International man of mystery Wayne Minnis sits down with us to discuss his inspiration, adventures, and… ties to the New World Order? You won't find many personal details online (coincidence?) but there are plenty simple and charming designs to spare. Read on to get the scoop.

Typically I start with some background to color up the intro for these, but I'm a little thrown on this one. Outside of being an Aussie, there's very little about you online. I'm certain that's by design, so let's start this off with a bang!

What are we missing? Do you have 15 kids… are you part of the cabal secretly ruling the world through one all-powerful government… maybe a founding member of the hottest boy band Down Under? The people want to know, Wayne! What's a week in your life look like?

Ahah no deep dark secrets to reveal sorry. I guess I do keep it pretty low key online, I think all I really want to do on social media is just look at cool pictures and videos and I'm not in any secret cabals. At least I hope I'm not. If I am I've missed a lot of meetings.

As for a typical week, I work full time as a graphic designer, it's been keeping me pretty busy the last few years but try and find time for a bit of illustration work for myself when I can. I love movies, hiking, a bit of pub trivia but most of all I love to travel. Right now I'm enjoying a bit more stability after being a bit of a digital nomad since back before it was even really called that.

I don't know what the attendance policy is for the Cabal so it's possible you're still in good standing. I'm actually more interested in the other stuff though.

The digital nomading… was it more freelance work or more bouncing between companies? And is it a career style you'd recommend or are you more comfortable with something that doesn't involve so much transition?

I was lucky enough to keep working remotely for a design agency here in Australia so didn't have to try and hunt down work.

I loved that it gave me the freedom to keep moving around as much as I wanted but there were times that it also got tiring not having a permanent base. I'm happy to be a bit more settled at the moment and there's still plenty of places on my to-do list but I might stick to shorter trips in future. Not too short though.

So what is it about the permanent base that you're enjoying so much? Does it help to have a more structured environment or to bounce design ideas off of peers? Having experienced the flexibility of fully remote work life I imagine it's tough to make the transition at first.

I definitely resisted going back into an office and regular routine for a long time but I'm really enjoying it now. That's mostly down to the team I work with - we've all become good friends and collaborate really well together so I genuinely enjoy heading into the office now. But I do also jump at the chance to go out on photo shoots whenever the opportunity comes up and get some time away from my computer.

The office camaraderie is definitely hard to replace without… an office. I get the impression that your approach is different than many others though. Correct me if I'm wrong but you seem like much more of an analog thinker than a digital one.

How do most of your projects originate? Are they derived from your photography? First worked out in a sketchbook? There's been such an infusion of AI into the space recently but I don't picture you as using it to gain inspiration or refine execution. How do you feel about the industry's increasing usage of AI overall?

I would say you're definitely on the mark there. I did start out drawing and painting so I think that mindset has really shaped how I work digitally now. Most of my work is absolutely inspired by my travels and I do use my own photography for reference. I usually develop my ideas digitally with a tablet and stylus but there are still times when you just have to sit down and work it out on paper.

As for AI, I think it's safe to say I am definitely not a fan. There are places where it's useful, for cleaning up photos and simplifying tedious tasks which I am fine with. But I think the whole intent behind generative AI is to give people a result without actually requiring much creativity or skill when... isn't that the entire point of why we create stuff? You need to go through the process of trial and error to learn how to solve problems, how to improve things and if all you've done is ask a computer to make an image on your behalf why would anyone be particularly interested or impressed by that? If you do a Google image search and find some great photos that doesn't make you a photographer.

So yeah, I've got some thoughts on AI and could probably go on a bit longer but basically I enjoy creating. It's not something I need taken away from me or some problem that needs to be fixed.

I think you said it perfectly. What's the point of creating if there's no creativity? I'm certain that will be a prompt realization for clients as we move forward in the AI era. There's an immense amount of value in original, well-crafted design work.

Before I let you out of here, I have to know a bit more about your inspiration though. Have any cultures dramatically impacted your process? You've been to so many amazing places. I imagine you've picked up some influences along the way. Any favorites or least favorites? Locations you highly recommend for folks looking to further develop their skills?

That's an interesting one actually. I obviously use the landscapes and locations as subjects for my work and being exposed to other cultures and languages absolutely makes you more open minded. I love being around other cultures and some of my favorite places are the ones which feel the most different to my everyday life - Asia, North Africa and the Mediterranean. Same with landscapes, I live near the coast so it's the mountains and deserts I find the most appealing so my favorite spots would have to be Switzerland, Canada, New Zealand, the Southwest US and Australian outback.

