Meet Alison Rugulo | Textile Design Manager & Creativity Enthusiast

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

Hi Alison, why did you decide to pursue a creative path?
Blame it all on high school yearbook.

With the infinite wisdom of a 17 year-old, I thought I’d go into politics—be a lawyer. Luckily my creativity was let loose on an entire book by the best woman I’ve ever known, and it changed everything. All my little childhood hobbies finally had a reason: collages on the cover of anything and everything, saving pages from SURFER magazine for the editorial design, an obsession with color. No wonder I ended up in graphic design, as a textile designer.

It was more or less an accident to be a professional creative. The phrase “starving artist” was an identifier to be avoided at all cost. Realizing that graphic design was even a thing, let alone a viable occupation, was the light bulb moment. Even graduating design school in some of the darkest months of the Great Recession, at least graphic designers could get paid, right? The fashion part was an accident too; as a student I wanted to design beautiful books.

What has never been an accident was the absolute mission I had to have a fun job. My parents hated their jobs, and I knew that could never be me. Creativity has always felt natural to me, it just took a while to find the right mediums, both professionally and personally. So now I make a living playing with color, with art history, with fabric and clothing and amazing people. I name colors, and get to create the perfect color harmonies. Outside of work I paint, work with ceramics, DIY, crochet, or any other little thing that feeds the creative fires.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I’ve always worked in-house for a brand. I knew immediately out of school that a freelance or independent career was not suited to my temperament. The hustle was not for me. I started right out of school at O’Neill in a variety of roles, then for the last 9 1/2 years I’ve been at Billabong. My job is creative & free, but also corporate & commercial. I started as a graphic design assistant who worked on both marketing and tee graphics, then I went fully marketing with the best boss but a job I hated, then back to product as textile designer, jumped companies, and have worked my way from textile designer to Textile Design Manager.

I’m most proud of the fact that I stuck with it. Over the last 14 years there were more than a handful of times I almost quit. From where I sit today, I am so grateful to my younger self for trusting the process, trusting my strengths, accepting the challenges, and pushing through them. I’m glad I didn’t get discouraged by a social environment I didn’t always fit in, or by difficult communication dynamics, or a sometimes overwhelming work load, or the impact my industry plays in the global waste and climate crisis, or the handful of major corporate transitions I’ve been lucky enough to survive.

Then there’s the internal world that makes being a professional creative feel close to impossible sometimes. Creative blocks were once a panic-inducing way to start a day, and now they’re just an accepted part of doing this work; some days the juices are flowing and other days they’re just stuck. Figuring out when I’m most creative (early in the week and first thing in the morning) has really helped keep those ebbs and flows of energy from creating any truly negative consequences.

It’s almost too lucky that I found this little niche of textile design. I thrive with limitations, rules to follow, and technical considerations, yet freely explore art and color within those structures. That is exactly what surface design is all about. I have to consider size limitations from a factory a world away, print quality, fabric, number of colors, scale, how it will flow on a garment, what printing method should be used, what colorways our customer will automatically reject, how lighting affects the appearance of color, lead times and deadlines, and how file sizes can ruin a coworker’s day. But I also get to spread out a bunch of art on the floor and create beautiful and compelling stories. I get to see the fruits of my work-week out in the wild at concerts, the grocery store, on the beach, in my neighborhood, on my colleagues and friends — it makes all the challenges worth it because someone chose to wear MY ART! WHAT?! Nuts! So in the words of at least a few of my extended family, I “have a cool job.”

Truth be told I could leave the actual drawing behind me if I got to just color for the rest of time. My design partner and I joke about that sometimes—she’d rather draw and I’d rather color—and we find it such a shame that our processes and calendars can’t make that dream happen just yet.

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.
Sorry to burst your bubble LA, but I live in OC. The westside of Costa Mesa has been my home for the last 4 1/2 years and I love it. It’s my favorite place I’ve ever lived (despite 5 winters of leaking walls/windows) in our apartment).

Friday evening arrival to John Wayne Airport: we go to Trenta, for the absolute BEST Italian food.

Saturday: walk to my neighborhood coffee shop, either Daydream for the people watching, Neat for the best avo toast, or Moongoat for a churro latte. We’ll hang at the pottery studio with the clay ladies (and the fellas) for most of the afternoon. We would have planned this perfectly and there will be a show at either the Tiki Bar or the Wayfarer we’re stoked for and walking to. Or at least the Observatory, it’s not too far.

Sunday: hiking time!!! Either a hike in the San Gabriels (Ice House Canyon or Baldy are my faves) or we’re road tripping out to San Jacinto & Palm Springs. Either way, we’re “going to church” and getting outside and above the smog! We’ll get back in time for ramen at KitiKata in Costa Mesa.

Monday: the Getty Villa and a Malibu kinda day. Maybe a cruise up into Topanga Canyon just because it’s there.

Tuesday: Another relaxing day, so we do a real cruise of a bike ride, get coffee and breakfast burritos along PCH, catch some sun, take a dip. We’re walking back to The Wayfarer again for Taco Tuesday and trivia night.

Wednesday: We either hit The Broad or the Getty Center in the morning, then we’re going shopping. Silverlake, or Echo Park, or Abbot Kinney or Atwater Village – can’t go wrong with any of them. We’ll let traffic decide. Let’s go find all the home goods boutiques that are way outta budget.

Thursday: you feel lame that you always wanted to try (insert activity here), but have never lived somewhere close enough, or had the right people to do it with. So we go do it! Whether it’s surfing (which I don’t like, so you’ll catch me spongin), or climbing (hey I’m out of shape and my hands have lost all grip strength, but I can still belay you), or rollerskating (yes mine are lime green and I’ve only used them twice) …. lots of options here and we’ll try to send you home in one piece.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
First and foremost, my parents for not falling to pieces when I told them I was going to a very expensive private school to study art.

My high school yearbook adviser and photography teacher, who sadly, is no longer with us—Shelly Guinan. That woman, there just are not enough words—she changed my whole life. She lovingly teased me, showed me there were other ways to live, made me editor of the yearbook, empowered my creativity, pushed me, and sent me to yearbook camp. It sounds corny, almost 20 years later, but that week changed everything. I met professional graphic designers for the first time in my life (shoutout to the professor from Kansas State who led the group of editors). I learned how to design a page, how to create a theme and carry it through a book.

My professors at Chapman University. My internship advisers at Quiksilver. Everyone I worked with at O’Neill. Everyone I work with at Billabong. Some wise words from Anya Violet, a designer and co-founder of Atwyld: “Hey, calm down, we’re just making bikinis!” Or from my former Marketing Director, Cedar Carter: “It’s ok to make mistakes, we’re all human. What I care more about it how you go about fixing them.” Man… for a recovering perfectionist, those really stuck.

Most recently, the whole crew at Costa Mesa Ceramics – the owner, the staff, the members. I’ve found my home away from home there. My clay ladies, my obsession, and my outlet. A place for my creativity to go that’s just for me.

And of course, the hubs, Nick. My ever and always creative cheerleader.

Instagram: @yoyoacon

Image Credits
Studio shots of lamps: Cameron Oden, Blackbrick Studio