GEORGINA TREVINO 

Bio 

Georgina Trevino is a contemporary artist and jeweler from Tijuana, Mexico based in San Diego, California. In 2004 she earned a BA in Applied Design with an Emphasis in Jewelry and Metalsmithing from San Diego State University.   

Her work has been part of several national & international exhibitions, including Racine Art Museum & Schmuck 2015 Munich, Current 2021-2022 exhibitions include Design Fair Museum of Art and Design, Puerto Rico curated by Embajada Gallery; Dream Machine New York Jewelry week; Salon Cosa Mexico City & Small Acts curated by Craft desert. In 2020, Treviño’s Brooch “Fuck the Police” was acquired by the Museum of Arts and Design in NYC as part of their Permanent Collection. 

Treviño’s practice has been featured in publications such as L.A. Times, Elle, Vogue, Allure, Marie Claire, The Fader, Paper and PlayBoy magazine. She has worked directly with celebrities like Lady Gaga, Bad Bunny, Rosalia, 2Chainz, Bella Hadid, Lizzo, Doja Cat, Kali Uchis, as well as brands like Nike, E.l.f. cosmetics, Fenty, Guess & Spotify for custom work inquiries & collaborations.

1.     Hi Georgina, thanks for taking the time to catch up with us. Would you introduce yourself and tell us a little about where are you based and what you do? 

I am Georgina Trevino, multidisciplinary artist & jewelry designer based in San Diego, CA. 

I am the Creator of my own contemporary Jewelry brand Georgina Treviño where I make limited collections & one-of-a-kind pieces. Besides the collections the past couple of years I also been making custom editorial pieces for Artists & music videos ;) which I been enjoying so much!!

2.     Your jewelry is groundbreaking, edgy, and contemporary. Where did your brand start and how did you define your creative vision? 

It’s definitely been a long journey but while I was in college studying Arts, I had an identity crisis. I wasn't sure where I really belonged since I am a border artist. I grew up between Tijuana & San Diego and there was a moment of doubt about where my work stood and who I was as an artist. Which I am sure many border artist can relate. Long story short, I moved to Mexico City for a year, while in college. And there I found myself in this amazing inspirational place & where I started the brand than later returned to the States to finish college & continue with the brand.

I believe this moment is where I finally felt comfortable not only with myself but more confident about my work and what I wanted to share to the world through jewelry.

My creative vision is an Extension of myself, I am Inspired on this bicultural/border life, pop culture, my teenage y2k times, “Tacky jewelry”, fake luxury brands & jewelry in general.

3.     How do you stay inspired, and what motivates you the most in your job?

I try to always stay active when it comes to making, I am a very intense maker. Meaning I never stop making so I believe working keeps me inspired. Being behind my work bench in my studio keeps the ideas flowing “work, makes work” but also taking breaks outside studio; Traveling to Mexico City, seeing as much art as possible & my art colleagues- community inspire me on a daily basis.

What motivated me the most in my job is just having the ability to express myself thru jewelry, I’m able to have my brand and most of the time when I am creating I am making for me, not trying to please anyone or think/doubt if people are going to like the work. 

My own clients, keep me inspired too. Getting feedback about how jewelry makes them feel empowered and badass keeps me creating :)

4.     If you had to sum up the brand Georgina Trevino in three words, what would those be?

FUN

RISK-TAKER

EMPOWERED!!!

5.     Can you tell us about your favorite piece of your past collections?

Favorite piece so far, has been a sterling silver purse commissioned by LA TIMES. Hand carved in wax and casted. This is a very special piece because it's one of the most elaborated pieces I've ever done. It has many personal and cultural references in it, if you were to shake Georgina out, I would be and represent this purse :) Visually it is very powerful piece and wearing makes me feel empowered! 

6.     Many musical artists such as Doja Cat, Rosalía, Lizzo and Lady Gaga have all donned pieces designed by you. Why do you think these artists gravitate towards your jewelry so much?

I feel my jewelry is attracted to these artists or stylists because the pieces carry a story, humor, and explore unconventional/upcycle materials that maybe a more fine jewelry line or mass produced brand wouldn't. People in general want to feel exclusive, which many times these pieces are limited & hand made so makes the pieces more special and appealing.

7.     How do Opening Ceremony and Dickies as brands connect and align with your ethos?

I feel that Dickies and Opening Ceremony align with my brand because we all three believe in the importance of collaboration (community) we all believe in re-inventing ourselves thru time as a brand and continuing to grow with always a fresh vision.

8.     If you had to pick your favorite piece from the Dickies x Opening Ceremony collection, what would it be?

DEFINITELY the one I wore, Purple Velvet 2piece :) Love it !!!

