Capturing Moments with Pedro & Tailor
Words by Joshua Perez
I have nearly tangible memories of traveling as a boy. I love to relive the process and memories of packing up and exploring Cuba, Canada and Alaska on our family vacations. But even my everyday life growing up in Miami expressed itself in a happy curiosity accustomed to risk taking and daredevil showmanship.
I was addicted to adventure.
So as I would cross the threshold back at home, leaving a suitcase packed with dirty clothes, one thing was clear to me: I could do this forever. I’d return from our trips not discouraged that I couldn’t be on a constant adventure, but daydreaming endlessly about how my future would be shaped by this desire. One day, I would be old enough to finally go and chase more wanderlust affairs for myself.
The thought, the smell, the feel, sight and sound of adventure fill my senses. Hiking wasn’t just walking, rafting wasn’t fun just because of getting splashed. When we gained any sort of elevation—it transformed my family’s little adventure into something beyond me and something important all at once; I was like an astronaut buckling in before the countdown. Who cared how it ended? I wanted to try it and see what kind of man came out the other side.
Along the way, with my dad’s old camera, photography became a passion. I wanted to remember the memories of my childhood adventures exactly as they were while living them. There’s a reason why the word ‘capture’ is used in photography vernacular. You reach out into the light for a fraction of time, click, and save a moment in history we will never have again.
Like how just viewing a picture of a candid smile frozen on a phone or a Polaroid can truly make you remember the full force of the laugh you had back in that shot. I believe there are moments, like those, worth going over in our thoughts, even if it’s only us doing the remembering.
Of course, pictures aren’t the only memory joggers of my childhood. Three years ago I was digging through her belongings a few days after my moms death and was surprised to see she’d written me something when I was a kid. Her sudden passing never gave us a chance for a goodbye so the letter I found carried the responsibility of what her last words to me would have been. I’m not sure Mom knew that I’d need those words, but then again any word—spoken in love—can be good at any time.
The last line in her square and slanted script ended with:
advance to a life of wonder.
Personally, I think she meant that wonder can be found in the small moments. Viewing vast landscapes through a car window, the firm pounding you feel with wind at high speeds or the times you sigh and pick up your board to follow your friend into the waves of another crazy idea.
As time has passed those words have never left me, its become the cornerstone of my business today. I’ve never known exactly what she meant by it, but in some ways it’s refreshing that I never knew. Each new memory and adventure I live through (from starting a second business during a pandemic, to having my own kid) gets reinterpreted through them.
Alongside my business partner Levi, I’ve built Pedro & Tailor by designing products that become memory makers. Products aimed at bringing to life the stories and places we hold dear. Products that celebrate the memories worthy to be passed on. No matter who you are, where you come from, or where you’re dreaming of going, we believe that everyone deserves a life of wonder.
I know my mother’s words to be trustworthy. They had the backbone of learning to do good and repeating that process.
And true words, like good memories, are meant to be reminisced. To move us outside of ourselves and out into the life of wonder.
