Today we’d like to introduce you to Francisco Ibarra.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
As I grew up, the arts really captured my interest rather than sports like my brothers. My parents would have us visit our family in Mexico throughout the years, which helped understand where we came from, up until about sophomore year of high school where I no longer visited Mexico for about seven years which affected my understanding of Mexican culture relating to me. When college came around, I studied graphic design for the four and a half years, I was at CSULB. Since I wasn’t accepted into their BFA program, I was able to take other art classes such as Metalsmithing, Woodshop, and Sculpture. Each class taught me many things that attribute into this business; Metalsmithing taught me to sketch out my ideas and create digital and paper models, Woodshop taught me how to use tools I normally wouldn’t and helped me focus more on using my hands to create things. The Sculpture class I took focused more on installation and presentation which helps me in creating some sort of experience for my customers when they open my products. This idea of starting my own business began during graduation season in 2019; I did my first set of Princess Concha Minnie ears on my graduation cap, I painted the Disney castle and Mickey’s fun wheel on my sash, and did 14 centerpieces along with my invitations to celebrate graduation. This fed into my need to explore and expand my artistic talents after college and ultimately leading into the creation of a Concha Dust Creations.
Has it been a smooth road?
One of the main struggles of my business is starting with the concha Minnie ears, since I was very passionate about the designs I wanted to start with those, even though the demand for them was nonexistent. Another obstacle I faced was the execution of the products, there were many trials and errors throughout the processes of beginning this business to ultimately minimizing those errors yet being able to experiment with my products.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with Concha Dust Creations – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of and what sets you apart from others.
Concha Dust Creations is a small business that I created to combine my love for Disney and aspects of my culture. My first initial focus was creating Princess inspired concha ears; however, due to Covid-19 I shifted my focus onto face masks. My more popular items are the Aztec patterned face masks(the Xaya collection), which consist of two layers of 100% cotton fabric on the inside and the woven Aztec pattern fabric on the outside. Something that makes me proud of my company is that it pushes me into creating things that can bring a little bit of magic into people’s homes and lives, especially during this time. I think what sets me apart from certain businesses is focusing on many things that people might not consider or forget about, such as different underrated characters, old forgotten tv shows and incorporating that into my business.
Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
I love a lot of things about our city, the atmosphere, the coffee shops, the stores, the ability to explore new parts of the city every time we go out. The only thing I dislike about our city is the traffic because some trips that typically take about fifteen to twenty minutes end up taking an hour or two to get to our destination.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.etsy.com/shop/ConchaDustCreations
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/conchadustcreations/
Image Credit:
For the one of myself, that was taken by my Brother Antonio.
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