I definitely think visiting all these places has had a huge effect on the way I think and view the world but I'm not sure I could easily identify a way it's directly influenced my artwork. If anything I think the artists I like the most do come from all over the world, but all take a similar approach of capturing the character of a place in a very simplified, stylized way and that's something which really appeals to me. It's probably part of what I do for a living in graphic design too, trying to break down information and communicate it simply and effectively.

Honestly when it comes to recommending places to travel all I'd say is just go. Everywhere is interesting in it's own way, even if some places will effect you more there's very few places I regret visiting.

I think that's what appeals to everyone about your designs. Keeping it simple and capturing character separates your work from the crowd. Whatever the inspiration is, definitely keep it up!

We covered most of the bases but there's one subject we didn't get to yet… your love of movies. It's Oscar season and the people need your cinema takes. Let's give 'em what they want with a lightning round wrap up:

1. What movie has had the biggest affect on your work?
2. What is the worst Best Picture winner of all time?
3. What was the best movie you saw last year?

Thank you, that's really nice to hear! As for the movies...

1. The first thing that came to mind wasn't a single movie but Disney animation probably had the biggest influence on me, especially as a teenager when I was really starting out as an artist. If I had to narrow it down to one movie of theirs I'd say The Lion King, it's still a favorite of mine.
2. I couldn't think of one myself but it seems the internet agrees that Crash didn't deserve the win. And the internet would never lie to me. Surely.
3. Dune Part Two. It immediately became one of my favorite films ever.

Thanks so much for chatting with us Wayne! Can't wait to see photos from your next adventure. Keep up the awesome work!

Having owned a business now for more than 15 years, it occurs to me that what I subconsciously think it should feel like and what it in fact on a daily basis does feel like are quite opposite.

It seems like by now it ought to feel essential, a fundamental aspect of my identity, as comfortable as driving a car or breathing air. That’s three quarters of my adult life, for crying out loud. Yet it really does not. Instead it feels… uneasy? A never ending process of projecting and contingency planning and reacting to Yet Another Unexpected Crisis. More or less constant dread punctuated by moments of either crushing, existential fear or, all too rarely and far too briefly, real joy — which is, frankly, discombobulating.

If you’ve done this — or do this — yourself you know the feeling. If you haven’t, there’s a pretty good chance the reason you haven’t is because of horror stories exactly like this. Who would ever wish this upon anyone? I still vividly recall a local talk Jay and I gave during our first year together titled “Quit Your Job and Start a Business”. It didn’t take long before we realized how naive and dangerous that advice truly was.

So, why? Where does the motivation to endure the trials and tribulations of owning a business come from? I think — and, to be clear, this is just a working theory borne out of compulsive introspection — it’s a paradoxical combination of nothing ever being good enough and the idiotic belief that anything is possible. Let’s call it being critically optimistic, or, better, optimistically critical. Just because something is not great at the moment doesn’t mean a) we can’t identify the reasons for that and b) make it better.

For the inveterate optimizer, especially one who has the most intimate possible understanding of the machine, it’s impossible to resist the siren sound of turning knobs, flipping switches, and swapping out gizmos in the quest to get it Just Right. Is it hopeless? Only if you stop believing.

A Year in Review

In a world where algorithms and artificial intelligence are inescapable, it’s healthy, maybe even critical, to celebrate not just the small wins but all of the accomplishments that required real work done by us fragile, disintegrating bags of blood and guts.

In that (rather disgusting) spirit, let’s take a quick run through our favorite moments of 2024.

On Demand Totes

About this time last year we dropped a new on demand product, totes. Available in natural and black, it was an easy decision for us to expand the catalog to include an oft-requested item.

While totes were relatively easy to implement, we also haven’t seen significant adoption or demand. Still, when you need a tote, we’re now happy to say, we can absolutely handle that for you.

New Creator Dashboard

In the before times, logging in to your Cotton Bureau account as a creator dropped you directly into a product gallery view. That’s not a particularly customizable or flexible area. In March we significantly improved that experience with new onboarding, better sales visibility, and space to share relevant product updates.

