Ep. 17 Breaking Boundaries: Tony Peralta's worldly vision through Pop Art!

Are you ready for a creative adventure? Brace yourself for a fantastic journey through the mind of Tony Peralta, a creative genius who has reshaped the art and design landscape with his unique blend of Dominican heritage, streetwear, and graphic design. From his early beginnings in Washington Heights to his time at Long Island University, Tony's story is filled with grit, resilience, and an insatiable desire to carve his own path in the world of art and design.

Uncover the origins of the Peralta Project, a fascinating venture born from Tony's love for hip-hop fashion. Hear about his first steps into the world of fashion at 17, his time working at a PR marketing company, and how these experiences ignited his entrepreneurial spirit. Be captivated by Tony's journey from designing for a backpack company to creating style guides and graphic design. Listen to how he transformed his hobby into a thriving business, and how his viral art pieces have made the Peralta Project a full-time venture.

This is not just a conversation about art and design - it's a deep dive into the mind of a creative genius. Learn about Tony's unique creative process, his strategy for staying focused and productive, and the upcoming pop-up at Casa Musa in Williamsburg. Tony also shares his intriguing experience transitioning from an employee to an entrepreneur, the business adjustments he had to make, and his love for the personal freedom it has afforded him. This inspiring conversation with Tony Peralta is one you don't want to miss - whether you're an aspiring artist or simply in search of a fresh surge of inspiration!

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:19

What's going on, guys? Welcome back to the innovators, then I am formally known as hashtag. Please follow us at the innovators down on YouTube, on Instagram and in all your platforms.

Speaker 2: 0:27

I'm here with Steve all business and we got a special guest, tony. The parolta project correct yes, sir, what's up? What's up, guys, how you guys doing it's a honor to have you, man, thanks for having me man yeah, we have a lot of creative people on the, on the, on the set with us, and we just want to elaborate on your story and how you got to being a creative and um, and doing amazing work that has been published and you know. So what's up?

Speaker 3: 0:52

talk to us, tell us your story from Washington Heights, born and raised, went to G dubs, didn't graduate from high school right, got my GD, went to Long Island University. I wanted to be a film director. When the time I graduated, I think, was in 1999, there wasn't a lot of production happening in New York City during that time and when I actually went to college around here, I went to Long Island University. So I was a media arts major and I focused on the things that really kind of like drawed my attention. So I was like into graphics, into photography and film, and it's interesting that that major has helped me out in so many different ways as a creative. It's the reason why I could do a lot of things by myself, you know. I'm saying even like you know I had started a podcast right, so when it came time to edit the audio, that shit was easy for me, you know.

Speaker 3: 1:52

I'm saying like I went on to YouTube it was like, okay, cool, like I know I understand this right. So it was like, yeah, I wasn't starting from from like a blank slate. So I honestly, I've always been creative, you know, that's, that's kind of like my superpower. When I was a kid I've always, you know, just drew. I used to be in like different classes in in in elementary school and in junior high school. It was the only thing, the only good thing I was good at. You know, I'm saying my mom always said that I was when I was like, you know, not a baby, but when I was like a lot younger, I will always just like be drawing and stuff like that and it's kind of like the thing that helped me stick out. You know, growing up, I love to say that art saved my life right you know I grew up in the heights.

Speaker 3: 2:40

I'm from 187th street. Obviously, during the time I grew up, that's, we were known for two things in the 80s Dominicans playing baseball and like selling drugs, right.

Speaker 1: 2:51

So I think we're kind of still in that no, no, not really.

Speaker 3: 2:55

I mean, I think, I think Dominicans have come along so much, but like literally back then that was and another thing too you know people, people didn't know what a Dominican was like, you know, even though people know what Dominicans are now. Like back in the days, if you spoke Spanish, people thought you were Puerto Rican, right, so it wasn't until, like it wasn't until, like that song, um, a general came out that really kind of helped put us on the map, because he he shouts out like Santo Domingo and we got all hype about it, right. Like you know, me and my friends we would go to clubs and stuff like that. So like when you in the club they'll shout out, they always like, was Brooklyn in the house? Whenever they said Uptown, they were really referring to Harlem, right, and they will say Puerto Rico. They wouldn't say like Latinos, it was just because Puerto Rican.

Speaker 3: 3:45

So when that song came out to boom, boom is, and he said Santo Domingo, we literally lost our shit, right. So that's kind of like my start. My origin story again is growing up in the heights. I was in the streets in the sense of like I was just.

