G-Eazy, Isaac Muwaswes, & Gabe Garcia Of FlowerShop* | Expansion Into Cannabis & Wellness

G-Eazy has proven himself to be one of the hottest artists to come out of the Bay Area, and now he’s dipping his feet into the cannabis industry. With the launch of his new conceptual wellness and cannabis brand titled FlowerShop*, created alongside co-founders Isaac Muwaswes and Gabe Garcia, all 3 were adamant on creating something for the people that “wasn’t just about getting them high.”

The concept stems from the idea that flowers are a universal language of love, something that brings people comfort and joy. Whether you’re celebrating or grieving, flowers oftentimes can be used to make one “feel better,” and that connection aptly fits into the cannabis world as marijuana-users all around the world turn to the cannabis flower for relief in some way, shape, or form.

Flowershop* stands out in numerous ways: it’s unique, one-of-a-kind, and minority-owned. (Gabe Garcia being Cuban/Mexican and Isaac Muwaswes being of Palestinian decent). Channeling our 5 senses, the brand uses a mood and sensory-based approach to self-care, self-love, and love for our planet. Items include a curated line of cannabis, botanical aircare™, home goods, and lifestyle products. 

Flaunt caught up with G-Eazy, Isaac, and Gabe via Zoom to discuss how they all met, their working relationship, how FlowerShop* came to be, what sets their product apart from the rest, expanding into retail, and more!

How did the idea for FlowerShop* come about?

Gabe: FlowerShop* was born initially almost as a design project, brought to us 3 years ago. We’re in the design and brand building business so getting that request from the cannabis industry in the Bay Area where it’s prominent, it was a matter of time things would come through our pipeline. We entertained it. As we dove deeper into the industry (as we do with any project), we recognized a big opportunity there to differentiate, to create something special that wasn’t just about getting people high. 

We started to dive into the world of cannabis, wellness, all the things that come with that. FlowerShop* as a brand, we love what we saw as alignments with real, fresh-cut flowers: how people use those in their daily lives or how they share that joy with other people in times of need. Whether it's unhappiness, you want to bring some spirit to someone's room or home, or them in general. Or times where it's about celebration, we started to see alignment with how people consume cannabis and how people share and receive flowers. That’s the reason why we dove deeper into what flower shops and flowers represent, that felt right for us.

Isaac: It really was parallel. There are usually 3 main times in people's lives that you give or receive flowers: times of celebrations (weddings or birthdays), times of helping someone feel comfort and feel better (funerals or they’re sick), or making someone smile (any time of the day or any given day). We saw that with cannabis, whether it's on the rec side (people using it to celebrate or to let loose), medical side (as some comfort or medication), or in their daily lives to help them smile. As we dove deeper, we saw how flowers were so ingrained into everything else from a conceptual wellness perspective. 

When we started looking at the origin of colors, a lot of them date back to flowers and how color pigments in flowers have been used as dye across the world. When we look at fragrance, the origin of a lot of fragrances all are traced back to flowers, how those key flowers are used in fragrances and aromas around the world. That’s where we really started to build out this concept of conceptual wellness and sensory care, make this a more holistic offering and brand. Everything from the products to the content and the brand, to the physical real-life experience we’re creating, whatever it may be.

G-Eazy: It gives us a chance to do something great together from a design and execution standpoint across multiple categories, but also expands on the friendship and trust we have built over the years. Sharing that history and that connection with us, and authentically approaching something that’s unique. We have a long history, they have designed and executed almost all my merch for most of my career. From a design and production standpoint, they have an ability to deliver and produce things at a very high level. We have shared values when it comes to the world of flower, all being from the Bay Area and sharing a philosophy towards the whole industry in general, and the impact we are trying to make.

How did you guys all meet initially?

Isaac: I'll steal G’s story on how we met. He spent his video budget for “Marilyn” at the Brooklyn Circus.

G-Eazy: I had $30K to my name. I didn’t have an apartment, I was living out of a suitcase. I could afford to produce the highest level of merch before I could afford an apartment. I was still independent, unsigned. You guys helped me creative direct, put together these videos and shoot the album cover to my first album. I’ve always prioritized the art and vision before anything else. We shot 2 music videos for $30K dollars on a bunch of favors that we had to call in, before I had a car or apartment.

Isaac: That connection happened through a brand called Brooklyn Circus, which Gabe was the co-founder of. I partnered with him on the Brooklyn Circus SF, that’s how we met G initially. G was a fan of the brand. Once we met in person, we very quickly hit it off and started jumping in on everything he's talking about. Providing any support, value, or help we could on branding, design, merch, all that good stuff.

Why the asterisk?