Better International Shipping

While Cotton Bureau is based in the US, we have proudly shipped to more than 150 countries around the world over the last 10 years. During that time, shipping providers have changed, production partners have changed, and even the laws have changed. We’re pleased to say that shipping internationally is better in 2025 than it has ever been before.

On Demand Drinkware

One project in particular in 2024 took up more time and required more effort than any other. We started investigating on demand drinkware options way, way back in early 2022. At that point, our only on demand product was apparel. Looking back now with five unique on demand categories available on the site and several more coming soon, it was certainly a simpler time.

The challenges of displaying a product that has significant depth (with designs potentially wrapping entirely around the body of the object) and challenging material properties (transparent glass or shiny metal), required us to dig deep into the world of 3D modeling. In the end, we’re pleased with the product we shipped and while the work was more than we bargained for, we expect it will continue to pay dividends in the future. In fact, we were able to quickly and easily add on demand mugs later in the year as a direct result of the pipeline that was established.

Speaking of mugs, we have been very pleased with their performance. As someone who is not much of a coffee drinker, especially hot coffee, I was personally more excited about the glasses and insulated bottles that we brought online first. The market has spoken, though, and you all like your mugs.

Refreshed Content Strategy

It’s borderline obnoxious to call “writing” anything fancier than puking words out on a screen, but, well, if the shoe fits. And every year, we take a hard look at the closet to see what we like and what has worn out its welcome.

Social Media

After a few years in the wilderness, we think we might just be able to see a path through the social media maze. Early Twitter was our vibe. Late Twitter was a drag. X is a cesspool. We’ve never been Facebook people (no explanation necessary). We don’t make videos (sorry TikTok and mid-life crisis Instagram). Mastodon didn’t quite catch on. Threads is… Stepford Wives Twitter? Finally Bluesky arrived like an oasis in the desert. Thus, if you like Cotton Bureau and want to follow, we recommend:

• Our email newsletter! 📬
• @cottonbureau.com on Bluesky 🦋
• @cottonbureau on Instagram 📸

If you must, we’re also keeping an eye on:

• @cottonbureau on Mastodon 🐘
• @cottonbureau on Threads 🧵

Hand-Picked Links

Halfway through the year we introduced a new type of blog post and email: Hand-Picked Links. We published about two posts per month last year with 3–5 links in each post. Most had nothing to do with Cotton Bureau. We just thought the people, products, videos, stories, and projects were interesting. We hope you’ve enjoyed them because we plan to keep doing them in 2025. We love shining a little spotlight on what other people are busy building. Here’s the most recent edition if you’d like to sample the wares.

Feature Friday

Similar to Hand-Picked Links, we love to promote some of the many talented designers using Cotton Bureau. Last year marked the second year of interviews in the new series. We won’t play favorites, so check out the full list below:

• #011 — Todd Radom
• #012 — Maria Tina Beddia
• #013 — Josh Gibson
• #014 — Gerren Lamson
• #015 — Matt Hamm
• #016 — Ben Stafford
• #017 — Brianna Eng
• #018 — Yaron Schoen
• #019 — Mario Zucca
• #020 — Bryanne Skolaski
• #021 — Fell

Blog Back Catalog Restored

Finally, when you’ve got hundred of thousands of words written, it makes sense to preserve them. It’s all here now — the early blog, the tumbler, the Medium blog, the temporary Blank blog. We’re proud of what we’ve done over the years. There are plenty of mistakes mixed in, but c’est la vie.

Pre-Order Campaigns

With more than a million t-shirts, hoodies, patches, stickers, buttons, pins, posters, pillows, glasses, mugs, keychains, hats, phone cases, coins, totes, notebooks, towels, socks, wristbands, masks, magnets, and more shipped, everyone’s experience with Cotton Bureau is unique. But fundamentally, if you really boil it down, we help creators do one of three things: sell something on demand, sell something as a stock product, or run a pre-order campaign. Of those, the heart of Cotton Bureau from when we started in 2013 was the screen printed pre-order campaign. While it’s no longer the most popular way to buy and sell, we still hold it dear which is why we took time out of a busy schedule in 2024 to modernize and enhance that workflow to ensure it continues to be a part of the platform for the next decade just like it was the last.

If you love screen printing like we do, give the all-new pre-order campaign creator a try.

New Apparel Styles

In the final sprint to prep for holidays, we were able to completely revamp our fleece lineup and add the heavyweight 100% cotton Comfort Colors 1717 tee.

