Today we’d like to introduce you to Maggie Lomeli.
Hi Maggie, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I grew up in LA, and studied fine art at Otis College of Art and Design, with a focus on abstract painting. But abstract art is very up-and-down, very unsteady-feeling, so more and more I found myself attracted to the orderly nature of printmaking. I found that printmaking provided a straight line to achievement—if I worked hard enough, I could get it objectively “right.”
This led me to enroll at Tamarind Institute of Lithography in Albuquerque. Tamarind is a tiny, esoteric, year-long program that teaches you how to approach collaborative printmaking, in lithography, both technically and interpersonally. It was all-encompassing: there were just seven students, from all over the world, together in this boot camp for business-minded artisans. I got a hard-core education in how to run a serious, professional art practice.
After Tamarind, I moved back to Los Angeles, and I started printing for artists and designers professionally under the name Gray Area Print. For more than ten years, I collaborated with artists to conceptualize and develop fine-art projects involving screenprinting and lithography. I’m so proud of it: that work has been in fine-art galleries all over the country and the world.
But in 2020, with the pandemic, everything changed. I was at home with my husband and kids, of course, sewing again, thinking a lot about our living space, obviously–and I began to mull the idea of creating a line of textiles for the home. I knew I could draw on my expertise in screenprinting, I had a penchant for abstraction, I loved color–I figured maybe I could apply what I knew from the fine-art world to create a high-end line of hand-printed home goods. And that’s how Tokens Label was born.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
At this point, Tokens Label is just over a year old–and it’s been a year of continuous education, a huge learning curve. Tokens Label encapsulates all of my passions, and it provides me with all of the mental benefits of creative work, play, and problem-solving. But I’ve also had to acquire a whole new set of skills–like advertising, marketing, web design, production management, and financial management–any of which can, at any moment, completely absorb my time and attention, and eat into the time I want to devote to designing and making. And there’s still so much to learn! I find it all very exciting.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Tokens Label?
First of all, we have a philosophy that drives us. We believe that every home should be filled with art that brings joy. That art belongs everywhere in the home, not just on the walls. That the individuality of the owner should be reflected in the things they live with and love. Those ideas govern all the big decisions we make at Tokens Label.
Starting with our first products, our signature pillows, we aimed to create items that would coexist effortlessly with children and pets, without sacrificing design–items that are modern, stylish, and chic, but also joyous and colorful and playful. Every fabric is screen printed by hand, and we pay especially close attention to the surface and the tactile qualities of the ink because we want our pillows to be the most-touched objects in your house. All non-toxic inks, of course, and easy care. And everything we make is heirloom quality: seriously, we expect our pillows to last forever.
As we’ve expanded our offering–from throw pillows to floor pillows, and now with our new line of t-shirts, and some other home goods and apparel we’re planning for the coming year–we apply the exact same rules for ourselves.
Let’s talk about our city – what do you love? What do you not love?
What do I like most about this city? Well, I grew up here! Even still, it continues to change all of the time. My favorite part about living in LA are the resources–for design, production, and inspiration–I have at my disposal. And that I can go running outside year-round.
I first introduced Tokens Label to my local west LA community, through fairs and festivals, and loved the enthusiastic and supportive response and helpful feedback I got— having so many repeat customers lets me know I am on the right track!
What I like least about Los Angeles is likely the intimidating scale of the city- at the moment my business is mostly online, and the natural next step is to establish relationships with retailers, and a city as big as LA, with so many retailers, can feel daunting.
Pricing:
- We visualize our customers as cool, smart, design-savvy people–but who also could have kids and busy lives, and therefore need to be smart about how they spend their money. So we work hard to make sure our prices are something that our customers can feel good about:
- Our throw pillows start at about $60
- Our large floor pillows and furniture-style pillows start at $125
- Our t-shirts for kids and adults start around $28
Contact Info:
- Website: Tokenslabel.com
- Instagram: @tokenslabel
