We recently connected with Jay and Riki Rivera and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Jay and Riki thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Are you able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen?

Yes, we have been able to earn a full-time living from our work as muralists. In late 2017 we were just doing some canvas work for fun when a friend of ours mentioned a gym that wanted a mural done. We had no clue how to charge for murals so we met with the owner and just gave a ballpark figure. This number was insanely low and looking back now we pretty paid the owner to paint his mural. That business was located on a very busy street and the owner of a carpet store next door asked us to repaint his letters. From there we went across the street to a grocery store and painted three walls of their business. While painting the grocery store we had multiple cars pulling over asking for our info. That grocery store project led to the owner of two massive gyms in the area. That gym hired us to paint both gyms which took us almost 8 months. Needless to say Laced and Found Graffiti Murals was born and we learned a whole lot on how to run a successful mural company.

Jay and Riki, 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?

We have both been artists in different fields for a long time. I have been a graffiti artist since the age of 14 and Riki has worked and operated tattoo shops in her past. Being professional muralist wasn’t exactly planned it may sound cliche but it actually just happened. We provide everything from large scale murals, to signage, graphic designs and logos, too apparel and much more. We have a lot of clients come to us with an idea and we take that idea and put together a mock up that expresses their business and their mission as an establishment. We believe that what sets us apart from others is that we do not stick to a specific style. We have a style when it comes to our personal work but our portfolio can showcase everything from comic book characters to blue bonnets and everything in between. This wide range allows us to work with all sorts of business and does not limit us to a specific genre. We are most proud of our community work. Due to being a successful graffiti muralist company we are forwarded the opportunity to give back. We have donated murals to various organizations that provide extensive help to their communities. We have also donated clothes, sneakers, time and money to so many other organizations. This is what really pushes us to continue our work as artists.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

We would say that the most rewarding aspect of being artists is the joy that people get when they us work. People love our work and we love that they do but when we have people who will just come out and sit for hours just watching the mural come together is really special for. us. We have people from Switzerland, Germany, and other parts of the world who have reached out just to tell us how much they appreciate what we do. We are very transparent as well and have taken plenty of time out to answer any and al questions they may have.

Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?

I think that creatives who want to make this a full time job need to find resources on how to be successful business people. Being an artist is probably 20% and being a business owner is the other 80%. I give this advice as mush as I can, but being on time, reliable, and consistent is more important than painting when it comes to doing this full time. There are artists out there who have told me in the past, “must be nice” referring to getting jobs and being able to provide from art. The truth is that if you know an artist that is successful, telling them “must be nice” doesn’t pertain to them. This saying isn’t for those who have stood up for hours learning about their business, drawing for hours and days for upcoming projects, ordering, organizing and restocking supplies, meeting with clients and having consultations through phone, text and email, no, this saying does not pertain to these individuals.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.lacedandfound.com
• Instagram: @lacedandfound

Image Credits
Carlos Gallegos