few of the older auto aficionados reflect on the club’s deep impact on their lives.
“It starts out as a hobby and turns into a lifestyle,” muses Abel Hernandez (a retired member of the club, but one of the 10 original high schoolers who first brought it to life back in the ’70s). Sergio smiles his agreement, the Impala symbol tattooed on his arm proof to his friend’s statement. That same mindset holds true across the club. It’s evidenced in the matter-of-fact way club members can rattle off the painters and modifiers behind their cars with the level of pride art collectors reserve for listing the masters framed on their walls.
There’s no argument that these cars are drivable art. “You’re not going to take a family vacation with those,” Abel comments with a chuckle. Sergio nods, “I kinda made mine a trailer queen and chromed everything.” If you’ve witnessed members’ painstaking attention to detail, you’ll understand why. For starters, there’s the handmade Zenith wire wheels with plated spokes in chrome and gold. There’s the big-bodied builds (practically with a couch in the backseat). There’s the hydraulic suspension (some with the power to raise up on three wheels or jump). Occasionally, there’s hidden murals tucked inside the door jams (ready to flash whenever the driver enters or exits the vehicle).
“It starts out as a hobby and turns into a lifestyle.” – Abel Hernandez
And of course, don’t forget the wild paint jobs—a factor which happened to be José’s specialty. “Anybody can paint,” José’s wife Lisa Martinez says. “But you have to be an artist for it to really come out. They used to call them rolling canvases.” It’s not an exaggeration. If you want to win a car show, you play for keeps. Flashy flourishes of sparkles, patterns, and pin-striping get you on the podium. Or as Lisa puts it, “Go big or go home…Make it so that when it drives down the street, it gives people a headache it’s so bright.”
At times, lowrider painters have been known to take a little creative license. “Sometimes you tell them what you want, and they know that’s not going to look good,” Sergio explains, gesturing at his ’78 Grand Prix’s sunset-style two-tone fade from tangerine to scarlet, a coat accented with crisp yellow pinstripes. “I didn’t want orange on there—but he put it on there. When he told me, I wasn’t happy. And then I saw it…and I went back to him and said ‘Put more on.’ ”
“Carlos [Lima] did that to me, too, with my truck,” Sergio adds. “I wanted different colored flames—and he put a kind of magenta. And first thing I thought was ‘Pink. You painted pink flames on my truck?!’ But every truck show I went to with that truck, I won best flames.”
Judges not only look at the paint but scrutinize all the hidden little details, Sergio explains, describing the spotlights and turntables used to reveal every last facet and angle. And for rides with engraved undercarriages, you better believe their owners bring out the mirrors to capture those beautiful underbellies.
Fittingly, these cars with their loud personalities have an equally memorable origin story. It all started with young Chicano lowriders in post-World War II Los Angeles.
Tired of whitewashed cultural norms in the States, Mexican Americans expressed pride in their heritage with their own counterculture. So, in response to the nation’s obsession with speedy hot rods and raised trucks, Chicanos embodied their new motto, “Low and Slow,” by cutting coils, lowering blocks, and even adding sandbags or bricks to their trunks.
Unfortunately, apprehension of minorities ran rampant in the ’50s and the media stoked irrational fears of gangster ties. The result was police harassment as well as a 1958 California law that banned lowered cars. Rather than conform, lowriders met this with a cheeky response: hydraulics. Repurposing aircraft landing gear, they could now elevate their ride height to “appropriate levels” at the flip of a switch.
East San Jose was arguably the hub of the lowrider golden age during the late ’70s and through the ’80s, despite its LA roots—a period Abel refers to as the “King and Story Days.” From Friday to Sunday, Low Conspiracy (which was 80-members strong at its peak) cruised the boulevard with dozens of other clubs late into the night. Thousands of car enthusiasts milled around on the sidewalks and daydreamed themselves into many a driver’s seat.
Cruising acted as a night club on wheels, as much a social staple of the time as spending your nights at the roller rink or the bowling alley. “Once you saw another car flying your plaque [in the rear windshield] you would follow him. Before you knew it, you had a dozen club members cruising together,” Sergio explained in an interview with Lowrider Network. “That was how we met up back when no one had cell phones.”
It was the place to see and be seen. Drivers would showboat by hitting their hydraulics. They’d roll down the windows and blast Latin rock. “Good days when we were out there, huh?” Lisa says to the friend sitting beside her. “That’s when we were young. The guys were out there with their beautiful cars—looking at the girls—who were looking at the guys.”
Unfortunately, the assumption that lowriding and gangsters were somehow linked was still being made by public and police. “They always thought we were up to no good,” Abel recalls. Sergio nods in agreement, “They started fining people, and they were going after the nicest cars because they’re the ones that stood out.”
José, however, was determined to overcome that stigma. “He would approach the chief of police and say, ‘Yo, this is an event we want to do,’ ” Lisa recalls. “He didn’t want them to be hassled.” José and the club also collaborated with local firefighters on toy drives. The message was clear: we’re not here to cause trouble. “You have to give back to your community and show that you’re part of the community,” Lisa states. “You’re not the problem.” These gestures earned them respect among law enforcement.
