Interview by STUK founder Brette Sims
Mercedes is really the epitome of a STUK Renaissance woman. Myself and another STUK team member, Crystal Clear – were lucky enough to grown up with Mercedes and attend high school with her in Oakland CA. Even then, her fun, positive, overflowing energy surrounded us. With life experience and impressive artistic focus Mercedes has indeed evolved into a creative POWER woman. She is multi-talented, multi-demensional, and a TRUE visionary. She has a brand called – TRESMERCEDES. TRESMERCEDES is a collection that includes various creative designs by Mercedes. She designs earrings, DOPE custom hand painted shoes, fanny packs, necklaces, and more! We love how each piece of the TRESMERCEDES collection is so unique and brightly colored! “Mere color, unspoiled by meaning, & unallied with definite form, can speak to the soul in a thousand different ways.” – Oscar Wilde. Prepare yourself to be utterly INSPIRED Meet Mercedes!
Your name: Mercedes Martin
Your age: 25
Your zodiac sign? Virgo
Where are you from? Oakland, CA
What’s your focus, passion, and contribution to the world? My passion is creating art with a cultural, spiritual, environmental, political meaning and making it look Supa Flyy. I first started off simply making jewelry from recycled materials like bottle caps, Arizona Ice Tea Cans, club flyers with catchy graphics, old board game pieces, etc. I enjoyed the challenge of repurposed art and having customers guess its origins. Now I’ve expanded to designing shoes, photography, street art, drawings, and collaging. Basically whatever way I feel like expressing my ideas.
How do you do it and who do you do it with? Usually first thing I do is simply stare, stare, stare at the object, hold it in my hands, and imagine how it would look if I did “this” or “that.” Create some form of sketch in my mind’s eye. Then I MANIFEST! For the most part I work alone, but I also incorporate my community. I’ve gotten friends to help collect bottle caps off the ground at parties, so I could make them into magnets. My homeboy saved old flyers from his Hip Hop group the Attik, and asked me to make his sister earrings. I got my grandfather with advanced Alzheimer’s to focus on painting the base color for costume shoes. Also I’ve worked as a Afterschool Art Teacher, summer camps, guest speaker, or private workshops inspiring youth and adults how the create their own jewelry with utilizing recycled- materials.
What are you working on at the moment? Where do I begin, always juggling several projects at once. But, the one I’m most excited about is working with local eco-conscious clothing boutique in Oakland “Show & Tell” They gave me a couple pieces of clothing they couldn’t sell and asked for me to do whatever I want to them to sell at a fundraising event. I love that freedom and trust from a client to create something new from their old shoes or clothes.
[Click photos to enlarge]
[READ MORE TO VIEW MORE DOPE TRESMERCEDES PICS]
