Diamondback Online - The University of Maryland's Independent Daily Student Newspaper

Issue date: 7/24/08 Section: News

Media Credit: Adam Fried

As alumnus Kelly Towles sits outside a coffee shop down the street from his Washington office with his fiancé and business partner by his side, the co-owner of the upstart fashion label De*Nada Design compared his experience in the university's fine arts program to life as a professional graphic artist.

"No one's going to test you; you get to come up with whatever idea you want," said the loquacious Towles, a 2002 graduate. "It's not like college - no one's going to give you an A-plus."

Yet, in a way, Towles and fellow graduate and bride-to-be Virginia Arrisueño are receiving multiple A-pluses from the fashion community, as specialty boutiques and other clothing stores across the globe are distributing De*Nada's T-shirts, hand bags, scarves and other accessories after noticing the couple's unique designs at trade shows.

Arrisueño, who received a bachelor of fine arts degree from the university in 2002 with an emphasis on fibers, began working for a handbag designer after graduation. Shortly thereafter, she also started dating Towles, who she first befriended when he was her teaching assistant in professor Foon Sham's wood-sculpting class.

In 2005, Arrisueño started De*Nada, incorporating her experience with fibers and handbags with Towles' ability to design T-shirts, perfected from years working as a graphic artist for Whole Foods.

The couple said their displays at trade shows over the past several years enabled them to network and pick up about 40 distributors across the country, plus stores in Taiwan, Japan and Canada. Their items are also available for sale on their website, www.denadadesign.com.

The mission is clear-cut: "We're about making limited-edition - not mass-produced," Arrisueño said of her company's multi-colored, simple-shaped products designed for young urbanites. "We want to make sure our product is unique."

And the items are: Some of De*Nada's products include neon-colored tote and hobo bags, a yellow T-shirt with black graffiti-like patterns and a soon-to-be-released scarf with conveniently placed zippered pockets.

"When you wrap it around your neck, you can use it as pockets," Towles said of the scarf.

Arrisueño and Towles, being the only two De*Nada employees, have established a routine for their creative process that Towles likens to tag-team wrestling.

Continued...

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