hi, i’m isaac -- a fourth generation idahoan and the person behind owyhee opal.
i started owyhee opal because most idaho merch looks like it came straight out of a gift shop. potatoes. the heartbeat line. the idaho shooting a tree bullet. i knew it could be so much better.
i grew up hearing stories about my great great grandpa’s opal mine out in owyhee county. about he took his opal to sell at the world’s fair, and on the way back, all of it was stolen. so he blew up the mine. i pulled the name directly from this story.
to me, stories like that are the real idaho. the history, the people, the strange stuff that happened here. owyhee opal is my way of telling some of that story through art and photography on clothing. everything is made by hand in boise (sometimes literally in my house).
i don’t want idaho to be known for its cliches. i want it to be known for its history and its art. hopefully i can help with that by sharing my work.
thanks for being here.
-- isaac