Meet Carlos Reyes | Jewelry Designer and Graphic Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Carlos Reyes and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Carlos, what do you attribute your success to?
The most important factor behind any brand is to understand and be deliberate about the evolutionary process of growing it forward into the future. Being relevant in the market is important and location also plays a very key factor. Positioning your brand in the market is a proven method for reaching markets that are outside of your immediate geographical reach. Having the opportunity to create relevancy in a physical business location can prove to be a challenge for many creative people trying to lift a brand.

One must be careful and super realistic if one is to survive past the two-year mark in business. If you don’t own your own building, locking in a long-term lease is important for grounding any brand in a physical location. It is common for many restaurant start-ups to fold as they are just starting to lift, by not having a long-term lease to realize their goals in an evolutionary process of building a brand.

Being susceptible to a building owner in any type of business creates huge volatility for most brands looking to establish themselves in any physical market. That is why it’s important to think past your two-year period when building a solid brand in a physical location, and locking in 5, or even 10 year leases to evolve your brand’s survival in the market/community.

In my case, I was lucky enough to have owned the building when I decided to open and start a business in a very unique environment like Yucca Valley near a National Park. Prior to starting my business, I was part of a group of people with a long-term career in corporate Customer Retention Management for automotive brands, and when the market crashed in 2008, it took me over three years to solidify my next moves. I tried many things to get back into the workforce but the market was distressed until about the end of 2011. I decided I would create a business of my own selling art out of a building I owned in the desert. That meant leaving San Diego after 30 plus years working for others.
In one evening I came up with the name ARTFX & Furnishings and opened my business in February of 2012. Being creative and having a career track in high-level marketing for automotive brands I thought I would be successful in creating a sustainable lifestyle by selling ART and consigning local artists. The goal was to represent their creative works that I thought would be relevant to customers coming into our unique environment and visiting the Joshua Tree National Park.

I initially started reaching out to the community and requesting ART with a local flare. I consigned over 145 artists from the local area. Most were not so thrilled about creating art relevant to tourism, which is where I thought my own personal branding could evolve.

For years prior, starting in 1996, I was constantly visiting the Joshua Tree National Park area and I had many photographs and graphics created honoring the majestic Joshua Tree. I started to design “everything” depicting the Joshua Tree, and since then the formula to my passion has paid off. I have shared the secret of being relevant to the environment in ART with many other artists outside of my area who are looking to establish themselves in their own unique environment and markets. Mine happens to be the amazing Mojave Desert and my beloved Joshua Tree.
The beginning was tough, to say the least. After my first year in business, I was concerned about my survival as I was having trouble catering to the needs of my customers, and tourists, to the Joshua Tree National Park. During the first year, most customers would stop in and ask for items with a Joshua Tree on them. Even though I had many more than most shops in the area, I saw this as a calling and I immediately went to work on creating a body of work like none other.

Into the 2nd year, I decided I would start designing everything “Joshua Tree” themed and since then I have created and produced many items of clothing design, furniture pieces, paintings relevant to our unique environment, and what I now consider my ultimate brand, The Sterling Silver Signature Jewelry Collection “Joshua Tree 925.”
Joshua Tree 925 with its tagline of “An Elemental Gift of Love” has proven to be or will be part of the legacy I leave behind in building, and executing a successful brand.

During the 2nd year, I branded my initial logo for the ARTFX brand which consisted of a Joshua Tree inside of a heart that I call “Heart of the Hi-Desert” in Sterling Silver. I sold over 40 pieces. Since then I have designed over 200 unique Joshua Tree-themed Sterling Silver pendants, bracelets, necklaces, and earrings that are now selling in two of my branded shops, online, and for the past 5 years inside the Joshua Tree National Park Shop.

My dedication to the Joshua Tree goes well beyond my Jewelry brand. I have created thousands of marketing pieces on social media with my beloved Joshua Tree Logo and perhaps the most Joshua Tree art by any person. I live and breathe my brand. I wear it, promote it, and design it even in my sleep.

To address the importance of my specific brand, I must thank my natural environment for inspiring me every day to create art with this amazing Tree which has become my means of creating a sustainable and creative life through my art.

In February 2022, I celebrated 10 years in business. I have to add that part of my success has been my ability to design and create art in a collaborative style. In 2013, as I stated previously, times were about to get tough as I was running out of products to sustain my business well into the future. I decided that I would travel to Bali, Indonesia, to work with artists there to create products with Joshua Trees. As a graphic artist, it was easy for me to design and work with others in ways that would prove to be successful.

I created designs for many mediums, and during my first 30 days in Bali, I was able to bring back 2 cubic meters full of products. Not all products were branded to my goals, but many accomplishments were made in a 30-day visit. Once the items arrived in my shop and were displayed out on the floor, customers immediately resonated with the pieces and quickly purchased almost everything I had brought back from Bali. I was on to something and so this has become my recipe for success in building my brand and becoming a designer.

I traveled back to Bali the following year in 2014, and this time my visit was for 60 days, and on this visit, I was able to start establishing a look and feel for my branding. This time I was able to bring back 10 cubic meters of products. In the process, I was also learning many things about logistics in shipping from one country to another. The following year was in 2015, and since then I have been staying in Indonesia for 3 full months at a time.

