Gentle Thrills
⤏ ISA BENISTON IN CONVERSATION WITH COLLEEN BAISA
⤏ PHOTOS BY SAY SPEZZANO | MODELED BY FATIMA NIETO | STYLED BY KEELY MURPHY
⤏ ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED JUNE 2018
Isa Beniston is definitely a Sagittarius artist and everything she sends out into the world is presented as such. In her bright studio space in Santee Alley, she has created a colorful world of airbrushed dogs and dubious faces.
Since starting Gentle Thrills in 2016 (don’t call it a lifestyle brand) Isa has outfitted the world in wearable drawings, handmade sweaters, and happy stationery. She has a lot planned for her future (including a pending legal battle with a mid-western river rafting company) but it certainly doesn’t include a break.
COLLEEN: We’ll get into the details, but honestly the biggest question naturally is: how did you get the name “Gentle Thrills?”
ISA: I never know if i should tell this story because I’ve always had the slightest fear of getting sued but...idgaf. Basically, my mom and I did this road trip from Alabama to Ohio for three years on what’s called the “World’s Longest Yard Sale.” It’s this highway with a whole bunch of flea markets and barn sales. It’s nuts. Every year we’d pass a billboard for this river rafting company that read “Canoe the Sequatchie River...Gentle Thrills.” I’m someone that’s excitable, but this was an intense reaction. I remember seeing it and thinking, “Whoa, I relate to that on a cosmic level.” I took a photo of it and again on our second year. By the third year, I started using Gentle Thrills for my Instagram which was just a personal platform at that point.
By the time I started the retail brand, there wasn’t a question as to what I would call it though. It was Gentle Thrills. But honestly, I worry about that company sometimes and also for legality’s sake. If you google it, nothing comes up! It’s just me, a review of another canoe company maybe, and an article about Disneyland’s kiddie rides from two months ago!
C: There’s a lot to the Gentle Thrill’s origin story that’s led you to your current studio and HBIC status! What are some markers of growth that you look for?
I: I’m finally looking to have a studio assistant, which is a huge milestone that’s taken me two years to A. afford and justify, and B. finally feel comfortable with the fact that I can’t do all this work by myself. I try to remind myself to celebrate the successes of each day and list off the things that I did complete. I need to focus on that more. I sometimes stress and find myself driving home, thinking about the things I wasn’t able to accomplish. That’s not the best recipe for success and not a good way to live.
“I work fast and I want output. Give me a chunk of paper and I’ll draw on every page.”
Tangibly, I look at my stockists. I started off with one or two when I started Gentle Thrills, and now I have fifteen! I want people to have access to my products if they want to buy it. I sometimes catch myself realizing, “Whoa. I signed a lot of contracts today!” I used to be stoked on getting one email in a month. It seems like I get them weekly and it’s so exciting whenever someone is wanting art or to do a collab or organize a pop-up.
My goal is to continue growing and have the opportunity to employ women, people who got an art degree, and people who want to have a creative position at a company. It’s broad. But opportunities like that were lacking when I graduated. I had my fair share of unpaid internships.
C: Do you think those experiences directly informed how you run your own business and product line?
I: I worked at a lot of places and when I think about the things I pursued in college, it didn’t even seem like a possible reality to own my fashion line or retail brand. Some people have called Gentle Thrills a ~*lifestyle brand*~ but WOW EWW! That phase is gnarly! It’s like declaring in public that you’re an influencer and everyone should prescribe to whatever life you live! I try not to use that term.
C: So do you think that domesticity and the spaces that women inhabit play a bigger role in the art that you make, too?
I: In my art, I want to present a very honest reflection of what it feels like to be a woman. So if it’s that feeling of looking over your shoulder, not feeling comfortable in your skin, or feeling dubious towards what’s happening in the environment around you, I want that to come through. People need to understand that the experience of being a girl or woman is not all ponies and butterflies and sparkles. Like even in airbrushing, it’s such a sausage fest! So I am really grateful when people send me links to other women making really beautiful work. I want my art to also show that if you’re a woman and/or identify as such, as I do, you can find different mediums to help you communicate what you feel. I gravitate towards the umbrella term “retail brand,” because I make domestic-like products such as dresses and homegoods and things typically considered “women’s crafts.” I come from a family of quilters and my mom got into rug hooking. I work with her on pillows, she’s the one physically making them. The homegoods are where more of my “artist” is showing. Artists are really particular about their space, whether they realize it or not. I think your home, apartment, bedroom, any personal space is a reflection of who you are to some degree. As a teenager, my bedroom was a place to play and experiment with how my bed should look like or what I wanted to put on my walls and look at every day.
C: Is there a point when you’re in the middle of working on a drawing when you know you want to turn it into a Gentle Thrills piece?
I: In this flowchart I built for myself, I have me, Isa Beniston, at the top — she’s an artist. And then below are all the branches of myself. Sometimes I draw. Sometimes I paint. Sometimes I airbrush. And then there’s Gentle Thrills. It was an experiment and a nice way to internally reframe art and business without having my soul sucked out of my body! I do think I’m lucky in the natural way I work. I work fast and I want output. Give me a chunk of paper and I’ll draw on every page.
