University of Utah business and ethics student Houston Brackett is an innovative artist, with a love of creation and purpose.
He is the founder of Juice Artistry, a self-made startup focusing on making fashionable, eco-friendly accessories, such as handbags and bracelets. “Juice” is a family nickname of Houston, and “Artistry” refers to the artistry aspect of his business.
Bracket found a passion for art in glass. He started a few years ago via lampworking, which is similar to glassblowing. He has made several items in his time at Juice Artistry, such as glass crochet hooks, and glass straws, but his mainstay for some time has been his custom bracelets. As Brackett discovered, glass is a hard market by itself. He has always liked to sew and found that it is more profitable to combine glassblowing and sewing.
Made by hand, these bracelets are crafted with leather and sewn together masterfully, each donning a single, beautiful, hand-blown glass bead. Brackett chooses not to use real leather because of ethical concerns regarding producing new real leather. He also said that popular alternatives such as mushroom leather are typically gatekept and are pretty exclusive to big brands.
His solution? Cactus leather. However, cactus leather is so different than normal leather, and Brackett has described it as a challenge to work with, due mainly to it being so time-consuming and frustrating. Even with the challenges, Brackett has endured and created sturdy and long-lasting accessories that he has no guilt in producing. He has stated that he has also occasionally used recycled leather.
Brackett believes many overseas goods have poor craftsmanship and quality. The assembly line lacks emotion and connection, he said. Additionally, he said there is a lot of value in a business that doesn’t stick to structure. He wants to pay everyone fairly and prioritizes this over making inferior products for more money.
“The value is found in care,” he said, explaining how his bracelets are made from nothing but ethically friendly materials and his own passion for art.
In addition to his work, Brackett was a recent resident of Lassonde Studios, a residential community for student innovators and entrepreneurs at the University of Utah. While at Lassonde, he met some of his closest friends.
As for Brackett’s future plans, he will be attending design school for handbag design in Italy. To learn design, how to make bags, and to try combining glass with the bags. Long term, the bracelets aren’t going to be the mainstay – he wants bigger accessories.