Speaker 3: 4:01

I was always outside, playing around, being around the drug dealers. Obviously I have friends that that. That got into that. I always felt that I had a purpose in life and if and the thing that kind of deterred me from from like selling drugs because, trust me, I had the opportunity was that the first day that I sold drugs I will go to jail because I'm basically breaking what my my purpose in life was like. That was in my mind as a kid. So it's the reason why I never kind of like was really in the streets. I was so afraid of going up to um to jail. You know I'm saying so. That was like a huge deterrent your.

Speaker 1: 4:41

Why kind of preventing you from actually?

Speaker 3: 4:44

absolutely yeah, and it's just like I never was envious of like what people had. You know, I grew up I grew up with a single mom. My mom didn't really buy me that much stuff. My mom would just buy me things like necessities, right, which is the reason why I was able to, like use my imagination. You know I'm saying like I have older, um, I have an older brother and a sister.

Speaker 3: 5:05

You know it's four of us but I was always creative with even the way that I dressed. I didn't have like the new sneakers or anything like that, I just knew how to put on an outfit. You know I'm saying, which kind of also helped me stick out. You know, one of one of the one of the things that I learned, like when you broke you just know how to do things and be resourceful right. So, like, for instance, my mom used to send me to go get a haircut, when I, like every six months, like here's six dollars, go to Jerry's, go do a number one, and that's why, like, if you look at my pictures, my hair always looks busted right, because my literally will cut my hair every six months.

Speaker 3: 5:44

But I learned how to like give myself um shape ups by using a big right, but then, little by little, I just like. Then I looked, I bought the the straight edge razor. So like I cut my own hair, like I've been cutting my hair ever since, like I was a teenager you know I'm saying so. And then, funny thing enough, when I learned how to cut hair, I used to cut the drug dealers hairs as well, some of them, you know, in my neighborhood so, then, the creative process started channeling through you.

Speaker 2: 6:14

Um, I've been seeing your work, that you was doing, that you was using Dominican culture through your artwork to communicate a message and to highlight our culture through art.

Speaker 3: 6:24

Correct yeah, in a way, this is the thing right, because I've always been an artist, I've always been a creative. I only do what I know right. So what I know is Dominican culture, but from my point of view, as a Dominican American, right, right, as a Dominican American where you're born in the.

Speaker 1: 6:43

I was born and raised here.

Speaker 3: 6:44

I'm from one, I'm from uptown Washington Heights, born and raised right, but I was lucky enough that you know I would go to the Dominican Republic almost every summer, right. So you know the the cool thing about that is that I, uh, I got to witness a lot of cool stuff that was happening in the Dominican Republic growing up right, that people have no clue from. Like it's interesting, like Jaco enero died a couple of years ago and the movie came out, but there's so many Dominicans from New York City that I didn't know who. That was right, but anyway it was, because when I would go there, that's there will be, there will show the Lucha Libre right right.

Speaker 3: 7:21

So those are all references that I had um I think he's.

Speaker 1: 7:26

He's the face of Fortimao too. Right, he was the face of.

Speaker 3: 7:29

Fortimao and and and a whole bunch of stuff. And another thing was that when I would, when I would you know I love going to galleries and art shows and things like that, especially in the early 2000s. So I always noticed that there was nothing there that kind of like that I could relate to, right. So that's kind of like where I started to do things that represented Latinos and Latinos in New York City. So one of the very first things that I ever did, one of the first things I ever did, was the Café Bustelo Can. It was in 2004. No, not even it was the Goya Can. It was the Goya Can in 2004.

Speaker 2: 8:16

But for me that's a reference to Andy Warhol, right?

Speaker 3: 8:19

So I'm an artist and I'm also a graphic designer and I always love streetwear, right. So when you look at streetwear, streetwear always did things with logo flips, right Like. That's always been a thing. I literally remember when I got that idea of the Warhol thing was like I was reading this biography. I was on the subway and I was reading the biography of Jean-Paul Basquiat and there was a moment in the chapter where they talked about, you know, they did a collaboration together. And then it hit me and I was like yo, I wonder if anybody ever took the Goya Can the same way, but made it not the Goya Can, the Campbell Soup Can, and made it the same way, he, but as a Goya Can, as a Goya Can, black Beans Can. I was like damn, that would be so dope. And I came up with this whole concept of like yo and if not too long ago, somebody actually sent me the invitation we did to this art show that I had and the whole concept was what if Andy Warhol was Latin? And it was Andres Warhol, what if Andy Warhol was Latin? That was the concept behind.