In 10 years I have designed thousands of products. I have brought back many 40 foot containers full of my designs and products back to my shop. This collaborative process of working with Artists in Indonesia has proven to be very strategic in my brand’s survival. Working in Indonesia is very easy for me. I love the people there; they are very loving and passionate about the arts and approach my designs with the utmost creativity. Learning the business language has also been very helpful in negotiating logistics and working within the Indonesian market.

After 10 years in business, I know what sells best within my brand. I am now entering the next level of evolving my entire brand’s existence. In the next decade, I will focus on phasing out the ARTFX brand of so many products and focusing on turning my physical location into a Jewelry Store for the Joshua Tree 925® Sterling Silver Signature Jewelry Collection.

I will also focus on my ONLINE shop, the relationship with the Joshua Tree National Park, and continue to design for my signature Sterling silver jewelry line, and collection.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I have been working since the age of 9. At age 9 I was shining shoes in local bars in Paterson NJ and by age 16 I was completing vocational school in Clifton, NJ. I don’t really know a day where I can say I have truly relaxed.

I worked for many years in medical coding, clinic administration, billing and then moved on to Customer Retention Management, and marketing for over a decade. I was not born an artist or afforded the freedom to be creative, I had to give myself that freedom.

My calling in life was my beloved Joshua Tree. When I started to become creative was when the market crashed in 2008 and by 2011 I knew exactly what I would do for the rest of my life. I was going to be self-employed. I had the right skill set to set up my own business and I had the charisma that I thought was needed to succeed in any type of business.

My challenges were in sourcing products and working with other creatives in realizing my own designs. I was lucky to have already known where I could start. That was Bali, Indonesia. I was very comfortable traveling there in 2005 on a vacation and I felt like I could ignite a great creative path with my concepts. The people there are so creative and willing to approach anything in a cooperative way. So it was a natural path for me.

Some other challenges came when I need to deep dive into the Logistics of importing goods in the USA. That was a huge learning curve but I achieved it, and now I know everything about customs clearance at this point.

I feel that it’s very important to be constant about what you are looking to build. If you are doing all the right things, especially infusing your business with your return on that investment, it is bound to flourish. Most of all belief in yourself, and accept that others will support your efforts.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Some of my favorite spots: Without hesitation, if you come this far, go into the Joshua Tree National Park. Take a quick hike to Barker Dam, or take in the vast desert from Key’s View = Joshua Tree’s highest viewpoint, offering panoramic views of mesas, mountains & Coachella Valley.

Explore and respect our open environment. Morongo Basin is a great place to feel disconnected from all the major hubs because we have no powerlines running through our infrastructure so it will be like a magical vortex to most visitors. Explore and have a sound bath at the lovely Integratron in Landers, CA.

Visit the assemblage art of Noah Purifoy. Noah S. Purifoy was an African-American visual artist and sculptor, co-founder of the Watts Towers Art Center, and creator of the Noah Purifoy Outdoor Desert Art Museum. He lived and worked most of his life in Los Angeles and Joshua Tree, California.

Visit our historical Pioneertown. Pioneertown, California, is an unincorporated community of the Morongo Basin region of San Bernardino’s High Desert. The historical town was originally incorporated in 1946 and fell into the hands of San Bernardino County in the late 1960s.

Take a stroll through Christ Park. Desert Christ Park is a 3.5-acre sculpture garden in Yucca Valley, California. The park was sculpted and created by Antone Martin, a former aircraft worker who died in 1961 at the age of 74.

Want to explore on your own and discover more secrets of our area then check out www.TheSecretTours.com or contact Rob for your own personal excursion to our magical desert.

Want to catch a show in a community theater? Check out www.Theater29.org Theatre 29 is a tax-exempt 501(c)3 non-profit community theatre that has been providing quality entertainment since its founding in 1999. It is their mission –
“To bring quality, family-oriented Theater to Twentynine Palms while offering opportunities for our children and citizens to experience the live arts”

My fun places to eat. Joshua Tree Saloon, Crossroads Cafe, Aki Sushi, El Guerro Mexican Restaurant, and my new hot spot, The Tiny Pony located in Yucca Valley.

Lastly, shop Old Town Yucca Valley – some of the best shops in all of hi-desert! Start at ARTFX and end up at Rainbow Stew!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
A very special thanks to Richard Lundine. Richard does the books, taxes, and merchandising in my Yucca Valley location and I owe him greatly for the support he provides. Having someone of trust in my life allows me to remain creative and constant about what and how I want to build my brand.

I also want to thank every customer that has purchased from my ARTFX & Joshua Tree 925 Brands in the past decade! When I create or make a purchase a specific customer is always in mind.

A special thank you to Voyage LA for the opportunity provided in getting my story out there!

Website: www.JoshuaTree925.com

Instagram: @joshuatree925

Twitter: @joshuatree925

Facebook: @hidesertarts

Image Credits
All Images and Graphics created by Carlos A. Reyes of Joshua Tree 925® ~ An Elemental Gift of Love