9.     What do you bring into this campaign?

I felt in general shooting the campaign was a beautiful experience, we were a diverse group :) All from different cultural backgrounds, which I think that's where every one of us brought our own vibe.

Humberto and I co-styled the campaign & every look incorporated my jewelry :)

10.   What’s next for Georgina Treviño as a brand and as a person? Are there any more exciting projects coming up on the horizon?

I am working in bigger scale art works, fun collaboration in process and some teaching which has been a new self-discovery.

POPPY LIU

Bio

Poppy Liu is a first-generation Chinese American actor and producer who brings their identity as a queer migrant person of the API diaspora into art and entertainment. Poppy can be seen most recently as Kiki in the critically-acclaimed HBOMax series Hacks for which she was SAG-nominated for Oustanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series. 

Prior to this, Poppy has appeared on television in Wedding Season, Tales of the Walking Dead, Sunnyside, Better Call Saul, iCarly, Dollface, and New Amsterdam. Upcoming projects include Dead Ringers (Amazon Prime), The Afterparty S2 (Apple TV), American Born Chinese (Disney+), and the feature film Space Cadet (Amazon Prime.)

In addition to acting, Poppy is passionate about producing indie work with her community and serves on the board of SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective. Poppy has been named the 2022 HBO APA Visionaries Ambassador, one of The Advocate’s 2021 People of the Year, one of Out Magazine’s OUT100 2021, and one of The Advocate’s Champions of Pride in 2019.

1. Hi Poppy, thanks for taking the time to catch up with us. Would you introduce yourself and tell us a little about yourself (where you're from, what you do, etc.)?

Born in Xi'An, China. Immigrated to Minnesota with my family when I was 2. Went back to China when I was 14 and went to high school in Shanghai. Lived in New York after that for close to a decade. Now I'm primarily based out of LA.

I'm an actor, I serve on the board of SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective, and I'm a full-spectrum doula.

My one-liner blurb is ‘I'm a bilingual, first generation Chinese American actor who brings my identity as a migrant queer person of the API diaspora into art and entertainment.’

2. When did you start acting and why?

I started performing through dance as a kid, like age 4, and did traditional Chinese dance for 9 years while living in Minnesota. Then I did a lot of theater in high school and college. My first couple years in New York I puppeteered and was involved with a number of off-Broadway and off-off-Broadway theater companies doing physical theater and Shakespeare. TV/Film kind of happened as a result of me making work with my friends and community. The first film I made was a short film about my abortion story called Names of Women. The next project I made was a web series called Mercy Mistress based on my friend Yin's experience as a Chinese American professional dominatrix in New York.

3. Back in the days you founded the production company Collective Sex, with a focus on decolonizing storytelling and eliminating stigmas around sex and identity. Can you tell us how things evolved since then and how these topics are present in your work?

I just found it unhelpful that there is often one predominant voice and identity that a lot of our mainstream and stories center. At its core, the intention behind Collective Sex was just about who we give the mic to and whose stories we give a platform to be shared. We all ask ourselves the same fundamental questions of how we understand ourselves and where we come from, and how do we create meaningful connections and relationships with others, it's just that we have only heard one kind of cishet white anglo-Christian voice ruminate and answer these questions and those answers aren't really helpful or speak to the lived experience of so many of us. It was very grassroots community-level small scale when I was organizing and hosting storytelling events in Brooklyn with Collective Sex, but it felt special simply because of who was in the room and who we were getting to hear from. Those are still the same questions I ask myself whenever I work on a project: who are we hearing from? Whose story is this? Of course, there's only so much agency I have when I am on a project only as an actor, but my dreams of producing and making work with my community are always in the back of my mind and something I will never stop doing.

4. Which fictional character whom you played gave you the most opportunity to express yourself?

I am really fascinated by the character I play in Dead Ringers. It's an Amazon Prime series starring Rachel Weisz that is currently still in post-production. I am lucky to have found myself in a lot of comedy tv spaces working with some of the greatest comedy writers and comedians out there, but I think my personal taste gravitates towards much darker and moodier content. I don't want to give anything away about the show or the character but unraveling the character felt a bit like solving a puzzle and I love a puzzle.

Of course, I also have to mention my character Kiki from Hacks. Playing her helped me get through some of the hardest quarantine pandemic depression and also a tv family that kept me grounded during some really difficult times.

5. What keeps you motivated in your craft?

I truly can't imagine myself doing anything else. I think for many of us who are artists, we have these massive inner worlds that need some sort of outlet of expression otherwise we would burst or implode or self-destruct. It sounds dramatic but I need the containers of numerous characters and numerous worlds to contain the multitudes of what I feel on the inside. 