Speaker 3: 9:28

When I got home, that was the early days of Google, so I Googled to see if anybody ever did anything like that. Because the time that I grew up, we lived by this no biting allowed. I saw nobody has done it and I was like, pfft, I got this shit. So I worked on that, being a graphic designer. I did the graphic and then I had learned how to screen print and did it as a screen print and that's kind of like from there was the beginning of what I call art de pop or pop art, but in Spanish, and basically what I decided what I was going to do was I love screen printing because it's very quick. Also, being a graphic designer, I could literally come up with something on my computer and then make it into a piece of art, into an actual piece of tangible art or a product a t-shirt or a hoodie or whatever.

Speaker 3: 10:22

Exactly right. I had learned how to screen print on my own by looking at YouTube videos, but then I took a class at a school of visual arts and been there ever since and it's my medium. And what I also said to myself is I'm going to do whatever Warhol did. I'm going to do it, but I'm going to just do it from a Latino standpoint. The thing with me is just like I am Dominican, but that's not the only thing that I do. I'm somebody who grew up in hip hop. Hip hop is a very important art form for me in culture. Being a New Yorker, being Dominican, being a Dominican New Yorker all those things play a part in what my art is.

Speaker 1: 11:07

You know what?

Speaker 3: 11:07

I'm saying so. It's not necessarily one particular thing.

Speaker 1: 11:10

It's not one dimensional.

Speaker 3: 11:11

It's not one dimensional and, honestly, and the thing is too, it's just like I do whatever I get inspired to do. I think one of the things that sets me apart from a lot of people and somebody who I know had told me that was that I pay attention to the mundane, so meaning there's things that we could just be sitting here and, for instance, I have a t-shirt that's coming out and the idea I got it was I went to this play and the play was about hip hop and there was this young lady painting a life painting and she had a, she had a Café Bustelo can with her brushes in it, and I was just like yo, that shit is dope, that's a reference.

Speaker 3: 12:03

But it's me, that's like that's a Latino artist, like you. Look at that, that's like a symbol for Latino artists.

Speaker 1: 12:08

It's almost like when you see, like the butter cookies in a Hispanic household.

Speaker 3: 12:13

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 12:13

But you go and look for butter cookies you might see like sewing things.

Speaker 3: 12:17

Yeah, exactly, I see some of the kind of yeah, you know, that's kind of like again, how like inspiration it just comes from anywhere. Like I'm at this play and this girl's painting, doing a live painting, and she has her brushes inside of a Café Bustelo can, and I was just like yo, that's that shit is dope, like that's either like a t-shirt design or something and I just, you know, took a note from it and that's actually coming out in a couple of weeks. That's kind of like how my brain works. That's why, like, first of all, I love to travel, right, like I love to travel.

Speaker 3: 12:47

And it's just like, even when I go to the maker of public and in the past at least 10 years, like when I go to the maker of public, I don't go to the maker of public like how people normally go, you know what I'm saying. Like I actually have friends over there, like, but that's, you know, I know create, I know a lot of creatives over there. Like I know the weirdos, I know the like, the weirdos in the art. You know what I'm saying. So it's like, and I love walking around. I mean people look at me like I'm crazy because I'm walking around and shit you know. But it's just like when I'm, when I walk around, there's things that I that I see that inspire me to do something.

Speaker 2: 13:24

Right.

Speaker 3: 13:24

And it's with anything, even with traveling. I feel, like a lot more free when I travel. You know what I'm saying, no matter where I'm at. You know what I'm saying. I just love. I love everything about travel, Just even like going to being at their airport is fun to me.

Speaker 2: 13:37

You know what I'm saying.

Speaker 3: 13:39

It's like I don't know something just kind of unlocks for me and I just you know a lot of. I get a lot of inspiration.

Speaker 2: 13:45

So the Peralta project, that became almost like a multimedia project thing that you could just funnel or your ideas through as a brand or a company, just to understand more.

Speaker 3: 13:57

No well, the Peralta project. Basically, you know, again, being a child of hip hop fashion plays a huge part in it. Right so, it's like the first t-shirt I ever made. I was 17 years old. Right so, because we love, you know, we love hip hop. This was at the time, like, in Harlem, they used to like sell a lot of the bootleg t-shirts and all of that Right Right With like sayings of like song, like, for instance, I used to have a song.