Despite happening later than we would have preferred, both have been tremendously popular additions. If you haven’t already, we strongly recommend giving them both a try. You might just find your new favorite t-shirt.

New People, Old Places

In the midst of the hurry and scurry, we also had the privilege of traveling to some of our favorite places to meet up with friends of Cotton Bureau.

In August we found ourselves back in Portland for the final XOXO which made it five in a row for me. The Andys do an incredible job every time pulling things together. It’s sad that it had to end, but at least it went out with a bang.

After that it was a quick trip to Austin to meet up with the smartest, hardest working, most creative small business owners on the Internet. It was super refreshing to hang out, talk shop, and crush the best Asian / BBQ in the world at Loro.

As a side quest we squished in a three day whirlwind tour of the Southwest United States with more than 24 hours of rental car driving. We were able to cross five more National Parks off our list including Saguaro, White Sands, Guadalupe Mountains, Carlsbad Caverns, and Big Bend. Whew. Apologies to the friends and colleagues we drove past without saying hello. The road waits for no man.

Finally, in October, we were excited to partner with Josh Horton on beautiful totes for everyone who attended Creative Works EAST in Brooklyn. It had been almost a decade since we last traveled to NYC. (You might also enjoy my food notes from all three trips on Mastodon.)

While three trips in three months was exhausting, it was so nice to catch up with several old friends and make even more new ones. Plus, we learned a very valuable lesson: not enough people know who we are! That’s something we’d really like to see change this year.

In the virtual world, it was fun for us to welcome a few new notable accounts including Advent of Code, Mike Duncan from my all-time favorite podcast Revolutions and The History of Rome, the very wholesome but sadly short-lived Tim Walz Fixed Your Bicycle, award-winning Apple software developer and video game publisher Panic, and Uni Watch legend Paul Lukas. (It’s a shame this is the first year I thought to commemorate these. For 2023 I would have absolutely mentioned working with internet legends Seth Godin and Jason Kottke and as highlights of the year.)

What’s Next

It has been our practice internally for the past several years to compile a big, sloppy list of stuff we would love to complete in the next 12 months. Unfortunately this list is easily five years worth of work. We then hack it down to a more manageable two years of material knowing full well by the time 2025 is in the rearview mirror we’ll be lucky to have crossed off even ¼ of that shorter, allegedly more manageable catalog — which makes it almost impossible to provide anything approaching guidance on what you can look forward to seeing on the site in the near future.

That said, some projects are far enough along that it would be surprising if they didn’t happen. Foremost among them, on demand stickers. We had hoped to be able to make these available late in 2024. Printing and shipping stickers as needed rather than ordering hundreds or thousands in advance would be a significant quality of life improvement for many creators on Cotton Bureau. We have our fingers-crossed we’ll be able to share more on that front before long.

Several other new on demand categories are still in the research phase. If there’s something in particular you’d like to see, let us know. The more information we have the more we can prioritize the most impactful features.

Lastly, we have two major undertakings I’m nervous to even hint that we are contemplating. They are, if we’re honest, somewhat orthogonal to the way Cotton Bureau has always worked which is quite disconcerting for us. Still, we think you will like them, and they are very near the top of the list of projects for this year. We hope they come off and look forward to sharing more 😉.

Auf wiedersehen, then, to 2024. May the music be better in 2025.

Welcome back to Feature Friday! Let's all give a warm welcome to Ben Beaudoin. Ben has been a friend of Cotton Bureau for a few years now and we couldn't be happier to have him. Read on to hear what happens behind the scenes at some of your favorite brands, fun New Mexico recs, and a bit of folklore that may keep you up at night. 

Hey Ben! Thanks for letting me pick your brain for a bit. Let's jump right in. I was just looking through your portfolio and spotted some huge names in there. What's it like working for brands like Helly Hansen, Eddie Bauer, Puma, etc.? Is there anyone you've been particularly impressed with?

It's really fun to work on some of these brands that have a strong brand identity. The creative process is more collaborative than working on stuff for myself. I love getting new concept boards and seeing what they're looking for. It's like a first date where it's all fresh and new. At times, they might ask for something unexpected that's also pretty challenging to execute. I've learned to like this as my confidence grew, because it pushes you beyond your comfort zone and makes you grow as a designer. A lot of these bigger brands have been leaning toward more illustration based graphics these days, and that allows for much more creativity than the more text based graphics. It's interesting to see how these bigger names respond to a quick moving, trend based market place. Often they are designing a year ahead of when the product hits the market. So you see how a hot new viral trend ends up in the more mainstream market a year or two down the line.

