Meet Kiaire Duclos | Multi-medium artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Kiaire Duclos and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Kiaire, how does your business help the community?
I have always been involved in community growing up. I use to help my aunt with her catering events for her church. I also helped with art projects she needed. I remember creating a large coloring banner for her children’s church to color and one year I decorated for her Holiday play set. I feel in love with of the idea of mixing art with community. Ki Custom House has started some initiatives as brand. In the short period of time that I have been around, I’ve had two major community events. With the help of my girlfriend, Ki Custom House was able to have our first Winter Drive this past fall. We collected art supplies to create creativity boxes for children for Christmas. We used donated shoeboxes and included things to give children an outlet to manifest their dreams with supplies including markers, sketch books, canvases, journals, etc. We raised over $100 and were able to create 15 creative boxes to pass out during the holiday season. It was so filling seeing children painting, drawing, and just expressing themselves on a canvas. I was able to give my younger cousin, Janiyah, one of the boxes and she was creating something new every day to show me and my family. Recently we hosted our first beautification project in homage to my Great Great Grandmother Mattie Ansley Jackson, a community leader in Peoplestown. I recently learned about her and that side of my family, which is my dad side. He never introduced me his side of family, but I had to reach out to them when he fell ill back in March. It was overwhelming at first, but I also met a bunch of people who was ready to support me with open arms. I asked them if could plant sunflowers in front of her home in honor of her and her work and Ki Custom House sun.flow.her beautification project bloomed. To be a sun.flow.her, is to be a follower of the sun, and to be the light in this world that’s continuously growing. I plan on continuing my Great Great Grandmother’s work through service to my community. For this event we mixed art with community. I went all out with supplies, water, and healthy snack options. We planted sunflowers, named them, and decorated pots. Everyone was able to plant their own sunflowers in their custom pots. The amount creativity that was in the air warmed my heart and I still get pictures from everyone who attended with their sunflowers. 10 people attended and that I think that was a great start. I plan to start a community garden this year and work with other creatives to host more beautifications project like this one. I believe art outlet and a great way to get people to come together.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
What set my art apart is my vision and how I arrange my work. From my tables to my collages, you won’t find anything that looks like my work. I am most proud of the tables we have created. I enjoy the memories me and my girlfriend created while working on these tables and the themes in general. My favorite table we’ve made has to be the Royal Blue Tupac table. I’m also proud of marketing myself and believing in my work to reach out to major podcasters and local creatives to create things for them. I love the BDSM table that we created for a well-known Podcaster, Mandii B, from Whorible Decision. It is a matter of time before I create something for her co-host WeezyWTF. How did I get where I am professionally? I would say trial and error. I tried different creative routes, eliminated the ones I was not feeling and developed the ones I liked. One of my challenges is being a perfectionist. I rearrange my art a lot and compare my work to artist sometimes. I downplay my work sometimes because when you think of an artist, you think of a painter. Although I can paint, I don’t feel as though I am a strong painter. I have to remind myself that an artist comes in all forms. Some lessons I’ve learned along the way is to charge for your time and do not sell yourself short. I would undersell myself and undercharge for my projects. I wouldn’t get what I deserve as a profit and for anyone who has ordered from me, I go above and beyond for my customers. I want the world to know that my brand will grow into someone more physical and permanent. I want to buy my own space and turn Ki Custom House into an actual space. A community space for creatives to network and where the community can come to learn photoshop, photography, etc. So be on the look out for a ribbon cutting in the next few years.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
My favorite thing to do is to eat good food and drink good drinks, so I would recommend stepping out the city to the Marietta Area. There is a variety of good restaurants to try. Me and my girlfriend’s favorite restaurant is El Pan at The Battery and that area in general. It’s a Latin spot and we love the Shrimp Mofongo, and there drinks are good. We always go to The Battery for a good time. We also like going to Ph’east, a food court that offers Asian cuisine. We get our Pho, Ramen, and bubble tea here and they also have a bar for cocktails. There is also a nice record store on the strip and wine bar. There is unlimited things to do at The Battery and the parking is free for the first couple of hours. Outside of food my favorite place in the city is Piedmont Park. Between Pride events and just going on a regular weekend, the energy there is always good. It’s the perfect place to meet some dope people. Another favorite is the Edgewood. That street alone have dope restaurants and lounges. Cafe Cira rooftop vibes is unmatched. Last but not least the East Atlanta area around my favorite Hookah lounge, the ILounge, has the best lowkey vibes. Cute coffee shops, Insomnia cookies, and hookah. What more could you ask for?

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I want to dedicate my shoutout to my friends and family. They have always supported all my hobbies and ideas, all the way up to formation of Ki Custom House. They are my main promo team and always mention my talents to their friends with out any hesitation. They also are the first to place orders which helps be develop my craft. I also want to shoutout my father for my art skills. He draws and build a variety of things like fish tank stands, bar tables, or anything you can think of. When he gets fully better, I hope we can build and design some things together. My mother is the best momanger, she always send me ways to stay organize or grants to look into. I want to shoutout my girlfriend Michaelle Smith for falling into role of creative partner. She helps me with everything from designing tables to customer service and delivering orders. She also helps me with my creative process. She gets a sneak peak of some of my work and give the best ideas. She is also my reason to create new ideas. My love language is quality time and creating gifts for others. I always find new things to make her and she tells me I need to share this to the world. If I didn’t have the support from my friends and family, Ki Custom House wouldn’t have grown as big as it has. I also want to shoutout myself for never giving up on this idea. I always been creative, but I couldn’t find how I wanted to express it. I dabbled in photography and even created handmade shirts at one point. None of that spoke to me, with what I do now I can try new techniques everyday.

Website: https://www.kicustomhouse.com/

Instagram: business: @kicustomhouse_ Personal: @kiairebrianna

Twitter: Business: @kicustomhouse Personal: @kiairebrianna

Other: Tik Tok: @kiairebrianna