6. You once said, "I believe in stories that serve as blueprints for radical futures." What do these radical futures look like to you?

As a neurodivergent queer person, I have often struggled when imagining the future. I always have a hard time answering the question "what are your dreams/goals for the future?" and "where do you see yourself in X number of years?" Even when it's 11:11 and time to make a wish I am always wishing for something super vague like "I would just like to be happy." Sometimes I feel like I need a blueprint for how to be in this world, and how to feel okay, and how to attain happiness. It doesn't always come naturally so I need reference points, I need stories, I need art, I need blueprints of seeing how other people do it so I can figure it out for myself too.

7. How do Opening Ceremony and Dickies as a brand connect and align with your ethos?

I love that both brands are clothes that you can live in. There's something sexy about how practical and utilitarian and functional both are. I love that they embrace the immigrant and the blue collar and make it a source of pride. And I love that so much of the clothes are gender whatever.

8. If you had to pick your favorite piece from the Dickies x Opening Ceremony collection, what would it be?

I think it's what I wore in the photoshoot! It's really giving me edgy Scooby Doo vibes.

9. What are you bringing into the campaign?

Most noticeably I'm bringing a 7-month pregnant belly to the campaign. I've noticed a lot of the pregnant imagery out there is very ethereal, angel, modest, chaste, virginal... everyone and their cousin has a pregnancy photo involving flowing cloth or flowers. I don't know why this aesthetic reigns supreme as the pregnancy go-to but I'm glad this campaign shows a pregnant body in a different way. 

10. What’s next?

I guess having this baby is a pretty big next step! But also, some upcoming projects are American Born Chinese (Disney+), The Afterparty (season 2, Apple TV), Dead Ringers (Amazon Prime), and a feature film called Space Cadet (also Amazon Prime) which I think are all being released sometime in 2023. But right now, I'm taking a sabbatical until I have this baby.

HOWIN WONG

Bio

Howin Wong is brand strategist, DJ, experiential and interdisciplinary artist having worked with brands and institutions such as Jimmy Choo, Starbucks, Timberland, Hulu, Ace Hotel, Hypebeast, and MOCA in creating creating global and regional experiences that blend brand, art, and culture together. Currently, his latest ventures are being co-founder of QNA, collective dedicated towards Asian American art and culture through experience, and Head of Brand Marketing at JoySauce, a digital platform and publisher dedicated to uplifting Asian American talent and voices.

1. Hi Howin, thanks for taking the time to catch up with us.  Would you introduce yourself and tell us a little about yourself (e.g., where are you based and what you do)?

Hi!!!! My name is Howin Wong, I'm a Los Angeles based DJ, artist, event curator, and creative marketer. I'm from the Pacific Northwest so I'm a big nature girl and grunge is tattooed onto my heart :)

2. When did you start DJing and how did you get into it?

I started DJing when I was 19 when I saw some New York DJs doing some really crazy things with CDJs that was blowing my mind. Breaking down and reconstructing songs on the fly!!!!

3. What is the mission behind the night called QNA and how did that experience influence you? 

The mission of QNA is to highlight/champion Asian arts, lifestyle, culture through nightlife. Overall, I wanted to change how the media and American culture generally views API individuals and so I wanted to take an underground approach which has always been through the club environment and the communion around nightlife, dancing, and socializing. It's in these sacred spaces that you can experience API individuals in real time and authentically.

4. What keeps you motivated to keep pushing yourself and the boundaries of DJing?

Both the reception of people telling me how meaningful these spaces are to them and also wanting to create something that I know I needed/wanted when I was a teen.

5. How do you feel clubbing has evolved in LA and NY over the last few years?

Thanks to the club kids of the late 2000s and early 2010s of New York and LA, and the widespread usage of digital DJing, clubbing has really exploded and influenced the culture in terms of community and identity, as well as the modern sound of music today. With the access to technology being more readily available you can find sounds and parties that cater to so many intersections of communities and interests.  The way people have blended and mixed genres to create new forms of music and references also has been really cool. I feel like the clubbing of the 2010s has really influenced the sound of modern pop music from Charli XCX, Lady Gaga, Bjork, and more recently Beyonce with her club focused album 'Renaissance.' All this is to say, clubbing feels more integrated into our lives and how we celebrate and commune more than ever.

6. What are some of your favorite projects in which you’ve been involved?

My all-time favorite was working with MOCA to create an experiential art space around Asian sex work, fetishization, and hate crimes. The activation was called "Eternal Spa" in reference to the Atlanta shooting and the hate crimes that have been happening towards the API community. We worked with artists, sex workers, and musicians to build this narrative around the trauma that was inflicted on our communities but also working on healing and mourning together. 

