Today we’d like to introduce you to Jane Chappelle-Rendón.
Hi Jane, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today.
For as long as I can remember creativity was my outlet. At a very young age I began drawing and painting. I played around with every medium from pencils, to watercolor, even acrylic. Everything you can imagine, I had to get my hands on. It wasn’t until a couple years ago that I tried digital tools.I fell in love with combining my skill of art, and design and began putting it into a practical application: Apparel.
Even though I was very young when I started drawing, my desire to develop my artistic skill began in middle school. It wasn’t until HIgh school that I realized that I wanted a career in the arts. My parents were very encouraging of my creativity, and any crazy idea I had, they had my back. With their encouragement, I explored a ton of styles and explored different career options. I even remember at one point I wanted to travel the country and do sidewalk chalk art as a living, so my parents bought me chalk pastels and their driveway became my new canvas. I’m sure most artists go through this at some point, but I had some doubts that I could make any money creating and I began the internal debate, what did I actually want to do as a career? I started college having no idea what I wanted to do, and for a couple of years, I had lost my inspiration. Fast forward to 2017, my art style was evolving, going from realistic to more of a dark, alternative style. It was in 2018 I came up with Blackwax, an apparel company inspired by creativity.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Unfortunately, no. The choice to follow the path of being an artist/ business owner is always going to come with its own challenges. we always look to others for their advice, what should i do? Where should I begin? start doing what you want. Everyone has their own process and way of doing things. do what works best for you. I had professors and peers tell me what they thought I should, and I even had my own doubts of what was a realistic goal for myself. but eventually I found what worked for me and I stuck with it.t think personally a struggle that is often overlooked is, who is running this? As a small business owner we take on every role that needs to be filled no matter what it is. Another difficult element of having your own business is getting your name out there. I Started this in Southern California before moving to Austin, and when we moved here, it felt like starting over. We had been here for about four months and did a couple of events and started to create a game plan for building this in a new city then, everything shut down. a year and a half later we are in a place where we can start working on this again, I’m able to work on my art and put everything back into Blackwax. Thankfully even though my company was put on hold we still have a ton of people reaching out asking about our releases and launch dates. The recognition on social media has been a great tool for networking, and getting to know other awesome locally owned businesses here in Austin.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
Blackwax Apparel is a clothing company created to inspire individuality and creativity. The Biggest focus in my art is to create something that is meaningful. For a long time, I wanted the designs on the apparel to look a certain way, but as I have evolved, I wanted to put more of myself into the art, and share with people my story and create something that others would also find meaning in. Most of the stuff I do is known for having a dark alternative look, and that’s what I enjoy doing the most, whenever Ive tried to box my work into something more “commercial” I found that my creativity was getting left out of the work, and it started losing its meaning again. I think that as an artist, there’s always something setting you apart from somebody else, even when we work in the same genre, there are differences in everyone’s Art. I’m proud to be doing something I love. It is not an easy thing to do, to build something from the ground up, but every day I see growth.
So maybe we end on discussing what matters most to you and why?
The most important thing to me is being myself. If I could go back in time, I would tell my younger self, it’s okay to be you. Be who you want, do what you love. Whatever makes you happy, that’s what you should do. I don’t want to look back and think I could have done this, or I could have created that, I want to look back and say, I did all the things that made me happy. Creating and building a business that inspires others to do the same, is all i want.
Contact Info:
- Email: blackwaxclothing18@gmail.com
- Website: blackwaxapparel.com
- Instagram: blackwaxapparel