I do have to have to say, I have been really impressed by Eddie Bauer. They are able to maintain the heritage of the brand while incorporating new trends. They always have a very clear vision of what they want. I have worked for them several seasons at this point, and it's always been fun stuff to work on. There's usually pretty minimal back and forth in regards to changes. That speaks volumes as to having a vision, and being able to communicate that to us designers.

The other brand that has made the biggest impression on me was 77 kids, which was a side project brand of America Eagle. It only lasted from 2009-2011, but I got to be very artsy and creative working for them. The Art director, Keith Fiori was way ahead of his time as far as graphics for a mainstream kids brand. He would combine the themes of surf, skate, and music culture with kids motifs like monsters, sports, and animals before other people were doing it much. He wanted us to come up with Layouts of the text and illustrations that were unexpected. Also, the director really wanted to push the limits of translating hand drawn and painted graphics into silkscreen graphics. All the way down to how we would set up the screen separations. It blew my mind at the time. It's hard to describe how different this brand was from anything out there at the time. You can still see some of the 77kids stuff on sites like Poshmark and Mercari. It's worth a peek because I think there's a correlation between Cotton Bureau and 77kids. A mix of attitude, fun, and emphasis on hight quality.

I'd say those two brands are some highlights. But one other honorable mention brand I work with now is J Crew Kids for their factory outlet product. I like how they try to be unique with their concepts and aesthetic.

I guess I'll end this answer by saying I feel fortunate to be able to work with some of these brands over the years. It's been a cool experience.

Wow that's pretty neat to think about. It's wild too how as a consumer I feel like these brands know what I want better than I do. I'm sure that's in large part due to them hiring the right designers to bring their visions to life (and a great marketing team). 

Is it difficult working with brands that have specific visions and guidelines? I'm very much the type of person that appreciates clear directions but I wonder as an artist if it's more difficult to be kind of restricted as to what you can create.

Yeah, It's interesting to see the 'behind the scenes' process behind what these big brands release to market. In a way, they do seem to be trying to put their finger on the pulse of the collective unconscious. You have input from the design directors, the clothing designers, the marketing team with the numbers side of it, and last but not least, us designers that make the final art. The concepts and looks are super refined by having a lot of eyes on it, but definitely, having the right designers can make a difference whether a design will do well in the end. I think a good designer will try to understand a brands vision and how to make it stand out into the marketplace. For me, I started to understand this bigger picture only after a number of years working in this industry. I can remember when it clicked. It was the first time my design director asked me to sit down with her and go through a spreadsheet with the sales numbers for all of the tees that we made that season. I could see what the customers actually wanted. What the big sellers were. I could match that feedback back to the brands vision, as well as my own ideas I brought to the table. That was a great teaching moment to get a peek into the marketing side of things.

As a young designer i did find it more difficult to work with a brands guidelines. I thought part of my job was to try to push a brand to be 'cooler' than they were. I guess if you're young you naturally want to push the boundaries, but to be honest, I was probably just being a pain in the ass...ha ha! As I grew as a designer, I came to embrace the basic idea that a big part of my job is to understand the vision of the client. And then clearly communicating that vision of the brand to the customers. So nowadays, the more specific the vision and the guidelines, the easier they're making my job. When I'm designing, I can get kind of OCD at times. I feel like there are so many micro decisions to make with layout, type, color, art style, etc. I do like developing concepts for designs too, and I do that when it's needed. But I'm not attached to only designing for my own ideas. In the end I want to create as good of a design as I can. So the guidelines just help me with that. If I do have a design idea I want to create for myself, I have to say It's been awesome to have Cotton Bureau as an outlet for that.

I love hearing about how much consideration goes into launching new products. Even before you're involved I'm sure there are so many decisions made about materials, sizing, cuts, etc. I'm curious what the average time frame is to create one new product start to finish for a brand like Helly Hansen. 

What else have you been up to? Any hobbies, trips, pets?