7. How do Opening Ceremony and Dickies as brands connect and align with your ethos?

To me both brands have celebrated and championed the voices, stories, and aesthetics of marginalized communities in creating elevated, classic, and original style, and that for me personally, that is what I try to endeavor with my work which is highlighting and showcasing API lifestyle and culture in a fun and original way.

8. If you had to pick your favorite piece from the Dickies x Opening Ceremony collection, what would it be?

I actually love the purple and orange jacket and pant pieces because the color combo and material make it look psychedelic and heavenly which is very cute.

9. What are you bringing into the campaign?

I'm bringing you Brandon Lee from The Crow meets Keith Flint from The Prodigy meets Japanese Kabuki energy. 

10. What’s next?

I can't tell you yet shhhhhhhhhhhhhh :)

MEZ

BIO, written by Andrew Ryce via Resident Advsior:

If you've spent any time going to parties (or livestreams) in Los Angeles over the past few years, you've probably seen the name Mez on a couple flyers. The up-and-coming DJ has quickly become a regular at some of the city's best-known parties, bringing a fresh but decidedly old-school vibe. He's a young selector who plays '90s house in a way that feels new and exciting and classic all at once—you can hear influences from the old guard in the smooth way he mixes and how long he lets the songs play out, but you can also imagine his excitement at hearing these old records for the first time and wanting to share them with everyone else. In the right hands, even the most obvious record can become new.

1. Hi Mez, thanks for taking the time to catch up with us. Please introduce yourself: where are you based and what do you do?

Hi! My name is Mez. I’m based in Los Angeles and am a full-time dj and event producer. 

2. Where did the the inspiration to try getting behind the decks come from?

I caught the nightlife bug when I was only 18 living in NYC. I think I realized pretty quickly that the lifestyle as I was living it at the time was pretty unsustainable, but, as a gay black man coming from a conservative town in Georgia, I fell in love with the sense of freedom and community that these spaces afforded those of us who needed it most. In wondering how I fit into the big picture of facilitating these spaces, I ended up catching Honey Dijon at a party called Battle Hymn where she performed an extended set that had the party rocking from start to finish. 

I had always had a musical bone, but this is when it all clicked for me as something I wanted to pursue. 

3. How has clubbing evolved over the past years and why did you create Signal?

Well of course the pandemic changed everything in clubbing, as it did with most everything else. I created Signal as a platform during isolation to share mixes. Everyone was doing the live stream thing and that wasn’t for me, so the intention was to have a regular mix series as an exercise, as well as a place to invite other artists that I loved to share mixes on the platform as well. After reopening last June, I got quite busy with touring and Signal took a bit of a back seat. Super happy to announce that we will be doing out first underground in LA this November! 

4. What does the future of clubbing look like?

I just recently watched a short documentary from Resident Advisor on Virtual Clubbing. I think some years ago something like this would have been unheard of. To see these real-life applications popping up right now is interesting to say the least, and quite telling of the times. My approach to dj’ing, parties, and life in general has always been a very stripped back, back-to-basics take on things - so I can’t say I’m a huge fan of it; even livestreams were a bit too disconnected for me. But I think that everyone has different interests and reasons why they participate in nightlife, and the respective scenes will always find mediums to express themselves in ways that best suit them. I imagine VR clubbing will soon be more prominent than not. 

5. Does it still make sense to talk about online communities in 2022?

I mean... yeah. The demand for and number of online communities will only increase as we are the generation of the internet. The ways in which you use the internet to connect with your communities I think is the key thing to stay intentional about. 

6. As we understand, you mostly play electronic music from Electro to House to Techno. Please name 3 artists whom you feel influenced your style.

Derrick Carter, Honey Dijon, Josh Caffe

7. How do Opening Ceremony and Dickies as brands connect and align with your ethos?

I was born in ’98 so OC is one of those long-standing brands I remember from even when I was super young. It’s fun now as I grow older to see just how much our communities intersect. The lineup at the 20-year anniversary party featured some of my favorite artists, hosts and good friends in NYC. Supporting POC/queer owned business is always of the upmost importance for me too so that’s big. 

8. If you had to pick your favorite piece from the Dickies x Opening Ceremony collection, what would it be?

The black pants!

9. What are you bringing into the campaign?

24-year-old stoner doing it for the culture. 

10. What’s next? Are there any exciting projects coming up on the horizon?

I mentioned earlier we’re finally launching Signal as an in-person party series in November. The date of the first party is November 12th, and we will be relaunching the Instagram this week! Super exciting stuff. Check out my Instagram as I’ll be sharing all the updates there.