Conversations with Trey Richer

Today we’d like to introduce you to Trey Richer.

Hi trey, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
ill start from the beginning, in 2018 i was 18 years old working at target in my hometown wondering what i would do with my life as i already stopped going to my local community college, quit sports and had no plans past that, i started looking around me for examples of people whos life i admire and would want to do something similar too in hopes of finding inspiration or mentorship for a successful creative life. soon i realized nobody i knew lived a life that i would trade mine for, thats when i turned to the internet in hopes to see what was possible. i realized i needed a standout product, design, or item that is instantly recognizable to my brand thats when i turned to my grandfather for inspiration who passed away when i was 6. he was an artist as well working with wood, specifically wood and resin in the forms of wall art or clocks such as i make today. i never payed much attention to the handmade decoration in my grandmas house to that point but soon i realized her house was full of inspiration from my grandfather. i took the resin and wood idea and put a modern twist on it in my style in the form of guns, tables, and functional clocks. i started making them as fast as i could and posting as often as possible i committed to posting art every 2 days on my instagram and tiktok account until something shook, after a year or so i started catching attention and virtually meeting people like sam from half evil, dre the shoota, suigeneris (now chef sui), and lildaddex who were all living life from their art and craft, all i needed to see was that it was possible to fully commit. at that point i was jobless and dropped out of college living at my moms house burning thru the little savings i had going to LA and back to network and dropoff free art but there was a spark i knew i had to lean into and i did that. i doubled down on my internet presence especially tiktok that was an new emerging platform at the time and slowly but surly through consistency i was able to grow a following on tiktok and some sense of income from my craft. at that point wood cutouts were heavily associated to my brand and i was spearheading popularizing this medium through many viral videos. over the next 3 years i made cutouts in all types of shapes and sizes and watched as the medium popularized. i figured out a system to produce my wood cutouts at a much bigger scale and that leads to today where wood cutouts are the backbone to my brand. i focus on original designs and concepts that i make myself on illustrator or photoshop alongside custom orders for collectors, i stray away from creating replicas or fan art of other peoples brand for example i refuse to create any bape logo, kaws characters, murakami flowers, or hypebeast art as my main goal as an artist is to bring new ideas onto earth. today i venture into home decor, clothes, and custom mirrors handling all marketing, production, and shipping myself as i am a one man team, i have no employees, investors, or extra help, anything that you receive from treysimulator was made by treysimulator, i plan to create until i drop dead. it sounds crazy but i still have as many ideas i want to execute as when i started they keep coming to me and i feel obligated to give them to the world and the world seems to like them as ive never ran an ad in my life on any platform, my whole career has been 100% organic. if i stop creating that means i stopped breathing.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
the road has been what i expected, of course i didnt know the exact trials and tribulations i would face but i haven’t been surprised by the amount of work, dedication, self belief, and sacrifice it would take. i knew from the jump anything worth living for would take sacrifice.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
my main mediums are wood cutouts, canvas paintings, and home décor in the form of lamps, shelfs, tables, and clocks. my #1 priority when creating is offering something that has never been seen or created before and thats what sets me apart from other artist, my original concepts and designs. i also have a youtube channel that i occasionally post vlogs to showing my day to day personal life.

i am most proud from seeing the mass amounts of people who replicate my craft and built art careers to any caliber from wood cutouts. when they reach out to ask for advice or give props it reinforced my drive to create more.

Who else deserves credit in your story?
my grandfather is my biggest inspiration for the artwork itself but i took inspiration from people like half evil sam and suigeneris on how to push the limits on life and simply watching those limits be broken with my two eyes inspires me to this day years later i will thank them always.

as far as support goes my mother installed confidence in me that 100% drove me through the dark when things seemed like they just might not ever work out. i specifically remember a time where she told me “i dont care if you fly kites ill be there cheering you on” and as ridiculous as it sounds the way she said it genuinely gave me permission to be myself. i tattooed her initial on my face as im forever indebted to her for that confidence she gave me.

i also learned a bunch about how to navigate social media through watching every single gary vee video up until 2024

Pricing:

• wood cutouts range $75 – $500
• home décor ranges $25 – $250
• canvas paintings range $150 – $250

Contact Info:

• Website: https://treysimulator.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/trey_simulator/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@treysimulator
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@treysimulator