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In 2022, Linus Schief watched “Fire of Love,” an independent film that follows French volcanologists Katia and Maurice Krafft who died doing exactly what they loved, deeply fascinated by the world of volcanoes.
“I was so inspired by these two volcanologists who loved their work so much and loved volcanoes so much and were doing everything they could to learn about volcanoes,” Linus says. “I was like, ‘That’s the feeling I want in life.’ I felt like I could be the kind of person who could do what they loved — but at that time, I was doing the opposite of what I loved.”
The film is what inspired Warm Shape, the art store and gift shop that Linus opened in the MSA Annex, 267 S. Avenida del Convento, in 2022. (“Volcanoes are warm shapes!” Linus says.)
Now Linus is preparing to open her second location — this time partially inspired by a different movie. “Secret Mall Apartment” follows the story of young Rhode Islanders who not only built a secret apartment inside a mall but lived there for four years until they were caught.
Warm Shape 2.0 is opening in early October and will be home to Tucson Mall, 4500 N. Oracle Rd.
Inside jokes and real conversations
Linus has long been an artist. She grew up in Michigan, then spent 15 years in Washington before moving to Tucson for the sunshine. She grew up drawing and playing the piano. She attended a liberal arts college where she curated her own curriculum, spending time reading, writing, painting and weaving.
“After I was done there — or maybe midway through — is when I turned the corner. I was good at art but didn’t know what I wanted to say. I started to actually use my artistic expression to say real things, even if they were just funny little jokes,” Linus says.
Then she pivoted in her career and studied computer programming, eventually learning that it wasn’t the right fit for her.
She was itching for something new — something creative — and she reached out to a friend at the MSA Annex to see if they had retail space available. As luck would have it, a tenant had ended their lease just two hours before Linus’ call.
“I was already making art as a way to feel happy and joyful when everything else in my job was about computers and logic,” Linus says. “I had all this stuff that I was making ready to go. When they said I could do a pop-up, I said, ‘I’ll be right there.’”
For the next three months, Warm Shape had a temporary home at the MSA Annex. Linus officially signed the lease in early 2023 and has been part of the area since.
“This felt more like a need than a want. I didn’t ever think, ‘I’d like to start a retail store,’” Linus says. “It was more the circumstances and timing of it. I felt like I needed to express myself.
“Everybody was like, ‘You’re so brave.’ I was like, ‘Nope, that’s not it.’ I was desperate and I didn’t care what happened to me financially. Nothing was worse, especially during the isolatory conditions during the early COVID era, than doing work I wasn’t good at or meant to do. Looking back, doing a job that wasn’t creative was what I needed to go through to realize how important creativity is for me,” Linus says, adding that even though it wasn’t the perfect fit, that computer job taught her skills she now uses in her business. She’s grateful for that.
Initially, Warm Shape really only showcased Linus’ work. While anyone could walk in and shop her silly stickers or her tapestries made of VHS film, Warm Shape at first was more of Linus’ own workshop. (She later introduced blind contour portraits where she draws you without looking down at the paper.)
“I started to feel lonely and I needed people, so I decided to sell other people’s art in there,” Linus says. “Even though I had no idea how I was going to do that, it all just fell right into place. The moment I even thought it, the right people showed up.”
Now Warm Shape is home to hats that plainly read “dehydrated” and shirts that say “world’s greatest dad in Pima County.” There are prints, stickers, ceramics, accessories and lots of silly items with absurd sayings. (If Linus is there when you visit, you might also meet her adorable dog Lady.)
“When I opened the shop and started printing my own art that was just weird, I was like, ‘Is anyone going to understand this? Is anyone going to want to buy this?’ and I quickly realized I’m just like everybody else and everyone is weird. We’re all in on these jokes. People surprise me over and over and it turns out that my little inside jokes were actually jokes with everybody.”
And even though the store is weird in the very best way, the art inside Warm Shape is also meant to spark real conversations about hard topics.
“Yes, we have this cute and colorful veneer but behind that, there’s a lot of depth of politics, of making statements, of being outspoken — but dressed up in cute ways,” Linus says. “It’s not just cutesy things for sale. It’s like, let’s talk about what’s going on in the world. There are so many people who say, ‘Yes, thank God you said it. That’s been on my mind all day but no one wants to bring it up.’ This is talking about real stuff through art.”
A second location
Just a few months ago, Linus was outside of Tesoro Latin Kitchen, standing in the parking lot of Tucson Mall.
“I was sort of thinking, ‘What am I doing? What’s next for me?’ I wasn’t really thinking it all the way through. I was sort of floating,” Linus says. “And then my friend was like, ‘Have you ever thought about opening a second location in the mall?’”
Linus felt a zing of electricity and couldn’t get the thought out of her head. She visited the mall a couple weeks later and walked along the second floor until she saw a vacant shop with red and orange circular decals on the windows — warm shapes, you might say.
“It all happened pretty fast, I would say within a few weeks — I’m not sure if that’s even true but it felt really fast,” Linus says. “I had this feeling of, ‘Yes, yes, yes.’ I knew it was going to happen. Even though they said someone else was interested in the spot, I was like, ‘It doesn’t matter. It’s happening.’ I could see it happening. I never thought it wouldn’t work out — it just felt inevitable.”
Linus remembers going to the mall in the ‘90s when all her favorite shops stocked shelves of T-shirts, hats and posters. That’ll be her focus at Warm Shape 2.0.
“At the Annex, it’s kind of cozy with a lot of nice-smelling things and ceramics. There’s a bigger spectrum of things we offer there,” Linus says. “(The mall location) is going to be a little more stripped down in terms of the breadth of products we sell. It’ll be more focused on art prints and posters. There’s a lot more wall space to showcase more of the art and we have a lot of room for more T-shirt designs. But it’s not just about what we’re going to sell there — it’s about what are we going to do there?”
The answer to that is karaoke, live music, scavenger hunts, maybe a ‘90s aerobics class. Linus has a long list of ideas.
“I want people to be singing in there and hanging out in there and talking about art and talking about the world and talking about the changing mall culture,” Linus says. “The mall is for everybody. The mall is for the community. I hope that people walk out feeling like, ‘I’m having a different kind of day now’ or ‘That gave me some food for thought’ or just that they feel better than when they came in. I hope they have a good laugh or a good story and feel like they had more than just a commerce-based experience. I hope they have a human experience.”
🟠 Warm Shape is located inside the MSA Annex, 267 S. Avenida del Convento. The second location will open in early October at Tucson Mall, 4500 N. Oracle Rd. on the second floor slightly across from Dillard’s. For more information, visit Warm Shape’s website and Instagram. 🌋
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