Art comes in many shapes and forms. From traditional fine art to trendy crafts; there is an art form for everyone. That said, making trendy and unapologetic Shower Art is a talent only Rosalie & Douglas Gale, owners of Ugly Baby and Monster, can boast. That said, it is fair to ask – what the heck is Shower Art?
Shower Art is unapologetic art for immature adults. It is made out of rubber, glitter, discarded toys, stickers and a fair amount of sarcasm. The Gales cast the pieces in molds a layer at a time and after about a week – a new Shower Art piece has cured and is ready for the big leagues.
The Shower Art made by Rosalie and Douglas incorporates many funny axioms, coupling them with serious and political feminist sayings. “Go get your almost equal pay” and “Marriage is dumb. Don’t do it. Gross” are two of the most popular designs available at Ugly Baby. The duo has their distinctive styles – Douglas comes up with feminist phrases, whereas Rosalie’s best lines are the ones that would make a 5-year-old boy laugh. Think fart and poop jokes.
Business came to a screeching halt during the pandemic when they had to shut the doors of both their Pike Place Market and Ballard neighborhood stores, it was only then that they learned of the real power of social media. After a video about Shower Art went viral on Tik Tok and spurred over 600 orders in two days, Rosalie shares, “TikTok saved us. It kept us afloat. Both stores were closed. So we were really just filling online orders for TikTok.”
The immense popularity of Shower Art gave rise to many other products available at Ugly Baby. The team now offers t-shirts, hoodies, fleece sweatshirts, prints, stickers, postcards, enamel pins, keychains, washi tape, engraved pencils, onesies and craft kits.
Ugly Baby customers get more than just a shopping destination; they get to participate in a treasure hunt of sorts. Since the Ugly Baby store is located in a less visited area of the Pike Place Market, Rosalie and her team draw unicorns from The Gum Wall (a popular tourist attraction) down four flights of stairs – right to the door of Ugly Baby. Most customers say, “I followed the unicorns!” when they come in – so many that the team created a sticker that says “I follow unicorns” to give out to folks who say that catch phrase when they enter.
If you are interested in Shower Art, click here to look at the unique pieces made by Rosalie & Douglas.