Isaac: Good question, you’re the first one to ask that. It’s important too. It’s us having a little fun with it, being tongue in cheek. Is it a flower shop? Are we selling actual flowers? Cannabis flowers? Is it a physical shop? Is it online? The answer is all that. It goes into what conceptual wellness is for us. We didn’t want to define what wellness is, it's very different and it's unique to everyone. It's more about the journey than the destination or the end product. With that asterisk, that's our way of having a little fun, telling people to look a little more closely at things in the world. Pointing out that everyone has their own perspective of the things in the world. Ultimately, they're all valid. It's all about your personal journey, what you make of it, and enjoying it. Hopefully, FlowerShop* will be a way to assist you in whatever way that is.

What sets your guys’ products apart from others?

Isaac: First and foremost, it starts with the product itself. Whether it's the flower we’re working with, the cultivators, the genetics, we’re focused on working with nothing but the best. Whether it's other products we’re doing, our JUICEDROPS are our version of an edible coming out down the line, focused on the ingredients themselves. We're using cold-pressed juice as the main flavoring agent, but also adding botanicals and adaptogens for taste and function. We’re focused on 100% natural ingredients, all the best ingredients we can source which ultimately leads to the best product there. 

The presentation as a whole is very important to us. We’re big believers in whatever you consume, you eat and drink with your eyes first. Presenting something that’s focused on this mood-based therapy we’re trying to achieve here. When we present something in our comfort mood, it's an indica that comes in the purple pantone that we determine is the best fit to make you feel a certain way before you consume the product. Whether that’s the flower itself, a candle or aromatherapy product that has heavy lavender or other calming botanicals in it, we’re very conscious of the presentation with the ingredients. That goes through to the packaging all the way through to the content we create around it. 

The last category that sets us apart is really us and everything we’re putting into it: our intention, purpose, focus, and drive. Making sure that whatever we put out there, we all collectively stand by it, feel good about it, and are very proud of the work and products we’re putting out there. 

G-Eazy: The uniqueness we’re offering from incense to pre-rolls, the wide array is what separates us.

G, what are your favorite items and why?

G-Eazy: The yellow (JOY) BOUQUETPACK.

Isaac: Social sativa.

G-Eazy: The BOUQUETPACKS, the pre-rolls. For me, it's sativa all day and indica at night. 

How important is self-care to all of you?

G-Eazy: Self-care is essential in a major way, but it's not one-dimensional. The idea of general wellness is a broad spectrum, that’s what's the most beautiful about our approach to everything, even in our approach to the idea of self-care. In general, your wellness might not be the same as everybody else's wellness. The overall idea of comfort and joy might not be relatable directly to every person. The spectrum of relatability in terms of what we're trying to offer is what makes this so beautiful, that everybody's version of that might be unique.

Gabe: Self-care starts with you. Before you're able to provide help or care for others, you have to be in a good mental space. I personally had to learn that the hard way, or through trials of understanding why I couldn’t help somebody else. You gotta be in the space for that, that’s what hit it on the head for me. Realizing there's something going on that I have to deal with before I help others. To me, that’s self-care or mood wellness. How do you get yourself in a better mood so you can be helpful to others? Self-care is really important.

Where do you guys see the future of FlowerShop*?

Isaac: We see FlowerShop* as being a global brand across many different countries and helping people feel better in their daily lives, how we're doing that is through a number of different key focuses from a product and category perspective. One being cannabis, the second is this concept of botanical aircare™. That's our version of aromatherapy where we’re creating all-natural, all-botanical fragrances that are going into things like our incense. 

From incense to candles to room sprays, all that is in development. We’ll be putting it out over the next couple of months. We’re doing a number of home goods and lifestyle things, everything from clothing to travel accessories to everything in between. For us, it's about building this product offering that has a little something for everyone that’s both beautiful and functional.

Another big key element of what we’re doing is retail. We're currently finalizing and bringing to market our retail plans and strategy. The first 3 are going to be in LA, we're working on that right now with our partner Halo Collective. That’s really exciting because retail’s always been a passion for us. It's been an opportunity for us to tell this complete story where we can control the experience. What’s the fragrance burning when you walk into the store? What's the visuals look like? What's the touch and feel of the finishes and details? All the way through to the taste and smell and looks of the products we offer. What music we’re playing, what do you hear? All that plays into the idea of sensory care and inspiring people's moods. That’s the short-term and long-term future for FlowerShop*, we’re excited to continue to bring it to the world.

Gabe: Getting excited about the world opening up, being able to share in-person activations where we can really put mood wellness into an experiential situation. Having that opportunity is really exciting. We can pop up in cities and neighborhoods, really share what we’ve been working on.

G-Eazy: Just excited for what's to come, so much of it is about the physicality of interaction and physical experience. Getting to share what we have with the rest of the world