Speaker 2: 14:21

Well, artists, they used to have the artist hip hop artists on the stage.

Speaker 3: 14:23

No but it was even more like, like it was just like they'll take sayings, like something from a, like a rap lyric, and then make a t-shirt from there or whatever right, there was a song by Lord of the Underground called Mr Funky and it's like there's a part of the song that goes I live for the funk, I die for the funk, I live for the funk. Yeah, that one exactly. So what I did was, you know, me and my friend at the time, like we thought it would be dope to make a t-shirt like that and then, like I drew it, I drew this dude, you know, he had an afro because, again, this is the 90s, so he and it said the word funk on it and it was just like, all right, like we should, we want to make t-shirts. He worked at his grandfather's store, I think.

Speaker 3: 15:07

I had a job, some sort of a job somewhere, and and one day I went to an event it was a Zulu nation reunion party, that's what it was and there was somebody selling t-shirts and I asked him yo, where you, where you get this done? Right, and he told us about some chicken, the Bronx. We went to the Bronx, whatever. Whatever it was, we made the t-shirts we put our money to. We figured it out, we put our money together and we made probably like 24 t-shirts or whatever, and like we sold them to the drug dealers in the neighborhood, you know, and like that was my first time doing shirts and you know there's this thing about hip hop that just there's always like this entrepreneurial spirit. You know what I'm?

Speaker 3: 15:47

saying Like I could do this DIY. I could do this on my own thing. So with the Peralta project I had started working. So, like my first job out of college, I worked for a PR marketing company Focus on the urban market, like product placement, getting things in Mac and magazine stylist, all of that. That's what they did.

Speaker 2: 16:07

What brands were out at that time, Like oh, this is this is 1999.

Speaker 3: 16:13

Yeah, no, mecca, mecca. So this is Mecca time, this is FUBU Like. This is like literally 1999, 1998, 1999. So you guys remember the third rail?

Speaker 2: 16:25

Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3: 16:26

Third rail, echo, all that stuff, and like they were they. So when I went to work for this, it was a small PR marketing company and that's where I got to go to Vegas for the first time for magic and just saw the whole bit. Like I saw every like the whole Pandora's box it just it just like blew me away.

Speaker 3: 16:48

Like the first time I was there, I was just like, first of all, you're seeing rappers and and all the clothings that you like and all this other shit, and I was like I want to be part of this world. So bad, and I kind of. And I was. I was, you know, working for the PR marketing company, but my dream was to work as a graphic designer for a brand For a brand that's 1999.

Speaker 3: 17:11

And then a couple of years later, like I've always been somebody that carved my own kind of like road and niche I don't really go the way everybody else does and I started working designing handbags and like backpacks Right, that's.

Speaker 2: 17:25

That's just like I wanted to have a job in the in the in the fashion business and I ended up All the way to doing tech packs, or was just more just graphic flats, no doing everything. Wow, oh, the whole everything working the whole sampling production yeah.

Speaker 3: 17:41

Design. Like that's how you, I learned everything. You know what I'm saying. Like, like I didn't know that I have a crazy the, the, the crazy thing is like I have a weird, crazy career because, again, like I, like I said, I wanted to be a director, right.

Speaker 3: 17:54

So then when I graduated from from from college, I for a whole year I looked for a job and I couldn't find one because at that time there wasn't really doing a lot of production in New York City. So then I went to Plan B, which was doing graphic design, which was something I was good at, and I started working for this PR marketing company, being their design director. And then I was there for like about two years and then I got another job working for this company that owned Pokemon, right. So, like, there's this thing called a style guide, where when you have licenses and you have a license with somebody who makes your shorts or whatever, you give them this style guide so they have your logos and your colors. So then I got this job working at this company called Four Kids doing style guides Right. And then, because I knew how to do style guides this company that used was a licensee, a licensee store or whatever that did backpacks they hired me.

Speaker 2: 18:53

To do graphic designs on the pack.

Speaker 3: 18:55

No, but the thing is, it was to design, it was to do everything. It was to do everything. Cause they like literally my.

