Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Everything is for the locals

Seth and Alexis Sullivan may not look like typical Tijuanenses, but they're part of a burgeoning Tijuana creative scene.
Seth and Alexis Sullivan may not look like typical Tijuanenses, but they're part of a burgeoning Tijuana creative scene.

Seth and Alexis Sullivan don’t look like they belong in Mexico. A gringo by blood — his parents relocated to Tijuana from North Carolina and Kansas nearly four decades ago — Seth is known among locals as Rollie Fingers, after the magnificently mustachioed San Diego Padres pitcher of the late ’70s. Alexis comes from a Korean family with roots in the Yucatan Peninsula (in addition to Filipino and Japanese backgrounds) and grew up between Tijuana and Bonita. They both speak fluent, slang-laden Spanish followed by perfect California English.

Sure, they may not fit the typecast, but, as a local musician once told me, “Tijuana is a junkyard,” and nobody knows Tijuana’s junkyards better than the Sullivans.

“Here, you run into a lot of shit from the United States that’s been recycled goods from years ago,” Seth says in his craggy voice, which always sounds on the verge of cracking a joke. “Shit that, unless you’re gonna use it for artwork or material to create something, it’s really not a product in itself. So what’s really cool about thrifting in Mexico is that, if you’re creative, you can figure out how to make some cool shit out of a lot of random things you find in really random places.”

Sponsored
Sponsored

A flea-market picker since a young age, Seth now scours thrift stores, scrap yards, alleyways, dumpsters, and roadside collectors from Rosarito to Los Angeles. He and Alexis then transform the detritus and forgotten treasures into works of art that they sell under their brand name “Built Around Me” on Etsy, at craft fairs, and to private clients.

Up at their hillside home overlooking Colonia Cacho, Seth shows me a giant, vintage “Farmacia” sign that he recently picked up, as well as a retro sign that had been threatening to fall off a Zona Norte motel for years.

“I’m still not sure what I’m going to do with that,” he says, “but I had to have it.”

Seth met Alexis just as he began figuring out his potential as a self-taught designer (thanks, YouTube), marketing his wares under the alias Art Pusher. She was working what she calls a boring job and says, “He flipped my whole world upside down. Like, whoa! It’s real to be an artist and designer.”

Alexis, who excels at photography, maintains Built Around Me’s social media and accounting in addition to working on design. The couple employs four specialists — a woodworker, a metalworker, a finisher, and an architect (“I can’t sketch to save my life,” says Seth) — and are looking into commercial spaces around Tijuana to set up a new wood/metal shop and a garden to grow succulents.

Most recently, Built Around Me has been teaming up with investors in the States to fund big interior-design projects on both sides of the border.

“I want them to have that Tijuana street feel but be high-end products,” Seth says. “Solid walnut dressers, credenzas… all the stuff we make has that more serape feel. More raw, but with an elegant feel.”

Take, for example, their work at Revolución gastropub La Justina, where they crafted an ambiance that includes a bar top of 10,000 pennies coated in resin and an Edison-bulb chandelier of salvaged, individually woven marine ropes. Until now, everything has been one-of-a-kind, but the couple just produced a line of 120 tractor-seat bar stools for Común, a pending East Village endeavor of transborder chef Chad White’s. They’re also redesigning the Egyptian-themed suite at a Tijuana love motel.

“There wasn’t anything here before that was cheap and nice to look at,” says Seth. “Everything was cheap and ugly or cheap and smelly. But now people are into aesthetics.”

“TJ’s really establishing itself as something in the design world, not just all the Mexican stereotypes,” Alexis says. “It’s the city investing in itself, instead of tourism like it did before. Now, everything is for the locals and more people are coming to visit because of it.”

