He had the idea for the pin a long time ago, but 2016 was the year to make it happen. It’s shaped like the state of Louisiana, but with a twist: The top half of the boot is designed like a human hand holding the peace sign.
“With everything that happened in Baton Rouge last summer and then the election,” Bricks & Bombs owner Brad Jensen says, “I was kind of thinking, man, it would be cool to make something a little more positive.”
So last fall, he added the lapel pin, which is available in black or red, to the inventory of original hats, T-shirts and posters at his Government Street shop. He also makes a gold pin shaped like the Eye of Providence.
“The all-seeing eye, it has a lot of different meanings to a lot of different people. It’s just a cool graphic to me,” he says. “I think that’s the beauty about art. It’s in the eye of the beholder, for sure.”
Enamel pins have risen in popularity over the past two years. Colorful pieces shaped like emojis, avocados, doughnuts and other pop culture icons brighten Pinterest and Instagram feeds.
Enamel pins are sold at a handful of shops locally. Time Warp keeps a small pile of them in a bowl at its front desk, and owner Joshua Holder says they sell so quickly he has difficulty keeping them in stock.
They’re more of a passion project for designers, according to Jensen. Pins are inexpensive, so they are difficult to turn a large profit on. At the same time, their low cost makes them an accessible medium to get a brand’s designs or messages out to a new audience.
“People wear graphic T-shirts to express themselves without having to speak,” Jensen says. “A pin, it literally is a badge. But it also can be a badge of honor, in a way, for people to say, ‘Hey, that’s what I’m into.’”
Pins from Time Warp, $7 each: Popcorn, roller skate, unicorn, banana and pineapple pins