Speaker 3: 19:01

I remember how my People like the creative director and designer and no but the funny thing is this like I remember, like my, the interview she said you know she was like have you ever designed like a backpack or whatever? It's like now, but like I know what, how y'all do, where you just basically buy a sample from somewhere and knock it off so I could do that. Like literally, like that's why I saw their. That's what the fashion business is. Like I literally everywhere. Like trust me, I've done freelance Abercrombie or whatever. The first time I get there I see all these design, different designers and they have all these samples by their desks and people go shopping. That was back in the days when people go shopping to London and in Japan or whatever. They come back with shit and they knock stuff off Like I like this pocket, so I'm going to take this pocket, I like this or whatever Cause.

Speaker 3: 19:53

In the urban market, in the urban fashion thing, the majority of those dudes were people that were graffiti artists, people that were graphic designers or whatever, who did not go to fashion school. So when I learned that little secret and saw it, I was like I know how to use a computer. Like that's what it was. It's like it was the. The interesting thing about that time was that that was the beginning of computers. So a lot of designers that went to FIT or whatever didn't really learn how to use the computer. They used to do everything sketching right. So then they will hire people like myself to come and render their sketches.

Speaker 3: 20:27

So then make patterns and all that shit. So I learned all that stuff.

Speaker 2: 20:30

Wow, I didn't know that side of it.

Speaker 3: 20:32

Yeah. So then the the in 2004,. Like, I started with doing art and I started to do art, a friend of mine had an art exhibit put together. Art exhibit put me in it. I did this one T-shirt. I did like I had not T-shirt. I had three paintings and one of the paintings was it's called Gaza Strip, but a lot of people know that's freedom and it's basically this kid has his face covered and it has with a bandana, but instead of saying instead of a bandana says the word freedom on it. And then it has the starring Crescent and the Doves. And this was in 2004. And so many people loved that painting and there was like you should make this into a T-shirt, you should make them into a T-shirt. A year later I made it into a T-shirt and it was when the Peralta, and that's how the Peralta project was born.

Speaker 1: 21:22

What kind of painting do you do?

Speaker 3: 21:24

That painting. It was acrylic. Acrylic, yeah, it was acrylic. I did my first T-shirt. Probis of Town sold it, and Brooklyn Circus because Ouija, me and him went to college together sold it in the store there too. So that's kind of like the beginning of the Peralta project.

Speaker 2: 21:41

Wow, so it's like you went from graphic designer, creative artist, to then back into fashion. Yeah Well, the thing is To art, to fine art.

Speaker 3: 21:50

I was doing art, because what happened was that I needed. I needed a balance in my life. So it's just like sitting in front of a computer all this time. I was like I need something for myself, Right? So, you know, I kind of taught myself how to screen print, and then I took a class and then I just was doing that, messing around. You know, I would go on the weekends to the studio and create art pieces or whatever. And then, you know, I started the Peralta project, but that was really just a hobby for me and social media was not heavy at that time.

Speaker 3: 22:17

There was no, social media was my space.

Speaker 2: 22:20

Right.

Speaker 3: 22:21

And I was like I was selling, like I still like the crazy, like I have receipts. That's the thing about me is just like I don't. I'm not lying because I could show you the proof of like, like the stuff that I was like putting on my space and all of that. But it was again, it was just a hobby. I used to work for a handbag company or whatever. I would go ahead, make samples, like send to make sample, call places, you know, like can I? Because people are not going to make 12 or 24 t-shirts for you, right, like back then. And it was like yo, can I make 12? But then you got to pay more or whatever, I will make the shirts. Go on the weekends, go to the stores to try to get into stores or whatever. Like, make my own catalog. Shoot the the photos myself, right, use the copier from the company I worked for to make my own catalog. So then the weekends I would go and stop by the stores and the book.

Speaker 3: 23:13

Yeah, create my own lookbook right and then go to like you know, this is like doing a life and all the other time. And the thing with me is this I've always in the in this like fashion and urban or whatever. Everybody wants to be from downtown, everybody's the downtown scene and all that shit or whatever. I never cared about that stuff. I'm like yo, I'm from the Heights, I don't care like where y'all from. Like you know what I'm saying. Like so I will go into stores and what I hated about certain stores, especially when you go to stores downtown, like Lower East Side or whatever If somebody didn't acknowledge me, I just left. Like that was a thing about like having an attitude when you're going to spend money.

Speaker 2: 23:51

Right.

Speaker 3: 23:52

Right. So the people that I wind up like having in my stuff in their stores were people who I actually build relationships with, right. So there was a moment where I had like a few stores. There was a store called World on Christopher Street. I forgot another store that was. Some girls owned it, but then in Harlem I was Goliath and Vault, so my stuff, and then I started to design for them. You know what I'm saying.

Speaker 2: 24:16

Yeah, all in-house for them actually. No, I wasn't an in-house.

Speaker 3: 24:19

I just do it for you.

Speaker 2: 24:20

Right, right.

Speaker 3: 24:20

You know what I'm saying. So, like Vault, they're like the.

Speaker 2: 24:25

So then you became a sales rep, you became your own sales rep.

Speaker 3: 24:29

I mean, when you have your own thing, you have to do everything Right. You know what I'm saying. Like you literally do everything you know, and the thing with me is just like I never had a so-called team, because it's just like what do you bring that I can't do?

Speaker 2: 24:40

Right.

Speaker 3: 24:41

You know what I'm saying. If you have a skill that I can't do, then you could. Again, since it was a hobby, I had my 9 to 5. Right, I literally would take whatever money and make my samples. Whatever money I got from selling I would put it back into making more stuff or whatever. But it was just something fun to do, honestly, and it was just like it was a way for me to have an idea. And then also, it's just like it's stuff that I wanted to wear, like my own t-shirt, like my own design or whatever. So it was just like, honestly, I never saw it. I thought, honestly, thought by this age I would probably be like some sort of creative director somewhere. So I never saw the Peralta Project becoming its own thing.

Speaker 3: 25:29

You know, what I'm saying. So then eventually, things really picked up one day. The change that happened with the Peralta Project was this there was like I started to get a little bit tired. I was like I can't compete with the other brands, like the real brands out there, right, like they have a team or whatever and I was like you know what? I'm going to start making more hyper-local things, right.

Speaker 2: 25:55

So Hyper-local things. That's the key word.

Speaker 1: 25:58

Yeah.

Speaker 3: 26:00

So I was like I'm going to make, I'm going to rebrand Uptown, like that was kind of like my my idea, right like I'm from the Heights. The only t-shirt that I know that's from uptown at that time was like Home of the haze, right like that. So that was a t-shirt I remember seeing. Right, I was like now I'm gonna like do some uptown shit right, I love New York, but for uptown, yeah, whatever like literally, like I literally changed.

Speaker 3: 26:28

Like, instead of being a street wear brand Right, like competing with these folks, I'm gonna do something else. And I, and what I started to notice is like obviously there's more people moving uptown, a lot of like White folks and shit like that. So I was like I'm gonna create a product that If you're from the, from the neighborhood, you're gonna wear with pride and if you're white or whatever, you're gonna want to rock it right. So then, like I'm the, I started like the whole defend uptown shit, the shit with the two guns and the defend uptown it was came up with the Washington Heights hat. Nobody, nobody, I've ever done the Washington Heights hat.

Speaker 3: 27:00

You know I'm saying like the hat, that literally like it's from a old sign, and then I was doing that and I was selling used to be a store called nostalgia on Dikeman, so Nostalgia will sell it. Obviously I will. I had a couple of pop-ups at Ivo Ivo has always been supportive and then what happened was it's one of those things where the show in, when the show Washington Heights came out in an MTV that was like that was that's what, how, everything kind of like for me just started to go up because here's the show Washington Heights. Frankie P is wearing my wash heights hat in in the thing. When you went to the MTV website, there was a big picture of the hat and then people just started to have all this like interest in coming to the heights. You know I'm saying so. I had a couple of like pop-ups up there, did pretty well, and then that's kind of like things when things started to take off as far as like, oh, I could do this Full time because I had quit my, I had quit my job and Then I quit my job in 2009.

Speaker 3: 28:08

I freelanced for the three years and when I freelanced Because things were really like as an artist and things were Popping off for me that I was like my friend was a creative director for this company called Kipling and and I was like she was like yo, come and work for me. I was like, look, I'm a company, I'll come three days a week. And I like I'll come from like 10, I come in at 10 o'clock and I leave at 5. And she was like, yeah, whatever. And I was like I Did that. And then, when that I was there for three years but then at the same time, like working up parol to project hard, like I mean my art and teas, everything right. And then when, when that was over, I was like yo, I'm not trying to like redo my resume right now.

Speaker 1: 28:56

Mm-hmm.

Speaker 2: 28:57

I was like I'm not trying to do that and I just never especially when you have put the events together and Be successful at it and throw the poppers and make the product. It's like I could streamline my own.

