We recently connected with Alexa Floresta and have shared our conversation below.

Alexa, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. So, naming is such a challenge. How did you come up with the name of your brand?

People always ask me where I came up with the name Crust and Magic!
 After I graduated art school, I was experimenting with creating work that was “functional” – this started with a lot of up-cycled hand painted furniture, and little tchotchkes, housewares and random objects.
I wanted to develop a brand for these pieces and start promoting them online and at pop up shows and local markets, so I started toying with names that I felt encapsulated the mood of the art.
The energy of my work has always been pretty consistent regardless of the medium I’m using – cheeky, fun, energetic and kind of slimy and gritty. At the time, I was really into using “crusty” as an adjective to describe this gritty element of my work. “Magic” came about because of the whimsical nature of the graphics. Also, a lot of the characters I was painting at the time had a very wizard-like, magician feel to them. I launched a super low frills web store under this name in 2016 and have stuck with it ever since!
Eventually, the brand manifested itself into the (mostly) clothing, merch, and accessories that I am still creating with the brand now, and I feel like the name holds up. Crust and Magic, to me it feels like “ugly-cute!” 
Every once in a while people come into my store and are like, “we thought this was a pizza place…..” and to that I say – have a little imagination!!!!! haha
But, for the most part, people are intrigued, amused and it’s a conversation starter!

Alexa, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My business, Crust and Magic, is a brand and storefront that sells funky original art on custom apparel and merchandise.

I moved to New Paltz from Long Island in 2011 for college where I studied to get my BFA in photography. I knew I wasn’t interested in technically pursuing photo as a career, rather it was a tool I used to create mixed media work. After college, I stayed in the Hudson Valley and started working at a bar, which was a huge part in helping me build my business. It provided me with the schedule to continue creating art and experimenting with how to build that into a career, while also creating connections and community in a place I so passionately wanted to establish a living in!

I came up with the name of my business, Crust and Magic, in 2016, and started selling my art at pop up shows and local markets, all the while still working full time at the bar. All of the money I made from selling my art was reinvested to fund the business while I lived off of the money from my “real job” to pay my rent and bills.
I was super attracted to the idea of creating work that was functional and out in the world living a life with people, rather than confined to their home, as most fine art traditionally is. So, putting my art on clothing and objects seemed like a fun, interesting and marketable creative venture. It also made the art much more accessible and affordable to the audience I felt like my work spoke to. During the time while I was developing the brand, I was creating loud, graphic style illustrations, which naturally lent themselves to the process of being transferred onto clothing. The art is meant to be really cheeky and fun – I see it as a celebration of JOY and self expression. I hope it inspires people to lean in to their silliness!

After tabling at countless events (some successful, many not!) and striving to build an online presence, the brand slowly started to take off, and in 2019, I had the opportunity to rent the storefront that I am currently in now. At the very beginning, I physically split the retail space with a good friend, Chris Owens, who sold vintage apparel on one side of the store, while I functioned separately as Crust and Magic on the other side. With Covid unknowingly looming around the corner, 2019 was an interesting time to open a small business, and splitting the financial burden with Chris is probably the only reason I was able to survive lockdown, so I am forever grateful for him and our situation! By summer 2021, Chris felt it was time to start working on different projects, and I needed more floor space, so I’ve taken over the entire shop since then!

While running an online store is such an important way to drive sales and sustain a business in 2023, I love having a physical location in beautiful downtown New Paltz because I believe it adds a really interesting experiential element to the brand. The shop is an extension of the art. I always dreamed of having a little DIY kooky punk rock art shop, so as much of a challenge it can be to run a brick and mortar, it’s so worth it and I am so so grateful to be here!

Does your business have multiple or supplementary revenue streams (like a ATM machine at a barbershop, etc)?

my storefront has a pretty large back deck and parking lot area that I try to take advantage of as much as possible to host different events. We’ve hosted all kinds of events : outdoor live music with local and touring bands (hi Fiona Robbins and Bait Bag!!) , movie screenings, and popup markets with other local artists and vendors. Sometimes we’ll have a cover or “suggested donation” at the door, which we’ll use to compensate the staff involved with putting on the event and generate some extra profit, but mostly these are just great ways to get people in the door and advertise the shop!

We’d really appreciate if you could talk to us about how you figured out the manufacturing process.

Many, if not almost all, of the products sold in my shop have some kind of handmade element that is done by myself!
 All of the art and designs are original, so that is its own process in and of itself. At the moment, the most prevalent way I get the designs onto different garments and pieces to customize them is by hand printing patches with the art onto them and then individually sewing the patches on to each piece! 
 The main challenge with this is that running the shop and the business is its own full time job, while then creating the inventory is an entirely different undertaking! I love doing it and I think that this process adds such a charming and unique element to the product, but I also understand that this is not sustainable if i want the business to grow and also keep my sanity hahahah. So, I am in the process of learning to communicate with different manufacturers to help with the creation process, at least for just a couple of products!!

Contact Info:

• Website: Crustandmagic.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/crustandmagic
• Other: tiktok : @crustandmagic !