To be honest, I feel like such small part of the overall process. There are so many steps and people involved. There's very few steps that the graphic designer is actually involved in along the way for each product when it comes to these bigger brands. Before we even get a brief a lot of the decisions have already been made. For example, there's always a color palette that comes with a brief. And those are usually related to fabric colors. Interestingly, it's kind of like on Cotton bureau where you know ahead of time what body colors you have to work with. Timeframe for developing a product is usually a 2-3 month development time in total. And like most markets it's seasonal, so they're trying to get the product done way ahead of time so they can have time to market it at scale. Right now I am working on some stuff for Spring 26, which is the long end of the curve from development until the time it hits a store. A year used to be standard. But some companies are more streamlined these days. And I see some companies developing stuff that will be in stores in 6-9 months from the time a graphic gets approved. Especially less expensive items like t-shirts where they want to drip feed new product to keep up with current trends and keep stores looking fresh. That's pretty fast considering so much of our clothing is produced half way around the world in Asia these days.

What have I been up to? I had to laugh because my interests are such a hodgepodge of different things. Being creative is one of my hobbies still, even though it's what I do for work. I was able to do a silk screen print for an art project a couple months ago and that was super fun. Also, I try to get away from the desk and do a nice long hike at least once a week. I live near Mt. Monadnock in N.H. and it's my favorite area to explore trail wise these days. One of the t-shirts on my list for Cotton Bureau has been to do a Mt. Monadnock graphic. It's such an awesome place to hike that it at least deserves a t-shirt! Sports-wise, I love watching golf with my dad in the summer months. And also I'm really into following the parkour scene and seeing how hard they're pushing the limits of the sport. Some of what they're doing almost looks like action movie stunts. Before landing in New Hampshire I traveled all around the US, The UK, and Ecuador. One place in the US I love is New Mexico, and I'm planning on a trip back to Santa Fe this winter/spring. It's almost like a different country compared to the East Coast. I love the Native American art from that area too. I've started buying some of the woven blankets from that area. I don't know if it's a hobby, or just something necessary to save my body from all the time at the desk, and that's yoga. Good for the mind too. Like a weekly reset button. I used to have a dog but I don't now. I still love dogs and I will binge on YouTube shorts with dogs as a guilty pleasure from time to time. Can that can be considered a hobby, ha ha!

Oh my gosh! That's quite a list you got there. Sounds like hobbies are your hobby. Let's start with New Mexico. I've never been to Santa Fe (or anywhere in NM) but some of the Cotton Bureau team took a trip out there not long ago and loved it. Taos is on my list of ski resorts to visit as well so maybe I'll run into you this winter! Have you done much hiking in New Mexico? I'm curious, in your opinion what are the best things to do in New Mexico?

Ha ha! I think you have a great idea for a t-shirt there! 'Hobbies are my Hobby' would be great text for a humor graphic. I guess I'm compelled to always keep moving and feeling like I'm doing something. I was way more restless when I was younger, so I traveled a lot. Nowadays I'm more settled, and have more structure in my life. So all that energy mostly gets channeled into either being productive or having new experiences locally. I heard someone talking today about having a growth mindset. I was like, yeah, I can relate to that. It feels good to be actively engaging with life and have fun while challenging yourself. So whether it's work or a hobby, it all contributes to growth in some way.

Cool to hear that some you guys on the Cotton Bureau team have been to New Mexico. Yes! Definitely go to Taos! Cool to hear that's on your list too. The mountains are really beautiful up around Taos. A trip to the ski resort when there's snow on the mountains there would be so amazing. The town of Taos itself is really cool too. Fun and Funky mixed with traditional pueblo style is how i'd describe it. I did some great hikes in New Mexico. The place to hike I remember liking the most was Tent Rocks National Monument trail. It's only a couple of miles or so, but the view at the highest point let's you view the whole valley south of Santa Fe. For best things to do...I highly recommend Bandelier National Monument. There's a short trail there that goes through a canyon where there are lots of really old cave dwellings and Petroglyphs. They have ladders you can climb to go up into some of them. It's got to be one of the more unique National Parks you could go to. Art-wise, I'd say either visiting Canyon Road, which is the Art Gallery district in Santa Fe, or visiting the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum that's way out in the desert. Also, in Taos are the Ojo Caliente Hot Springs. I was there with some friends at night in winter while it was snowing which made it super memorable. And last but not least, eating. You will not be disappointed by the Mexican Food of New Mexico. I really miss the mole sauce from there! There's way more to explore in New Mexico than this, but these are some of the most memorable things I did in my time there. It's such a big state!
 