The latest copy of the Reader

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Mang Tomas, banana ketchup barred in San Diego

What will happen to Filipino Christmas here?
Next Article

Barrio Logan’s very good Dogg

Chicano comfort food proves plenty spicy
Seth and Alexis Sullivan may not look like typical Tijuanenses, but they're part of a burgeoning Tijuana creative scene.
Seth and Alexis Sullivan may not look like typical Tijuanenses, but they're part of a burgeoning Tijuana creative scene.

Seth and Alexis Sullivan don’t look like they belong in Mexico. A gringo by blood — his parents relocated to Tijuana from North Carolina and Kansas nearly four decades ago — Seth is known among locals as Rollie Fingers, after the magnificently mustachioed San Diego Padres pitcher of the late ’70s. Alexis comes from a Korean family with roots in the Yucatan Peninsula (in addition to Filipino and Japanese backgrounds) and grew up between Tijuana and Bonita. They both speak fluent, slang-laden Spanish followed by perfect California English.

Sure, they may not fit the typecast, but, as a local musician once told me, “Tijuana is a junkyard,” and nobody knows Tijuana’s junkyards better than the Sullivans.

“Here, you run into a lot of shit from the United States that’s been recycled goods from years ago,” Seth says in his craggy voice, which always sounds on the verge of cracking a joke. “Shit that, unless you’re gonna use it for artwork or material to create something, it’s really not a product in itself. So what’s really cool about thrifting in Mexico is that, if you’re creative, you can figure out how to make some cool shit out of a lot of random things you find in really random places.”

Sponsored
Sponsored

A flea-market picker since a young age, Seth now scours thrift stores, scrap yards, alleyways, dumpsters, and roadside collectors from Rosarito to Los Angeles. He and Alexis then transform the detritus and forgotten treasures into works of art that they sell under their brand name “Built Around Me” on Etsy, at craft fairs, and to private clients.

Up at their hillside home overlooking Colonia Cacho, Seth shows me a giant, vintage “Farmacia” sign that he recently picked up, as well as a retro sign that had been threatening to fall off a Zona Norte motel for years.

“I’m still not sure what I’m going to do with that,” he says, “but I had to have it.”

Seth met Alexis just as he began figuring out his potential as a self-taught designer (thanks, YouTube), marketing his wares under the alias Art Pusher. She was working what she calls a boring job and says, “He flipped my whole world upside down. Like, whoa! It’s real to be an artist and designer.”

Alexis, who excels at photography, maintains Built Around Me’s social media and accounting in addition to working on design. The couple employs four specialists — a woodworker, a metalworker, a finisher, and an architect (“I can’t sketch to save my life,” says Seth) — and are looking into commercial spaces around Tijuana to set up a new wood/metal shop and a garden to grow succulents.

Most recently, Built Around Me has been teaming up with investors in the States to fund big interior-design projects on both sides of the border.

“I want them to have that Tijuana street feel but be high-end products,” Seth says. “Solid walnut dressers, credenzas… all the stuff we make has that more serape feel. More raw, but with an elegant feel.”

Take, for example, their work at Revolución gastropub La Justina, where they crafted an ambiance that includes a bar top of 10,000 pennies coated in resin and an Edison-bulb chandelier of salvaged, individually woven marine ropes. Until now, everything has been one-of-a-kind, but the couple just produced a line of 120 tractor-seat bar stools for Común, a pending East Village endeavor of transborder chef Chad White’s. They’re also redesigning the Egyptian-themed suite at a Tijuana love motel.

“There wasn’t anything here before that was cheap and nice to look at,” says Seth. “Everything was cheap and ugly or cheap and smelly. But now people are into aesthetics.”

“TJ’s really establishing itself as something in the design world, not just all the Mexican stereotypes,” Alexis says. “It’s the city investing in itself, instead of tourism like it did before. Now, everything is for the locals and more people are coming to visit because of it.”

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Thanksgiving Lunch Cruise, The Avengers and Zeros ‘77, Small Business Saturday In Escondido

Events November 28-November 30, 2024
Next Article

Barrio Logan’s very good Dogg

Chicano comfort food proves plenty spicy
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader