Profiles of Innovation

Carlos Hernandez and Patrick Masterson keep the art of printmaking alive atBurning Bones Press

What is an entrepreneur?

"What it means to me is someone who is a self-starter and successful in what they do," says Carlos Hernandez, co-owner of Burning Bones Press. The Heights printmaking studio is a center of collaboration, where Hernandez and co-owner Patrick Masterson work with artists to produce limited editions of original etchings, lithographs, woodcuts, screenprints and monoprints.

"It's great having people around," says Masterson. "Instead of working by yourself and having your own idea, it becomes a collective....You start hearing things that excite you in your artwork again."

In the continuing series Profiles of Innovation, Hernandez and Master tell videographers John Carrithers and Douglas Newman what it means to be an entrepreneur, why they love their work and how, at their studio, artists are again turning back to the time-honored way of creating prints.

"There's a little bit of backlash with the computer," says Hernandez, who has designed and printed posters for Arcade Fire, BB King and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. "For a long time graphic design was really reliant on the computer. (But there came) those times when (artists said), 'OK, enough is enough. I want to do letterpress. I want to do silkscreen. I want to go carve a piece of wood and print.' That, in turn, is helping a lot of the printmakers."

"The fact is that screenprinting is a very low-tech way to get images on a massive scale," says Masterson, who also teaches printmaking at the University of Houston. "There's a rebirth (of) a lot of young artists doing woodblock, screenprinting. It's just really coming back into favor."

Hernandez and Masterson keep their prices low to attract artists who want to learn printmaking. Hence, they aren't making a lot of money. But, they insist you can't put a dollar figure on keeping their craft alive in the 21st century.

"It's not a huge moneymaker but it is completely rewarding," Masterson says. "The experiences we get working with other artists, it's a lot of great memories."

washed and folded

Texas-based 'DoorDash for laundry' tumbles into Houston

NoScrubs founders

Photo courtesy of NoScrubs

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Laundry may seem like an endless task that piles up, but a new service offers a solution to overwhelmed Houston families.

Enter NoScrubs, an Austin-based home laundry pickup service that has just expanded to Houston. Described by the company as "DoorDash — but for laundry," they wash customer's clothes at local laundromats and return them the same day folded and ready to be put away.

The service took off like gangbusters in Austin, making an expansion to the state's largest city an obvious choice. It's not universal coverage just yet. For now, only the following zip codes have NoScrubs service available: 77002, 77004, 77005, 77006, 77007, 77008, 77009, 77010, 77018, 77019, 77024, 77025, 77027, 77046, 77056, 77057, 77081, 77098, 77401, 77030, 77003.

A single pickup starts at $40 for 20 pounds of laundry, while the basic monthly subscription is $60 for two pickups. All services use hypoallergenic detergents.

The average American family spends about 240 hours a year on laundry, making it a very time-consuming chore. For people with disabilities, difficult work schedules, and other circumstances, it can be a real help, says co-founder Matt O'Connor.

"Some of our favorite customer stories simply revolve around saving people time when they have something challenging going on," he writes in an email. "For example, one customer reviewed NoScrubs saying 'So happy I could cry! (Partially because I'm pregnant and my emotions are heightened!)...1000% recommend if you have time restrictions or physical restrictions! ' So, whether it’s saving time, the affordability, or the pleasantly surprising turnaround time, NoScrubs has a variety of benefits for any customer."

NoScrubs is also a new opportunity for Houston's gig workers. Because there are no passengers, it can be a safer alternative to driving ride share for women and other people apprehensive about having strangers in their cars. As NoScrubs partners with local laundromats, drivers are also going to centralized locations rather than all over the map, leading to less wear and tear on their cars. The laundromats benefit as well, since NoScrubs loads are ones that would otherwise be done at home.

"Our model makes driving a tiny fraction of the time, so folks who don’t want to wear down their vehicles and spend a ton on gas love working at NoScrubs," added O'Connor.

To celebrate the Houston launch, NoScrubs is offering 50 percent discount off the first two months for CultureMap readers with the code CULTUREHOUSTON at noscrubs.com.

laundry pickup service noscrubs apps

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