About Cinderpoint Studios

The Cinderpoint Creed: For the greasy, the gritty, and the delightfully strange.

Cinderpoint Studios wasn’t born in a corporate boardroom or a trendy "lifestyle" incubator. It was born in the passenger seat of a '55 Chevy, steering while sitting on my dad’s lap before I was even old enough for kindergarten.

I grew up in the salvage yards and garages of small-town New York. While other kids were playing house, I was hunting for "good bones" and learning how trash becomes a sexy-purring treasure. 

From the Shop Floor to the Drawing Board

Before I was "Auntie Mel," the artist, I was the manager of a repair shop. I’m a certified Goodyear Tire Expert and a seven-time AAA Top Shop Award winner. I’ve lived the "Psychobilly Dream," but I’ve also lived the grind. From selling after-market parts to growing an independent shop into a finely tuned machine.

Then life threw a rod. Brain surgery and a long, hard recovery changed the "how," but it didn't change the "who."

Authenticity Over Aesthetics

I was the outcast girl who found a sense of belonging in the music and madness of the 90s. As a teenager, I sped off to Seattle, finding myself coming alive in the grunge-rockabilly hybrid scene, designing websites on Notepad when the internet was still a wild frontier.

I fell in love with the atomic-era style, and found my home among the weirdos... the degenerates... the proud and trashy. I enjoy taking the gilded style of the 1950s and mixing it with the real, the irreverent, and the marginalized. It’s not a performative aesthetic; it’s a way of life.

I See You...

Chances are, if you're here, you're a bit like me... no longer trying to fit into a mold that was never meant for you. You have style that can't be bought at a box store. Your body's not a billboard. And you have no time for performative normalcy.

I see you, doll. And we got a tee for that. 

When you support Cinderpoint, you aren't just buying a cool shirt or some general rip-off of a recycled attempt at wit. You’re standing against the watered-down, mainstream corporate versions of "counter-culture." You’re supporting the pioneers, the artists, and the rebels who refuse to be "cookie-cutter."

I create wearable art for the real rebels, the maximalist mavens, and the atomic-age outcasts. Welcome home.

I'm Auntie Mel, and I support this message.

Auntie Mel: The Human Behind the Kitsch & Chaos.