“Some people are scared of [lowriders], but, nah, it’s all families nowadays,” Sergio verifies. “I’ve been doing it my whole life. I’m older and I got a couple of little grandkids too…the whole family gets into it!” In fact, on more than one occasion, the club has chauffeured young ladies and their quinceañera courts to party venues. “They get a kick out of it,” Abel smiles.
At the end of the day, the club is one big family. Again and again, the Low Conspiracy guys refer to the special brotherly bond shared by members. “When I first started going with them, we happened to park all of the Martinez’s together, just coincidentally,” Sergio recalls, “and somebody noticed and said, ‘Hey, are you guys all brothers?’ And José pops up right away. ‘Oh yeah, we’re all brothers.’ ”
“And he loved being the big brother,” Lisa shares. “He was always referring to Abel as ‘my little brother.’ With everybody. Even the younger guys that were starting, he’d say ‘Oh that’s my son.’ And people thought he had all these kids!” She chuckles at that. Though José retired from the club for a time, it was Lisa who encouraged him to rejoin a few years at the end of his life.
As the group returns to the present from this trip down memory lane, conversation steers toward the upcoming car show at History Park. It’s going to be in July, just in time for the club’s 45th anniversary and will reward a scholarship to a kid who wants to go into auto painting (in memory of José, of course).
Sergio sits back and watches his friends refill their plates with pizza. He gives a contented glance around at his patch of paradise, brightened with tools and trophies. “I’ll be in the club forever,” he declares. “You’ve seen my garage. I’m not going nowhere.”
Article originally appeared in Issue 13.4 Profiles (Print SOLD OUT)
RRedemption Boutique owner Tammy Liu has watched the items we buy become increasingly disposable. While a low-priced tee from your local big box might work as a one-off, she believes, a beautiful garment made by hard-working, passionate hands can become a keepsake to treasure forever.
Liu’s mother was a maker. When she and her husband moved to the US from Taiwan for her husband to attend college, they brought everything she had made with them: clothes, curtains, an entire household. They didn’t have the luxury of discarding their belongings to later replace them; nor could they ever replace what Liu’s mother had lovingly made.
When Liu was two years old, her mother made her a plaid velvet dress with lace tulle lining and a Peter Pan collar. Liu says, “The dress that my mom made me—it made my year.” Over time, Liu became more conscious of the meaning behind the items her mother made—this appreciation for scarcity became the root of her buying mantra.
Inspired by her mother’s craft, Liu’s been determined to work in fashion and open her own store since she was a child. After graduating from Cal Poly with a business degree, she began working in a small Bay Area–based boutique as a sales associate. She was soon managing several stores and ready to break out on her own.
“It had always been a solo mission,” says Liu. But then Liu spent a year in Australia, where she met Dave MacGregor-Scholes. Connected by their mutual love of “thrifting,” they discussed Liu’s ideas for her dream clothing store and expanded the concept into a lifestyle emporium, one that would promote quality over disposability and offer ethically, locally made goods instead of generic products.
Back in the US, Liu had to find the right location to make her and MacGregor-Scholes’s vision a reality. While Liu was considering how much capital would be required to launch a startup given pricey Bay Area rents, the downtown Campbell space practically fell into her lap: 1000 square feet of shop space in a prime location on Campbell Avenue.
Liu’s customers endorse her ideals and support local, handmade goods. Says Liu, “The majority of my customers are just like me: 30-somethings who want to feel good about their purchases.”
Documentaries about poor working conditions in clothing factories inspired Liu to research production methods. Wanting to reach artists who could produce merchandise for her space, she started looking for creative craftspeople in California. “I wanted to design a collective space that showcases the talent all around us,” says Liu.
Liu made it her mission to personally meet every artisan and visit his or her workshop. By being selective, she hoped to find people who shared her passion for quality.
When she finally opened in May 2015, she had 40 vendors—now the total is closer to 60. Many of these artists donate a portion of their proceeds back to the community.
All of the bath and body products are fair trade; the display fixtures in the shop were made from reclaimed wood. The unfinished edges and stark geometric shapes echo the simple message of finding value in all kinds of materials.
During her thrift adventures in Australia, Liu developed an eye for good recycled clothing, too. “I don’t shop in department stores,” she says, “because I don’t want what everyone else has.” Her store features a section for recycled clothing that she’s sourced from antiques and estate sales. The racks are filled with men’s and women’s lines that are manufactured in California, using local materials and fabrics.
The positive response she has received from the community so far reinforces why she opened the shop. One customer emailed to praise her excellent sales associate. Liu laughed about this as she’s the only employee, working seven days a week.
The longer the shop has been open, the less research she has had to do. Customers bring in products and vendors. While Liu would like to take some time off occasionally to take her dogs to the beach or catch up on laundry, running Redemption has never felt like work.
“This is the happiest I have ever been,” Liu says. “I am exactly where I wanted to be.”
