Since the beginning of time, people have found ways to express and celebrate themselves by making deliberate choices about how they show up in the world. Be it the haircuts, piercings, makeup or shoes we rock, personal style is an expression of what we think ourselves to be, intentions for how we want to feel, or the kind of energy we want to channel.
Over the next 5 weeks on the Rightnowish podcast, we’ll explore rituals of adornment. We’ll talk about the ways we decorate ourselves and our living spaces. We’ll all look at how these choices can energize, protect, and express our utmost desires and creativity.
Below are short descriptions of each artist we are highlighting in this series.
Adorned With Fragrance
Having grown up in South San Francisco, perfumer Mauricio Garcia takes inspiration from flora and fauna that grows along the foggy coastline, golden grassland hills, and nearby redwood groves. Because of his deep reverence for nature’s fragrances, Garcia doesn’t use any plants that are endangered or threatened like vanilla or frankincense. Instead, he’ll craft similar scents using the modern perfumery technique of scent reconstruction.
His fragrance studio, Herbcraft Perfumery, also celebrates his cultural roots, highlighting ingredients and plants native to Mexico, like cempasuchitl (marigold), cacao, and mezcal. Garcia’s fragrances are not only made for use on the body but also on altars as a way to connect with the spirit world. He shares how anointing ourselves with perfume can help us set intentions for the energy we want to receive or project in the world.
Adorned With Clothing
Thriving in foggy San Francisco is all about dressing in layers. Sophia Mitty’s handmaid utility jeans and denim jackets are the perfect pieces for a 415 wardrobe. The classic silhouettes come in vibrant hues, (like cherry red, kiwi green, and sunflower yellow), that Mitty hand dyes and paints. She says that dressing and making garments full of color is a protest to the cookie cutter, neutral colors that many workers in the tech industry wear while galavanting through the city. More so, Mitty says wearing color is good for uplifting the mood and for showing up in the world in a not so serious way.
Mitty’s love for working class San Francisco culture is literally woven into the fabric of her garments. She recently made a series of jackets for an exhibition, Muni Raised Me, using embroidery to recreate San Francisco imagery, like the Mission burrito, a lowrider, the golden gate bridge, and names of beloved but now closed San Francisco destinations like Thrift Town, Playland, and Doggie Diner.
Adorned With Flowers
Jessica Alicia Cotrim is a floral designer and owner of the Beija Flor Flower Gallery. The shop’s name is a homage to her Brazilian-Salvadoran roots. “Beija” in Portuguese translates to “kiss” and when paired with the word for flower, it means hummingbird. The symbolism of the hummingbird in Salvadoran and other Latino cultures represents spirits of loved ones that have passed on. In this way, Cotrim says Beija Flor is about honoring her family’s origins and sacrifices that poured into her craftsmanship and work ethic.
Raised in San Francisco’s Excelsior neighborhood where her business now stands, Cotrim is adorning her community with floral beauty, offering bouquets ranging from $10 – $50. Access is important to the business owner, so when she has the opportunity to redistribute leftover flowers from arrangements designed for high end events, she does. On this episode, she talks to us about how flowers offer healing and nourishment for the soul.
Adorned With Jewelry
Going by the moniker “hyphy wyphy,” Chelsea Macalino-Calalay’s jewelry business, Wyphys, is an ode to her Bay Area upbringing and her community of friends and femmes that support her. Macalino-Calalay specializes in creating gold plated jewelry with spunky charms and one of a kind vintage beads. The bling is playful but nonetheless makes a statement.
One recent jewelry collection was inspired by the palengke or wet markets that Macalino-Calalay frequented while growing up in the Philippines. By naming her pieces in Tagalog and using folklore and cultural staples like sapin-sapin (Filipino sticky rice cakes) as references for her work, the Wyphys brand is a celebration of the Filipinx diaspora.
Adorned With Reflection
After weeks of being immersed in this topic of adornment, host Marisol Medina-Cadena and producer Xorje Olivares take a moment to talk on the mic about the insights they received on self expression and affirmation while crafting the series . They will also share moments that didn’t make it into the final series and how the series impacted their personal lives.
Rightnowish is an arts and culture podcast produced at KQED. Listen to it wherever you get your podcasts or click the play button at the top of this page and subscribe to the show on NPR One, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, TuneIn, Stitcher or wherever you get your podcasts.
