Almas Gemelas ♡₊˚ 🦢・₊✧
A New Towel by Nayeli Perez
We are excited to announce our latest collaborative artwork in cotton terrycloth: an edition of 53 towels designed by San Diego based artist, Nayeli Perez, and woven in the USA.
Almas Gemelas is derived from an oil painting on canvas measuring 12 x 24 inches in size from 2025.
”I [was] ultimately inspired by Hilma af Klint. Her work reminds me of the whimsy and sweetness of connecting, interlacing, and spiraling. I like to think swans represent a caring protection and lifelong loves.”
Originally from San Marcos, Nayeli Perez now lives and works in Southeast San Diego, where days seem to begin and end with some form of making. There’s a quiet steadiness to the way they move through their practice, as if art isn’t something they do, but something that naturally threads through the rhythms of their life.
Nayeli has been tattooing since nineteen, though the spark lit much earlier, back in the third grade when glued to LA Ink and drawing flash pages filled with cherries, dice, and other classic motifs that still echo through their work today.
Now, Nayeli splits time between handpoking in their home studio, working with 4th graders in an extended-learning program (where custom coloring sheets are always in demand), and supporting their partner at Poppy Press by helping in the screen printing studio, bookbinding, traveling, working events and talking to other artists.
Most days, the ball seems to always be rolling. Ideas arrive fast — a photo, a memory, a half-formed image — and Nayeli will take any spare moment between daily rituals to draw, usually on an iPad or in the small notebook they carry everywhere. Sometimes they switch to oil painting or crafting small objects from polymer clay. Even when things slow down, they find their way back with patience, trusting the process and allowing the next spark to show up when it’s ready.
Though we don’t know Nayeli deeply, it’s clear they’re a powerhouse. They are thoughtful, well-spoken, excited, and making work that feels inspired yet distinctly their own. Their artwork and tattoos gather shapes, lines, and motifs that feel both personal and universal, floating somewhere between memory and imagination. Intimate yet expansive. Quiet yet insistent.
Nayeli keeps creating with a steady, self-guided clarity — building a practice shaped by curiosity, intuition, and a genuine love for making art. We’re immensely excited by their work and honored to share it — and even more excited to see where they go next.
An Interview with Nayeli
Introduce yourself a little!
Helloo I’m Nayeli Perez, I do handpoke tattoos at my home studio in San Diego. I also love oil painting, sewing, illustration.
How long have you been making art? How often do you make art?
I love saying that I never stopped making art, from school projects to handmade gifts — I’ve always had a need to make things. I try to create as often as possible; most of the time I get ideas that feel like a lightening strike and if I don’t or can’t make it in that moment it feels like a fire under my feet.
How did you arrive at your style?
I think over time I look for patterns in what I’m interested in, and there’s patterns or motifs that feel more comforting (filigree, swirls, lettering), and in that practice a style comes to be. But at the same time I feel like there’s a ton of exploring and experimenting that I need to do before feeling like I have a style.
How does making art make you feel?
Making art gives me the same feeling as making a wish on a dandelion... I get sent to a pleasant limbo, not looking for the next step or decision -- instead you just float towards it.
What inspires you?
Everything! Cracks in the sidewalk, bootleg iconography, clip art archives.
Favorite place to swim or use a towel?
I love going to D Street beach in Encinitas or No Surf by Sunset Cliffs or picnicking at Bird Park…
Find more of Nayeli’s work ~
Nayeli’s Instagram
Print Shop
Book a tattoo
PLUNGE NEWS:
Continuing our bundle sale through the end of the year! Use code plungebundle25 for 20% off 3+ towels (online only)
If you are in the Bay Area like us, we have a new option on our website for free local pickups at Bones Bagels in Noe Valley, SF
Speaking of Bones, we have made a few fun collabs with the bagel shop this year and will continue to stock a selection of Plunge goodies IRL on the retail shelves there ;)
PLUNGE RECOMMENDS:
SHOP SMALL! SHOP LOCAL! Keep small business alive and thriving!