6 minute read
HEADY THREADS HEADY THREADS
The Bindle Conspiracy
Luke started The Bindle Conspiracy in 2016 after exploring Europe, Southeast Asia and Central America, then driving his van across the United States, Mexico and Canada. “A few things sparked my interest as potential careers while I was traveling,” he explained, “but really one thing stayed constant for me: my love for clothing.” So, he decided to learn how to make it from scratch and has been cutting and sewing every single piece by hand since. Currently based out of Boulder, Colorado, his one-of-a-kind wearables feature fun fabrics, trippy textures and playful patchwork. thebindleconspiracy.com | @thebindleconspiracy
Killer Acid
Rob Corradetti has been making art for over 25 years and launched Killer Acid in 2010, which specializes in screen prints, t-shirts and psychedelic accessories. While the brand is based out of Santa Cruz, California, Rob’s style blends “head shop and punk rock” inspired by the technicolor coming-of-age in New York City – full of cartoon characters, bright colors and subtle references to classic art. So far, Killer Acid has done some killer collaborations with brands like Meow Wolf, Zumiez, VICE, Adult Swim and Santa Cruz Skateboards. killeracid.com | @killeracid
BROKEN PROMISES CO.
Founded by Mandee Bence and Jason Blake, Broken Promises Co. is “rooted in the expression of human emotions, with products that allow people to express their feelings by wearing them when sometimes itʼs hard to talk about how you feel.” Based out of Southern California, the brand has its own app where it drops an exclusive new collection every Saturday morning and has collaborated on capsules with Hot Wheels, Beetlejuice, Mountain Dew, Death Note and others. brokenpromises.com |@brokenpromisesco
Skully Vibes
Skully Vibes has been making art his whole life but started drawing skull characters in high school. He continued to evolve his spooky-stoney style, and the Skully Vibes brand was officially born in 2021 with a passion project called Smoking Skulls – a collection of 710 different hand-drawn skull characters with a poem to go with each one. Now, the skulls are a staple throughout his multimedia art including prints, stickers and t-shirts –each embroidered to order in Denver.skullyvibes.com @skully.vibes
Grassroots California
Grassroots began making hats for a documentary film in 2009 and has since hooked up artists like Method Man, Jerry Garcia and Griz with the headiest headpieces. They’re known for their signature holograms and designs on the interior of the hats, made with environmentally-friendly materials such as hemp. The company donates 1% of all sales to charity and has done limited-time collections with psychedelic artists such as Vincent Gordon and The Frank Brothers. grassrootscalifornia.com @grassrootscalifornia
Michelle started Wook Wear a couple of years ago to create stash bags for all her friends, specializing in “prizedpossession pouches” that are perfect for terp pearls or marbles. She designs her own patterns, cutting and sewing everything from scratch by hand, and says she “loves making insulated bags for hash or your favorite glass and psychedelic supplies – just about anything you can dream of!” Don’t miss the drops on her Instagram at 4:20 p.m. on #wookwearwednesdays. @wook.wear
STRAIGHT TRIPPIN CO.
Armed with his friend's printing press and his mom's old embroidery machine, Tyler started Straight Trippin Co. in 2021. Today, he makes shirts, hats and beanies that are each dyed and embroidered by hand in Austin, Texas. He draws inspiration from his own psychedelic experiences and says he started the brand to “challenge the prevailing stigma associated with substances often frowned upon in society.” straighttrippinco.etsy.com | @straighttrippinco
Shelter Cultivation Project
The Shelter Cultivation Project is an experimental retail space and apparel brand in Burlington, Vermont featuring zines, clothing, artwork and home goods by a collection of makers. Founder Shawn Dumont says, “This is really just a weird art experiment, and we only make something new when we have an idea worth pursuing or find an artist that we really want to work with.” Shelter has done a few group gallery shows, created a toll-free hotline for talking to exotic plants (give it a call at 1-844-Plant-Talks), and recently held a concert with Michael Nau and Benny Yurco. sheltercultivationproject.com | @sheltercultivationproject
Many people believe that when we consume psychedelic entheogenic medicines, we tap into both an inner space as well as an interdimensional, shapeless plane of existence too vast and complex for us to describe or define with our limited human capabilities. Through his art, Chris Dyer attempts to give a physical, visual form to concepts, beings and feelings conjured to his mind in part from his many experiences as a spiritual psychonaut. We had the chance to tap in with the Canadian-Peruvian skateboarder and psychedelic visionary to learn more about his life, his artistic process, and what he’s seen and felt during his many experiences with various journey-inducing substances all over the world.
