05.28.2024

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💎 Keep your jewelry weird

How Vinca USA is keeping Austin’s jewelry weird

A big display of vinca earrings with a mirror in the middle and a woman smiling.

Stop by Terra Toys, 2438 W. Anderson Lane, to shop this display. | Photo courtesy Vinca

We’ve found the crown jewel in town. According to the folks at Austin-based accessory company Vinca, their jewelry pays for itself in compliments.

From knife hair clips famously worn by Aubrey Plaza to cursor-shaped earrings, Vinca stocks jewelry for fans of all things quirky and whimsy.

We met with Vinca owner and jewelry designer Amanda Dimova at her shop and studio — 1800 E. 4th St., Ste. #173 — to chat about how she got her start as an eclectic accessory pioneer.

Dimova’s parents owned a shoe factory and gave her unlimited access to all the leather scraps she wanted to create leather jewelry.

Some of her first pieces featured leather vinca flowers (leftover from a custom shoe job), which is where her company got its name. In 2006, she began selling her pieces door-to-door to shops including Blue Elephant Boutique.

“I was like ‘Yay, I’m successful.’ I remember selling one thing and being over the moon,” Dimova told ATXtoday. “I got $25 or something one month.”

ATX_VincaGrackle — Austinites will love Vinca’s grackle earrings — complete with sparkling red eyes.
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Photo courtesy Vinca

Eventually, Dimova invested in a laser cutter and stopped making leather goods altogether, in favor of her now-signature acrylic art, which she said people seemed to be more interested in.

She continued making accessories while studying business at UT Austin, recruited her friends to model, and landed a partnership with now-defunct fab.com in 2011. Dimova, who was still running her business alone at the time, said she remembered getting 900+ orders at once and having two weeks to fulfill them all.

dozens of boxes on a wooden floor surrounded by jewelry making supplies and labels. — Dimova said she continued to do monthly orders with the website after successfully fulfilling the originally 900.
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Photo courtesy Amanda Dimova

“I didn’t know how to pack boxes, I didn’t have a label printer,” Dimova said. “We were printing labels on a piece of paper and cutting it in half and (using) spray adhesive on the back to stick it to the boxes.”

Ready to shop? You can find Vinca jewelry at the studio, online, or any of these local retailers.

The star factor

Events

Tuesday, May 28

Carros y Cultura: Lowriding Legacies in Texas | Now-Monday, Sept. 2 | 10 a.m.-5 p.m. | Bullock Texas State History Museum, 1800 Congress Ave., Austin | $9-$13 | Get to know the lowrider at this bilingual exhibition presenting the culture of Texas’ lowriding community.
Soul Shack | Tuesday, May 28 | 7:30 p.m. | Meanwhile Brewing Co., 3901 Promontory Point Dr., Austin | Free | This ATX band specializes in instrumental soul hits of the 1960s — and we think that rocks.

Wednesday, May 29

Pour the Record: Vinyl Wine Dinner | Wednesday, May 29 | 6:30-8:30 p.m. | Acre 41, 1901 San Antonio St., Austin | $90 | Enjoy a multi-course dinner and wine pairings set to a curated vinyl playlist.
Reality Gays | Wednesday, May 29 | 7 p.m. | The Paramount Theatre, 713 Congress Ave., Austin | $35 | Jake Anthony + Matthew Marr love recapping reality TV shows about lonely hearts looking for love including “90 Day Fiancé” and “Love is Blind” — and they don’t hold back.

Thursday, May 30

Guardin | Thursday, May 30 | 7 p.m. | The Ballroom at Spider House, 2906 Fruth St., Austin | $21 | The New York rapper + songwriter leads “The Loneliest Tour in the World” alongside Sewerperson and Eric Godlow.

Friday, May 31

Bleachers | Friday, May 31 | 6:30 p.m. | Moody Amphitheater, 1401 Trinity St., Austin | $56-$104 | The Jack Antonoff-led indie pop band performs their “From the Studio to the Stage Tour,” with $1 per ticket sale benefiting TAC’s work to support unhoused LGBTQ youths. ‍

Events calendar here

Click here to have your event featured.

Real Estate

Book more stays + enjoy stress-free days with Vacasa

The backyard of a Vacasa rental, with a brick house and pool surrounded by brown pool chairs.