Speaker 3: 29:07

No, it wasn't even. That was just being lazy to tell you the truth. Like it was more like the. My capabilities is hard for me to put it on a piece of paper. I.

Speaker 3: 29:19

Got that, you know, I'm saying like I could do, like I could do a lot. Like you know, like, for instance, like For Kipling, I would do repeat patterns like crazy. My old job is like from designing handbags to designing the hardware, like you know, I'm saying like I could, I know how to do all of that shit. You know, I'm saying I was for my, my old job, like what, there was so much things I was doing for them that was not part of my job title.

Speaker 3: 29:47

So it's just like I don't know how to write this shit down. I'm not doing this shit. And then I just kind of, and then you know, then like 2015, because that's like 2013, 2012, 2013, and then 2015, I have put the Frida Conjurlos on the website. Like I literally like finished this art piece and and it should, and like I was like wow, this is really dope. And and it's also like I felt comfortable enough that I could do really big pieces. So I took a picture of me laying right next to it and then that kind of that picture kind of went viral in a way, right, Whatever viral was and like, and people was like, oh my God, what can I get that? What can I get that? That I like I had to like drop prints even before having an exhibit. So that's kind of like when everything started to take off a little more.

Speaker 1: 30:38

And how did you get into the podcast? I know you have a podcast.

Speaker 3: 30:43

Oh, the podcast. I listened to a lot of podcasts and dude for years. Like I was like them. I want to have my own podcast.

Speaker 3: 30:52

But basically, one thing that I'm very curious is how creatives create. What is their process Right? One thing that I've learned is that there is no right or wrong way to creating. Everybody has their method right.

Speaker 3: 31:10

But you know, when you start off as an artist, you you're very insecure. You think you know you copy. That's usually what happens. You want to be an artist, you probably. You copy your favorite artists and then you start developing your own style, right. And then, and then you meet other artists and like there's people that you know, you not not that you envy, like you just wish you could be like them, like you wish you could be as dedicated as them or put in all this time. But everybody has their way of doing things Right, right. So.

Speaker 3: 31:38

So I had come up with this concept called check the method, where I interviewed creatives about their, their, their, their creative process. And but, in all honesty, I went, I bought the zoom mic, right, the zoom mic, and shit. I had that shit and I had my store. I had that shit sitting in my store for like three years, right, and I was like that's what happens with me A lot of times. It's like I'll get excited about something, I'll go ahead and buy stuff and then like I'll just, and then I'll get excited about something else. But then I came back to it.

Speaker 2: 32:09

You know, I I launched it Like, the problem with creatives is a gift and a curse. Like you see a vision, you start working on it. You see, sign Nelson is like how do I get all of this information out of me?

Speaker 1: 32:20

Like you, know all this creative energy and juice that I got inside you know you're curious about how other artists go through their creative process. What's yours?

Speaker 3: 32:29

My creative process is very lazy. Yo my creative like, for instance, I am working on a project right now that I'm being just so lazy at it.

Speaker 2: 32:44

You know, and it's more lazy Like you, you touch it, you look at it, you're like I could touch it up a little bit.

Speaker 3: 32:49

No, no it's just like I don't like it's a, it's not, it's a, it's a, it's a paid project, I don't know. It's just like I watch TV, listen to podcasts, I wake up, I have my iPad, I go ahead and I work on it in a little bit or whatever, and I'm like, okay, I did enough, and then I put it back down and then I'll just go outside or whatever, and shit like that. I've been in an interesting mood. You know it's not, I don't want to say weird.

Speaker 2: 33:15

It's just like.

Speaker 3: 33:15

No, it's not that it's just like the world is in a weird space and we all going to have to like. We all have to like, think about, adjust and like pivot or whatever that is you know what I'm saying.

Speaker 3: 33:26

So that's kind of like where I find myself at. You know, one of the things that I really kind of been into lately like that's another thing too is just like I compartmentalized things. So it's like I've been like I've been working out, like I lost 30 pounds, so like I've been really going to the gym a lot and absolutely and I've just turned 49. So it's just like I don't want anything else to come into to distract me from that.

Speaker 3: 33:53

I'll see what you're saying, you know what I'm saying yeah, so, but you know I gotta get, you know I gotta make money or whatever. But it's just like that's. My process is just like I have these, these jolts of like energy whenever I get like inspired and a great idea, and it's just like I fucking can't wait to do it and then I'll do it, and then, and then what happens is it's like or it'll be, I'll be designing it or whatever, working on it on my head, in my head, so I won't. It looks like I'm not doing it and nobody exactly there's times.