ON THE INFLUENCE HIS PERUVIAN UPBRINGING HAD ON WHO HE’S BECOME:
Peru’s tricky. When people think of Peru, it's like, ‘Oh, it's so beautiful with the llamas running around the mountains and the ruins and the Incas, and then you go to the jungle and you drink ayahuasca – la la la.’ But no, for me, growing up in the ‘80s and the ‘90s in Lima, Peru was terrorism and blackouts and getting mugged four times a year for being white. I went to an all-boys school, so it's just like hyper-masculine scenarios where everyone's fighting over power, and me being a sensitive artist, I had to build a bunch of armors to protect myself from getting too energetically robbed. It gave me a lot of challenges that I've had to work through in my life. I'm better now, but I recognize where the wounds started.
On The Interconnected Experiences And Visions Reflected
IN TRIBAL ART THROUGHOUT
GLOBAL HISTORY:
Cultures around the world somehow had access to the portals that take you to … the same center of creation, and it comes out and it manifests as a head in Mexico, or a carving in Nepal, or some motifs on textiles in Peru. This tribal artwork from ancient times, they were all tapping to the same place. And I'm tapping to the same place. Yes, I am Peruvian and I grew with a certain influence, but I've also traveled to 45 different countries around the world and observed the similarities. Then I go into that place of oneness and try to understand what these interdimensional consciousness beings are and what they're trying to tell us, and how they're trying to help humanity throughout time. They're in a place past time, so they're just waiting for us there. In that other dimension, they exist. If I were to go into an Ayahuasca ceremony today, I’d tap into that place. It's the same exact time and place –since it's timeless – that the pre-Inca cultures tapped into, and many other cultures around the world.
ON
The
EXPERIENCE OF AYAHUASCA:
When I'm there, I'm like, ‘What the fuck's going on here? What is this place? Is it alien? Is it collective consciousness? Is this an aspect of God? Is this God itself?’
A couple weeks ago, I did my 45th ceremony in Willow Creek – I was sitting in the other dimension for a few hours just observing it and letting it teach me how to fix my own corrupt coding so that I can shine more and help empower others to shine more. And thus, together we shine together and create a flame of humanity that is so strong that we'll break through the darkness that's trying to hold us down as a humanity. … What is this fractal consciousness reality that feels like many souls in one, that wants to help me and wants to help us? It's almost like the elders are cheering us from the place before and after life. That's where I go with Aya.
ON THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN AYAHUASCA AND OTHER ENTHEOGENIC MEDICINES:
When I did Bufo, I went somewhere else. Bufo took me to a white place where I wasn't even there anymore. And thus, I don't have many memories of it. There wasn't even a ‘Chris’ left to observe because I had dissolved into everything-slash-nothingness, and there's a subconscious part of me that remembers that place of expansion in my dreams. positivecreations.ca | @chris_dyer
With mushrooms, you can get to that place that Aya takes you, but you gotta take like, a lot of mushrooms. … I think all of these medicines open different portals, and really, once the portal's open, those places are so big it makes the physical plane that we live in – with our planet, our solar system, our galaxy, the universe – look small compared to the astral plane where there's no up and down and it just goes on into infinity or eternity. Once you're there, it seems like that's the real place and this is the fake little video game that we play to kind of experience physical reality, and this array of human emotions and pain and joy. In the end, we're from beyond, and these places that we go through these medicines are closer to our real self. I would say our true, pure, real self is what we understand to be God –that oneness, the absolute energy of love and expansion. But that's just my personal belief.