It’s difficult for me to rationalize what I would wear personally versus predicting what people want. When I look at something, it’s difficult for me to put too much of my artistic identity into that commercial box. There’s a lot of intersecting and clashing, but those were some of the learning experiences that I took away from my first year of Gentle Thrills. I don’t want to tell you that my pillows are the ones you should have on your couch. I’m just sharing what I’ve got, because it’s really fun and if you think it’s cute too, then we should be friends! As an artist, you’re lucky if your work makes it out into the world and even luckier if someone wants to pay for it, and therefore, foster more of your work. I learned that people aren’t really willing to pay $150 for art on a piece of paper, but people are definitely more inclined to spend $30 on a well-made shirt. So that’s how my art exists in the world right now and that’s really exciting to me!
“I want to present a very honest reflection of what it feels like to be a woman. So if it’s that feeling of looking over your shoulder, not feeling comfortable in your skin, or feeling dubious towards what’s happening in the environment around you, I want that to come through.”
C: What are some things you’ve observed about yourself after solely running Gentle Thrills for over two years now?
I: As a woman, people can see or hear it in your voice, and so you’re put up against really frustrating situations. I’ve had countless conversations with manufacturers, vendors, and men who just don’t want to take me seriously. I’ve learned toughness and confidence when dealing with people. I know how to put my foot down and communicate. I’m proud of the fact that I can send emails today that, a year and a half ago, would have made my face turn red or my heart beat fast. I can write an email with my rate while eating a snack, hit send, and *boop*! There’s no physiological reaction and second-guessing, “Oh, I hope they’re not going to be mad,” or “I hope I don’t lose this job.” I can confidently write and charge my worth. Being a self-advocate is a crucial aspect in life, in business and even in relationships. As women, we’re not encouraged to speak up and take actions for ourselves as we grow up. I’ve observed that we need to stick up for ourselves under unfair treatment and trust that our frustrations are valid.
C: Self-advocating is 100% key in finding success for yourself. What are ways that you take care of yourself personally to help balance all that business-savviness?
I: I was warned about burn out by everyone close to me. They could see I was operating at 120% and I wasn’t taking adequate breaks. It reminds me of how on airplanes, if there’s a case of sudden cabin pressure change, you should put your mask on first before helping others out. It’s kind of messed up to think about, but it was clear I needed to care for myself outside of work. So I focused on recharging and created boundaries, making realistic daily goals, and by not beating myself up if I slip-up and don’t complete 100 things in a 16-hour day. If you’re a capitalist baby...you judge your self-worth by how much time was spent on the job or what your productivity levels were. It’s a recipe for failure and you’ll end up getting home feeling terrible.
I stopped working on Sundays entirely — unless there’s an event — no studio, no emails, and I try to not talk about it. And these habits eventually bled into Saturdays with the exception of errands. And on Mondays through Fridays, I do my eight hours and try not to be in the studio through dinner unless it absolutely feels right. I try to be good to my body, eat well, and exercise a few times a week. It seems simple, but those main things are enough for me to feel like I’m taking actual care of myself. I worked hard and am so lucky to have separate spaces to work and live, because in the beginning Gentle Thrills work was also in my living room. And now, I realize I need to put on real clothes and leave the house in order to get anything done.
C: Where is your favorite place to be to feel inspired?
I: Art stores. For a long time, my favorite place was FLAX in San Francisco, but it closed. But a month ago, I visited Japan and I know it’s sounding so cliché because so many people are traveling there too, but I’ve never been out of the country as an adult, and it was amazing. In Tokyo, there is a five, maybe six-floor art store called Sekeido in Shinjuku. I was in Japan for eight days and I went there three times. I can’t even articulate how much I enjoyed being there. The aisles are so tall and it felt like I had my own space to roam around.
C: What is one thing that you regret not buying?
I: This one huge “miss” always crosses my mind. I was in high school and I was 16 at the AMVETS thrift store. There was a cashmere pullover sweater and it was cloud print. Like a photographic print of clouds on a blue sky. And I didn’t buy it. I was probably thinking it was $20 and too much. I don’t know what I was thinking! I didn’t buy it. I will never get over it. It was the perfect article of clothing. It’s been ten years. I’ll never see another one.
Also, I’ve been bummed lately because I was going to get a sticker vending machine, like one of those machines that dispense the shiny winking cat stickers. I wanted to get it for an event I’m participating in, so I actually found a place that sells them and had it all squared away. But then they pretty much just called me the other day and broke the news that the delivery couldn’t happen in time. I’m so cut up about it, I started crying on the phone with my friend. But now, I envision getting that sticker vending machine in a few years as my adult milestone. When I was ten-years-old I wanted the cute sticker. But as an adult, I want the WHOLE machine. I’ll sell my OWN stickers in it. It’ll be full circle. It’ll happen next time.
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⤏ COLLEEN BAISA (SHE/HER) IS A FILIPINX-AMERICAN CREATIVE PRODUCER AND WRITER, BORN AND LIVING IN LOS ANGELES. SHE IS CURRENTLY AN EDITOR FOR SLUMBER MAG, A PUBLICATION THAT HIGHLIGHTS AND FEATURES FEMALE/NON-BINARY MUSICIANS AND ARTISTS. SHE WAS ALSO THE MANAGING EDITOR OF SAD GIRLS GUIDE, A POP CULTURE AND ADVICE BLOG THAT SHARED UNWARRANTED VERY IM/PRACTICAL LIFE LESSONS.