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Young & Talented is a new monthly series that will spotlight some of the exciting things young entrepreneurs, artists and musicians are doing here in Santa Cruz.
SANTA CRUZ — As many people try to weather the economic storm that’s been blowing full force for months now, a young local duo are heading straight into the winds with the launch of their inaugural business. Earlier this month, Davy Reynolds, 26, and Ruby Anaya, 23, launched Parachute Creative, a graphic design firm that creates everything from band posters to candy packaging.
As Anaya puts it, “If we don’t know how to make something right off the bat, we find a way.”
And already things are moving quickly. Reynold’s eccentric band posters have become ubiquitous in store windows downtown in the last few weeks. He now does poster designs for upcoming performances at The Red and 515. Parachute Creative also designed HappySantaCruz.com, a site co-founded by city councilmember Ryan Coonerty.
In the month since they launched, Parachute Creative has done work for local bands, real estate agents, the Santa Cruz Design & Innovation Center and Ashby Confections, a local chocolatier.
Reynolds, who looks like a clean Russel Brand (he was born in England as well), brings an out-of-the-box illustration talent that always starts with a pencil and paper. Anaya, who graduated from UC Santa Cruz last spring with a degree in biology, handles the administrative side of business making appointments, talking to prospective clients and giving Reynolds her frank opinion on his work before he sends it out.
“She’s ridiculously and annoyingly intelligent,” Reynolds said. “Whenever I get really stressed, Ruby helps me figure out a solution.”
In a few short weeks, they’ve managed to build a client base that’s increasing everyday. While I was interviewing them in their office, a new client called to setup a project.
“We’re getting more and more referrals every day,” Reynolds said.
But it hasn’t all been smooth sailing. Before they launched, they were broke, had just left their previous job and didn’t even have a proper computer.
So armed with a $5,000 small business loan — they had hoped for $10,000 — and Anaya’s brother’s computer, they opened up shop in NextSpace, a collaborative downtown office home to freelancers and small business owners, keeping the thought of failure out of their head.
“Failure pretty much wasn’t an option,” Reynolds said. “I figured there was no way I could lose considering the amount of sweat we put into this.”
But the stakes were high. Just last week, Reynold’s credit card was declined when he tried to purchase a coffee at Lulu’s.
In light of this, things are pretty bare bones at the home office. But you can still tell there’s a designer in house. Reynold’s sits at a desk made of cinder blocks and wood. On it sits the company’s first and only major purchase — a brand new 24-inch iMac. The mainstay of the business.
Other items include skateboard decks that he designed himself and a black and white TV that plays two blurry channels throughout the workday. It serves as an good-luck omen for Parachute Creative. Reynolds found it on the side of the road while driving home from his final day at his last design firm. Anaya and he had discussed how cool it’d be to have a vintage TV that played skateboarding videos in their new office all day. A few minutes later, on his way home, he found exactly what he was looking for on the side of Seabright Avenue. A tiny 13-inch black and white TV. And it worked.
“It seemed like a real clear sign,” Reynolds said. “I knew I was ready to take the risk.”
Creative Parachute’s launch comes in the midst of a number of burgeoning campaigns like Keep Santa Cruz Weird, NextSpace and cheap housing for artists at the Tannery Arts Center to keep local talent and encourage new talent to come to Santa Cruz. It finally seems to be working.
“The economy is moving more and more towards design,” Coonerty said. “Manufacturing can be outsourced, but communities that can attract companies in need of good design and innovation or, even better, grow our own companies, will be the sustainable communities of the future.”
As for the future, Anaya and Reynolds hope to branch off and do design work in the industries that interest them. Most notably, action sports like surfing, skateboarding and snowboarding and t-shirt design.
“We’re going to start an apparel line with limited runs,” Reynolds said. “We’re going to try to get consignment in O’Neill’s, Pacific Wave and Krate.”
But really, they just want to provide quality illustrations with a personal connection and beat an economic storm that had them up to their heads just a month ago.
“For us, it’s not just another paycheck,” Reynolds said. “And I genuinely mean that. Two hundred dollars or $10,000, they’re going to get the same level of personal attention.”
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