Speaker 2: 34:24

Even you think you're not doing nothing.

Speaker 3: 34:26

It's like you. You, oh, no, I'm doing it Like this place. If I go to a party and I'm bored, or whatever, wherever I go, if I'm like, bored or whatever, I literally just it's almost like I open up the laptop in my brain and I start working, you know what I'm saying. And then it's just like when I sit down, it's like boom, I'll knock it out.

Speaker 2: 34:45

And then that's it. Yeah, that's dope. I mean, there's anything you want to highlight as far as like any projects that is coming up or events. I know you got a pop up coming.

Speaker 3: 34:56

Yeah, I have a cop. I have a pop up coming up on October I think it's a no, October 14 and 15, which is the end of Hispanic Heritage Month at this place in Williamsburg called Casa Musa, which is right next to Donitas.

Speaker 2: 35:12

So is it a Biano website or your social media? My?

Speaker 3: 35:15

social media like it's the.

Speaker 3: 35:17

Paralta Project, paralta PRJCT. Also like I have a newsletter, so it's really good for like to sign up to the newsletter, which you could do at paraltaprojectcom. I have a collaboration dropping actually this Friday with Urban Outfitters. Then there was this whole New York One thing that just came out the other day, that is up, and New York One Noticias me talking about hip hop in Español, and I'm hoping to do an exhibit next year. That's one of the things that I'm aiming towards. For what is it April? I'm hoping to do an exhibit, because I haven't had an exhibit in a while. So, and yeah, trust me, like I'm always, creating work.

Speaker 1: 36:10

What advice would you give like up and coming artists on how to go through the process?

Speaker 2: 36:15

Graphic designers are like the producers of brands, you know.

Speaker 3: 36:19

I don't know. I mean, you know it's interesting because I think graphic designers are at a weird space right now.

Speaker 2: 36:26

Oh, because of AI.

Speaker 3: 36:28

No, it's not that I just think that I don't know. I don't think there's so many tools out right now like the whole Canva and all these other things that are so much easier Like I don't know what a real graphic design like. I don't know what the young people are doing. But the thing is, if you want to be a really good graphic designer, you shouldn't rely heavy on these things like a Canva, whatever and all of that. Like you should just continue studying, you know, looking at things, techniques or whatever.

Speaker 3: 37:00

Like no, like the you know type, because the thing is like, think about it, If you're somebody who's just like completely like, use something like Canva, but you don't know typography, Like there's an art to typography, meaning like you got to know what type goes with what. As far as like advice, man like you know, anybody who wants to kind of like, do their own thing, what, what, and you in this thing for the long run, First thing I tell people is you'll get a job right to pay your bills or whatever it is, to finance whatever it is that you want to do.

Speaker 2: 37:34

Right Nine to five could take care of your five to nine.

Speaker 3: 37:37

Absolutely yeah because it's like you know, if you in it for the long run and the long haul, the long game, it's going to be a long game.

Speaker 2: 37:46

You know what.

Speaker 3: 37:47

I'm saying and it's just like being an entrepreneur is like it's, it's, it's, it's hard uphill battle.

Speaker 2: 37:54

It's uphill battle Like you know what.

Speaker 3: 37:56

I'm saying Like one of the things I really want it you got to really want it and it's like for me, the alternatives, like again, I don't want to go work for anybody ever again I don't want anybody to tell me what to do. So that's like the alternative for me, right, so yeah, but then so when I, whenever I have the anxiety, right, because you always going to have, you're always going to be wanting to do more, or things not happening or things coming slowly or whatever.

Speaker 3: 38:21

You know, I'm saying like there's pivots, there's adjustments, there's the slow. You know I'm saying like this that just happens with business, right, right. So and I still would just rather deal with that nonsense than dealing with somebody, that somebody tell me what to do or whatever, but that you know, and getting up, like one of the things that I love about my life is that I wake up with no alarm clock.

Speaker 2: 38:42

So beautiful, yeah Well, there you go we appreciate having you on the show.

Speaker 1: 38:47

Thank, you, man, thanks for having me, please make sure you follow us, subscribe like, share and follow Tony Peralta.

Speaker 3: 38:54

At a Peralta project, that's PRJCT and Peralta projectcom Perfect, thank you guys.

Speaker 2: 39:00

See you all, business innovators, then let's go.