La Cultura Season 4
Every season, the Spurs release a capsule collection of merchandise based on San Antonio culture and the City Edition uniform for that season.
I was honored to get the chance to work on this collection on my own (with art direction of course).
I put a lot of myself into this collection and explored my Hispanic heritage. It was fun but also scary to put so much of myself into something.
I separate myself from the things I create so the partner or client I’m working with can really shine. But this time was different.
I ideated and illustrated every piece in this collection.
Things didn’t turn out quite the way I hoped, but I still really enjoyed working on this collection.
Inspired by the flea markets of our city and the cultural treasures we find there.
La Cultura season 4 showcases a different side of San Antonio often overlooked; the pulgas of our childhood and beyond. Hunting for deals on antiques, grabbing an agua fresca or a bootleg Coyote pinata. Flea markets are as puro San Antonio as the Spurs, and we want to show our love for them!
When I was a kid, I used to be obsessed with picking wild flowers, and my mom never had enough vases to hold them all, so she used to put them into whatever we had on hand. The wildflowers along the Texas highway on the way to the flea markets around the city were a big inspiration for these pieces.
My dad used to take my brother and me to pulgas (flea markets) on the weekends and we would get agua frescas (like lemonade but with a whole bunch of different flavors). My favorite was always cucumber, and I would doodle on my styrofoam cup to mark it as mine so no one would try to snatch it.
That was the inspiration for the spilled cup, or as the Spurs Family lovingly called it “the lean cup”.
I helped direct the photoshoot for the collection (at Mi Tierra downtown in Market Square) and created the launch graphics.
I actually shot some of the background images for the flat lay carousel in my backyard!
Here are some links to the launch graphics on Instagram:
Unused Designs
Unfortunately, a lot of the pieces didn’t get used in the end. I never received a reason why, but sometimes that’s just how it goes! I still loved working on these pieces and I learned a lot about myself in the process. Sometimes it’s the journey that’s the most important part of a project.
This piece celebrated the unique vintage finds at the flea market and offered a look back at the Spurs’ 5 championships.
This collection was released during the Spurs’ 50th Anniversary season.
This piggy bank piece was going to be a kids only shirt. I actually had a piggy bank really similar to this one when I was a kid.
We were trying to make more kids only merch so the smallest members of the Spurs Family could feel special.
That’s La Cultura Season 4! I will always be eternally grateful to the Spurs for letting me accomplish my goal of creating a merch collection.
I really wanted this collection to be all about San Antonio and the culture, and for this to be something that would resonate with the fans and the people of my city. Our culture is unique, and our people are like no other.
