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© 2024 

merchandise  |  pure hex  |  freelance


Pure Hex is a San Francisco based shoegaze band whose music carries a hauntingly ethereal tone. They have been a client of mine since 2019 when I created their first merch designs – featured below. These were their first ever merch designs that debuted at their first record release show. Since they have become a wardrobe staple for fans and friends of the band, selling out multiple times. (yay!)


My most recent work for the band, in 2024, included another two merch design for their latest EP, Spilling. As the band has evolved in their experience and sound the past few years, I wanted the new designs to reflect this. While both designs speak to motifs throughout the album – even leveraging some lyrics from the namesake song of the EP – they also take the concentric circles of the original Pure Hex merch design expanded into new dimensions.

The band had mentioned that the 5 of Cups card from the Deck of Tarot was a large influence on the song and namesake of the album, Spilling. This card often carries with it two meanings depending on which orientation it is pulled in. Upright, it signifies tremendous loss, sadness, mourning. If pulled reversed, it signifies moving on, healing, accepting help.




In the first design we see a feminine hand with a tattoo of a roman numeral five, spilling liquid out of a chalice that begins eminating outward, creating ripples. On the other side of the ripples a masculine hand reaches out, as if wanting to contain the liquid. These visuals depict the story of the lyrics featured on the design – “pour all of your pain into my cup”. While this balance of masculine and feminine speaks to the duality of the 5 of Cups card, I chose to interpret it through the lens of pulling it reversed. In which case, the feminine hand has been holding someone else’s pain in her cup and now she is ready to release it back into the ether and move on. But the cycle of life continues as the masculine counterpart reaches towards the pain being spilled yet again. This has been a popular merch choice on their current tour, and has already sold out before the tour has concluded. (yay again!)



The second design features a ram with an ornate mirror, spiraling ominously. This again is a nod to the original concentric circles from the very first Pure Hex design, taking on a new meaning. Rams as symbols often represent strength and even rebirth. Here, the ram gazes into the spiraling mirror which could be seen as the spiral of grief or sadness that he has now emerged from – stronger than before.