A B O U T B T K
Celebrating music. Celebrating art. Celebrating connection. Celebrating you. Whoever you are and wherever you come from, in our kandi corner of the rave community, you matter - in and beyond your self expression of rave. BTK is built on the idea that festival goers are the most important aspect to the rave world in every way possible.
Black Tiger Kandi is entirely run by me, Shaela, with occasional help from friends and family. BTK is located in Phoenix, AZ, and I make everything by hand each day with the best of vibes and my music turnt loud. Black Tiger Kandi is not just a business that I run, but
a very personal project full of my own heart and soul.
When it comes to creating I love translating different themes, characters, festivals, or brands into new forms. And I love making kandi fit the context of specific events and cultures. If something exists that hasn't been turned into kandi yet, it's only a matter of time!
As you poke around my site you'll catch onto some recurring elements that all speak something about who I am, like my favorite colors purple and blue, and galactic things! I'm a person of depth and outerspace captures that along with my adventerous, wonderfilled side. Then there's the focal point, Plur Tiger, who was the original inspiration for my business name. She is a character I created a long time ago before being used as the thematic face of BTK.
Essential to BTK as a brand and the kandi that comes from it are the core principles that hold our framework together.
Integrity
We believe that in order to operate a rave business for the true good of all, PLUR needs to uphold the mindset of decision making behind the scenes and not just used as a facade on the front. This includes choices that nobody
will ever know about, because honesty in the details will lead to a complete, trustworthy, and uplifting experience.
Community & Culture
We believe in enhancing culture while caring about people, one doesn't come at the expense of the other. Our aim is to provide Kandi as a service in tandem with protecting/cultivating the generous and intentional culture around trading. This is a responsibility that we take into consideration before doing anything.
I officially got into rave through Tomorrowland on YouTube as a teen. Before that introduction I listened to Manian, Skrillex, Feed Me, Flux Pavillion, and The Glitch Mob as a kid in my blanket forts. I started making kandi at 14 and was making so much that I ran out of room to keep it all and was way too socially anxious to ask people to trade at local festivals, so I opened an Etsy shop! It was a fun little hobby to accompany my love for EDM. My favorite artists are Armin Van Buuren, Herobust, KSHMR, Yves V, Don Diablo, and GRiZ within the electronic scope. I listen to heavy metal, punk rock, a bit of kpop, and Christian worship outside of EDM. My favorite festival I’ve been to is hands down Tomorrowland (all four times!)
Life is so much bigger than reaching success at all costs. This expansive attitude is one of the key features about music festivals that inspires us - they remind us all that there's so much more to life than
just our own survival. Kindness is essential (and contagious!)
Black Tiger Kandi is small yet bursting at the seams with creative enthusiasm to flourish. Your support legitimately means the world
as I’m creating this small rave business to be a force for
substantial good in the EDM community.