Hahah I love 'Hobbies are my Hobby' for a t-shirt design. I'm looking forward to seeing the Mt. Monadnock tee as well. 

I just checked out Tent Rocks and it looks amazing. It reminds me of a less orange Bryce National Park with all the hoodoos. Bryce is one of the most unique National Parks I've been to so I think I'd really love Tent Rocks and the surrounding area. I was already pretty sold on Taos Ski Valley but with these new recs. I'm even more excited. 

So let me ask you about Hot Springs. I noticed your Alaska design, have you been there as well? I'm curious how Ojo Caliente Hot Springs is compared to Chena Hot Springs in Fairbanks (if you've been).

When it comes to t-shirt designs, I have this constant feeling of too many ideas, and not enough time. But that's a good problem though and I'm sure one most of us creatives have.The Monadnock tee has been at the top of the list for a while now! And now that I've put it out there, I have to do it!

I totally agree. The Tent Rocks rock formations do look a lot like the hoodoos in Bryce National park. I haven't been there but it looks amazing! This is second-hand information, but a local told me the local tribe in the area call the tall rock formations in Tent Rocks 'The Abuelas', or the Grandmothers in English. They said The Abuelas and other rock formations like cliffs were beings that watched over and protected the area. I really liked that idea. It really adds another dimension to exploring the southwestern landscape. When I looked up the hoodoos in Bryce, they reminded me of the statues on Easter Island! Like these giant rock people frozen in time. I wonder if they have similar stories from the people native to that area.

I haven't been to Alaska, but definitely on the list of my places to visit! I can see how the idea of it being the last frontier appeals to so many people. It's still such a wild place, even with the cities like Fairbanks and Anchorage having been developed. I love the wild and free spirt of the people that venture to live there. I've gotten hooked on some YouTube channels about living and traveling in Alaska. One called 'Simple Living Alaska' has a lot of great footage of living and exploring the state. Another called 'Truck House Life' is a pretty fun one to check out too. There's no shortage of Alaska content these days...I wonder if it's an antidote for the busy lifestyles that we have in most of the lower 48. That's a good question about the comparison of Chena Hot Springs to Ojo Caliente. I can only speculate since I haven't been, but I imagine that kicking back in a hot spring when the Northern lights are on full display must be pretty cool! So I guess that's one thing that would differentiate Chena from Ojo Caliente. Throw in seeing a grizzly on the same trip and you'd have the makings of a peak experience in Alaska!

If you get the chance you have to visit Alaska, it's incredible. I've spent a fair amount of time checking out National Parks and Kenai Fjords is a clear front runner in my mind. The shows you mentioned sound fun, I'll have to see if I can find the them. I'm also a big fan of Outlast on Netflix. It's kind of like Alone meets Survivor. You get the Alaska scenery and challenges but some of the Survivor drama, the best of both worlds. 

The story you mentioned about The Abuelas had me intrigued so I did a little searching and found a story about Bryce's Hoodoos. According to NPS.gov, Paiute Indians claim the hoodoos are ancient "Legend People" who were turned to stone as punishment for bad deeds. I kind of like the idea of cute little grannies keeping an eye out over bad guys but both are cool stories. 

Anyways, it was great chatting with you, Ben! Can't wait to see what designs you come up with next. Keep in touch!

The Kenai Fjords looks like it would be an amazing place to visit! Sounds like you really explored some cool stuff in Alaska. Doing a quick search looks like there's a big glacier there? Wow. There are so many things about Alaska that can make you feel small...Glaciers, Grizzlies, Epic Mountains! And I'll have to check out 'Outlast' on Netflix. Thanks for the suggestion. That show sounds like it's going to be super entertaining.

That's so cool what you found out about the Paiute story about the Bryce Hoodoos! I love that they call them ancient "Legend People". I can imagine them telling kids that if they are bad they will be turned into a 'Legend Person'. ha ha! But yeah. Jokes aside, the commonality of the stories seem to suggest a shared relationship with the land. One that is super connected to the world around them. It's pretty cool.

Yes, great to chat with you too! And thanks for letting me share some of my creative background and other interests! It was fun to go back and forth on these topics. I'll definitely be in touch! I look forward to adding some new stuff to Cotton Bureau this year. And I hope Cotton Bureau has another successful year of expanding on what you all have been doing too!