Elisha Cutter
Elisha Cutter is a rising graphic designer, comic-book artist, and designer from Charlotte, NC. Her brand, #TheBoxMethod, was created as a representation of “Therapeutic Art in a Box”. This brand symbolizes her journey and timeline of life as an artist. She focuses on portrait art that displays storytelling, cultural references, and color theory, which allows her to create a blend of art and fashion with art lovers in the design industry. With numerous experiences in fine arts, design, marketing, and retail; she creates her own projects and collabs from inspiration around her every day. Her work has grown expeditiously over five years, receiving awards from Southend Arts Gallery to becoming one of the top Black Creatives on Shein X. Elisha’s unique style has landed her partnerships with Adobe Creative Suites and Shein. Also, her creative approach gave her experiences in Pensole Lewis College, London College of Fashion, WeRGenZ, Microsoft, and Level21 Magazine. An advocate in the art community and education, her mission is to make her work have a voice because she knows we all have one.
A rising graphic designer, comic book artist, and fashion designer, Elisha focuses on the sense of portrait art, which visually demonstrates emotions, storytelling, and color theory through life and imagination. She graduated from Johnson & Wales University in Charlotte, NC, Class of 2017. Also, I discovered the love of footwear and color theory with a minor in footwear design at London College of Fashion in 2017 and color design at PENSOLE Footwear Design Academy in 2018.
Fart.pdf
Columbia, South Carolina native, Fart.PDF, is a self-taught, multi-disciplinary intuitive designer, visual storyteller and creative director best known for his experimentation with texture, typography, semiotics, color theory, and repurposing of pop culture references. His experience in textile mediums (collaging, painting, and more) radiates through the spectrum of his work. Fart’s pieces vary from detailed, layered, and seemingly chaotic mixed media to clean and simplistic layouts emphasizing composition, juxtaposition, and effective advertisement.
House of Huebris
Hasan Dirton is a designer, curator, and entrepreneur from Greenville, SC. He is the owner of House of Huebris (HOH), an embroidery shop and contemporary fashion label. The brand collaborates with artists and designers to create clothing, home goods, and special items.
HOH represents a perspective that uses the lessons learned from pride & humility as a tool to rebuild one’s confidence in self as well as their connection to service and people. The vision of the brand is to serve as an open door for great products and information that encourages individuals of all walks of life to create, design, encourage and serve. This idea is illustrated by various streams of multimedia projects varying from fashion, visuals, philanthropy, and curated content.
Josh Henderson
Josh Henderson grew up in Charlotte, NC, graduating from Harding High School. Josh is a graphic designer, illustrator, and painter who earned his bachelor’s in Visual Arts and Design from NC A&T State University. He currently spends time using his unique illustration style in painting, graphics, and animation in funky colorful environments. Josh draws inspiration from nostalgia, fashion, surrealism, and anime. His influences combined create surreal environments and characters in a collage of abstract-like arrangements. Josh creates apparel such as tees, sweaters, and hats for his clothing brand Relax. The motto is “Think it, Do it, Live It” which is all about taking your vision, making a plan, and sticking to it. His work has been featured on billboards, newsstands, walkways, murals, galleries, museums, shops, and restaurants all over Charlotte. From NFTs collaborations with Bojangles to art installations with Lowes, his work can be used in any way imaginable.
Macfly Fresh Printing Co.
Congolese American, Eric B. Ndelo, commonly known as “Ndelo”, was born and raised in Charlotte, North Carolina. He started off as an artist in his early years but fell in love with Electronics and Engineering by the time he got to high school. He graduated from North Carolina State University (NCSU) with degrees in Digital Media Production and Electrical Engineering. Shortly thereafter he and his Troop of Gorillas launched their apparel enterprise. With the rebranding of DRC ApeParel and MacFly Fresh Printing Co. in 2012, his love for his culture and for “The Art of Screen Printing” were manifested. DRC ApeParel, The Global-Street-Culture Brand represents his love for International Culture and Streetwear, while MacFly Fresh connects his love for art, design, and screen-printing.
Makayla Binter
Makayla Binter is a creator, organizer, and educator based out of Charlotte, NC. Originally from Upstate New York, she moved to NC to get her degree in Biology and Studio Art at Davidson College. Upon graduating, she took her experiences and completed over 9 murals in the City of Charlotte and Spartanburg, SC, starting with the Placemaking Artists program with the City of Charlotte and then painting the letter V in the Spartanburg, SC Black Lives Matter Mural. As a collaborator, facilitator, and project developer, she has engaged communities from Davidson College to the Historic West End through art to reclaim space and facilitate difficult conversations. In the Fall of 2020, she was accepted and began three-year-long fellowships; The Emerging City Champions program funded by 880 Cities and The Knights Foundation, the Davidson Hearst Fellowship with Charlotte Country Day, and the Charlotte Equity Fellowship through CREED. She is currently represented by the Elder Gallery of Contemporary Art and is actively developing projects for the Historic West End. As of August 2022, she graduated with her master’s degree in Urban Design at UNC at Charlotte and has collaborated with organizations like Converse, The Carolina Panthers, and The Charlotte Hornets. She currently works as the Communications Manager for Charlotte is Creative.
Queen Loany
Hailing from Yonkers, New York but rooted and raised in Charlotte, North Carolina, Queen Loany’s latest creative path makes her a part of a long lineage of Black women utilizing collage as a medium to reveal layered, imaginative stories. Though her known medium is photography, the year of the pandemic inspired her to find new creative outlets which is how collaging came to be.
TrashGenius
The brand TrashGenius LLC was created in 2018 and its first offering has been “From Charlotte With Love”. The TrashGenius name represents making something from nothing, as the owner and Charlotte native has had to do his entire life. The idea of “From Charlotte With Love” was created with the intention to give Charlotte a catchphrase (IE: I Love NY or Virginia is for Lovers). The slogan is meant to be a positive affirmation for those natives that come in peace wherever they travel and a gift or souvenir for those that aren’t natives of Charlotte.
Westcott Studio
Wescott is an homage to a neighborhood park in our founder’s hometown. Established in 2019, the brand is the ultimate manifestation of reverence, pride, and appreciation for “beginnings”. Westcott is a lifestyle brand that delivers visual thoughts of creativity through art. We seek to tell a story that incorporates fragments of us in every release by offering fashion rooted in emotion.