Where Creativity and Desert Spirit Collide
There’s something about Arizona that draws you in.
Yes, there may be some resistance at first (the heat, the dust, the snakes…we get it). But eventually the desert does its thing—drawing you in with its soul-crushing beauty, epically stunning sunsets, and, oh, that musky scent that fills the air right after a summer storm—making you fall madly in love with it.
For Jon and Jenn Arvizu, owners of High Jinks Apparel, the desert is especially meaningful. It not only inspires their creativity, but it’s also where their friendship, marriage, family and business have grown and thrived.
Both creatives—she a former project manager for an ad agency, he a longtime graphic designer and artist—the couple joined forces to create High Jinks, a boutique shop nestled inside Barnone at Agritopia in Gilbert. Filled with everything you didn’t know you needed, it’s where creative expression comes in its purest form.
“High Jinks. It’s boisterous fun,” Jenn laughs. “It allows us to not take ourselves too seriously.”
High Jinks began as many small boutique shops do—on Etsy. While doing photo work for a client, Jenn became interested in T-shirt printing. “They started printing shirts and I was like, this is neat. I already had an in-house design team (literally, in house), so I taught myself how to print shirts. Then Jon, who was really into screen printing, and I opened the Etsy shop and started selling.”
Jenn’s knack for wordplay and Jon’s eye for design is a match made in retail heaven. Throughout their store, you’ll find tongue-in-cheek messages on everything from trucker hats and tank tops, to key chains and greeting cards. A customer favorite is the Southwest Prickleball Champions T-shirt, complete with a fun illustration of jackrabbits going head-to-head in a serious game of pickleball in the desert. The caption reads, “Stickin’ it to ya!
Other shoutouts to desert living include the Hot AF, Desert Goddess, Aloe-Ha, and Hummingbird Tattoo lines. And if you’ve been in Arizona for a hot second (no pun intended), you’ll appreciate the uber-local goods that include graphics of the iconic diving lady neon sign in Mesa, a sunglass-clad orange touting life is sweet in “Arcadi-ahhh,” and the Mogollon Rim Sazquatch Club.
The collaboration—and admiration—between the pair is what makes their business so successful. “Jenn is so funny, so clever,” Jon says. “Her words are straightforward and for me as an artist, it’s a good anchor. I want to—and can—spin off in different directions. But what she comes up with really keeps my vision for the piece on track.”
Not that Jon hasn’t been able to “stay on track.” His portfolio is vast and impressive, showcasing work with such global brands as Netflix, Frito Lay, Procter & Gamble, and the National Football League. Locally, he’s designed for the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, City of Scottsdale, City of Chandler, and Agritopia, among many, many others.
The yin to his yang, Jenn is a creative in her own right. She writes, designs, shoots photos, crochets, cooks and develops recipes. In fact, she ran a food blog—aptly named OMFG So Good—that she says she often goes back to reference her own recipes.
Jenn’s super power, however, is bringing order to the couple’s very full business and home life—a skill she learned early on in her career.
Hailing from upstate New York (“…far, far way; like right on the Canadian border”), Jenn attended school in Pennsylvania and moved to New Mexico after graduating. “I packed everything I owned in my car and hit the road,” she says. “I just wanted to get as far away from the East Coast as possible.”
Once in New Mexico, she worked for the iconic ad agency J. Walter Thompson and was later transferred to Phoenix, where she went on to work for other notable agencies, including Campbell Fisher and Lavidge. Not one to stay static, she taught herself Photoshop and Illustrator, essential tools of the design trade.
While working as a project manager, she met Jon. “He was a freelance designer at a little design group I was working for,” Jenn explains. “I was project manager and we just kind of worked well together. We became friends and the friendship grew from there.”
Jon and Jenn continue to work collaboratively. At High Jinks, she manages business operations, while he designs their product lines. Together, they do so much more. “It’s literally just the two of us. We make everything mostly by hand and spend our time physically screen printing shirts or pressing hats,” Jenn says. “It’s a lot of work, but we like knowing that everything we offer was made by us.”
While the couple is in the enviable position of calling their own shots and enjoying the freedom of spending valuable time with their sons Finley and Charley, they know it doesn’t come without an incredible amount of discipline and motivation.
“We’ve been very lucky to have built this business literally in our own back yard,” says Jon, referring to their home in Agritopia. “We want to create things that inspire you, make you smile and laugh, and even make you proud to show your love for where you live. Ultimately, however, the goal, for us, is to always have balance in our lives.”
Photography by Mark Lipczynski