Spotless spaces are a guarantee when working with Vacasa’s local cleaning crew. | Photo provided by Vacasa

Ever wish your vacation casa was making a bit more cash-a?

Enter: Vacasa, the largest short-term rental property management company in North America.

They’re experts at increasing bookings, maximizing your investment’s profitability, and handling the ever-growing list of weekly maintenance tasks so you don’t have to.

🏠 More profit (without lifting a finger)

More bookings mean better returns, and Vacasa out-booked the average vacation rental here in Austin by a staggering 20% in the last year.

Their price-optimization tech perfectly positions your property to drive traffic, and their dedicated marketing team knows how to give your listing that extra bit of glam to grab attention + help you stand out from the rest.

Plus, 24/7 guest support, smart home upgrades, protection programs, and preventative maintenance are just a few of the built-in amenities designed to make your life easier and increase rental appeal.

But don’t just take our word for it — these crazy high ratings from Austin’s Vacasa guests say it all.

Get a free earning estimate

News Notes

Health

Travis County’s public hospital district, Central Health, plans to spend around $682 million expanding services and decreasing health barriers to Austinites in need. The seven-year Healthcare Equity Plan is in the beginning stages. (KUT)

Art

You’ve heard of the MoMA, but what about the WMoA? Whataburger partnered with Austin creative agency McGarrah Jessee to create a gallery of burger-themed art. There’s no physical space (yet), but you can peruse the pieces on Instagram. (Eater Austin)

Number

$25,500,000. That’s the listing price of the most expensive house on the market in ATX right now. Located at 2810 Scenic Dr., the house sits on the water and features five bedrooms, six bathrooms, a four-car garage, an infinity pool, and an outdoor kitchen.

Ranked

Can you smell the smoke? Austin’s own Micklethwait Craft Meats and Brown’s Bar-B-Que made Yelp’s 2024 list of Top 100 Barbecue Spots. You’ll have a great meal at just about any of Austin’s barbecue spots, so don’t miss our guide.

Show

The captivating saga of a family and company that shaped the world will come to life on stage at ZACH Theatre. Austinites can catch “The Lehman Trilogy,” winner of 5 Tony® Awards including Best Play, from Wednesday, June 19 through Sunday, July 7. Explore showtimes + snag tickets.*

Health

Hey, ATX women: Wondering if you have a hormonal imbalance? See why optimizing your hormonal health is key to improving mood, increasing energy, and even planning for a family or understanding menopause symptoms — and how Labcorp OnDemand makes it easy to check your levels.*

Finance

If you spent your whole Sunday reorganizing your closet, here’s another spring cleaning suggestion: Move your credit card debt. This card offers 0% interest on a balance transfer until nearly 2026. That’s almost two years to pay off your balance, sans interest. Plus, you’ll earn 2% cash back on purchases.*

The Buy

The Buy 5.28.24 (Affiliate + Six & Main)

A Going membership, so you’ll get emailed when flights are 40-90% off — like a $166 flight to Cancun or a $260 flight to Paris (yes, those prices are legit). We like the two-week free trial of the Premium plan, which includes international flight deals and custom destination alerts.

Answered

We asked you to rate your Downtown experience. Here’s what you said:

The Congress Avenue Bridge as seen from the hike and bike trail along the water. — We may be biased, but we think Austin’s Downtown is one of the most beautiful in the US.
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Photo by ATXtoday

In light of the 2024 State of Downtown Report, we wanted to know how often our readers visit Downtown and how they would rate the experience. We asked, you answered:

32% of readers said they visit Downtown around once per year
26% said they almost never go Downtown
22% said they visit multiple times per month
15% visit once per month and 5% several times per week

More than half of readers felt satisfied with their Downtown experience — 38% gave Downtown ATX four stars and 31% gave it three stars.

So what are people doing when they come Downtown?

62% are going to an event or concert
55% are enjoying a meal
34% are walking through the cityscape or green space

Share your rating

The Wrap

City Editor Figi poses with an adorable goat.

Today’s edition by:
Figi

From the editor

I’ve been thinking a lot about my favorite Austin-based beverage companies with our annual Drink Up Week celebration coming up. If you haven’t already tried Mayawell (an Austin-based prebiotic soda company), I can’t recommend it enough. My favorite flavor is pear lime.

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