Who Runs This Thing?

Portland Button Works was founded by Alex Wrekk in 2012. After years of operating a traditional storefront, we moved our manufacturing and distribution into The Spiral House—our North Portland home and production studio. We specialize in custom buttons, magnets, and zine distribution for a global DIY community.

Alex Wrekk

Zines & Books: Alex has published the perzine Brainscan since 1997 and authored the DIY resource book Stolen Sharpie Revolution (7th edition).
Media & Organizing: She established International Zine Month, co-founded the Midwest Perzine Fest, and was a founding organizer of the Portland Zine Symposium. She also hosted the Nobody Cares About Your Stupid Zine podcast and Singer in Copy Scams (an International zine themed band) and is currently in the band Stumbling Distance.
Witchcraft & Community: Since 2005, Alex has been building a secular witchcraft practice. She is a member of the Critical Think Witch Collective, which hosts the annual CritWitchCon virtual event.
Interests: A Master Gardener trainee and fan of fine craft beer, Alex spends her time tending to the garden and feeding peanuts to the local neighborhood crows. Our shop logo features a crow as a nod to these feathered friends.

Paul Burke

Born on Nellis AFB in North Las Vegas (and Sacramento) before being whisked away to an Air Force base in Bitburg, Germany with his family, Paul eventually ended up in Layton, Utah. Paul made zines and was in several bands in Salt Lake City before moving to Portland in 2006. For years Paul kept the button making business afloat when Alex was off on zine adventures. When he's not pressing buttons at the Portland Button Workshop and making his own hot sauce/editing podcasts/writing reviews for Sweating Peppers zine, he's enjoying craft beers, Doctor Who, and playing/recording music. Currently Paul is part of many projects, Monty Vega & the Sittin' Shivas (with members of 42 Ford Prefect, Faster Housecat, 48 Thrills, Screamin' Furies), A newly reformed Dirty Graves (with Marc P. [Tagalongs/Copy Scams] and Annie O. formerly a garage rock cover band called Commercial Breaks), Scourge of Ians (Post Pop Punk with ex-Chartbuster Matt C. and Mark V. who's rad, Matt's cool too). They also masquerade as Ramodes (Depeche Mode songs ala Ramones style), then there's an actual Ramones cover band called Lobotomen (with Ken W. [Monty] in Monty Vega and also members of Watchlist and The Punchers) playing bass and back up vox, Heaven & Earth Association (Synthpop/Darkwave with Mark V, from Scourge of Ians), New Unusuals (Psychedelic Pop Punk/with members of Faster Housecat and the Prozacs) and arranges music, sings and plays guitar/drums in The Copy Scams (the world's best international zine themed band). He also performs and writes his solo synth-pop project latenightsleept.v. since 2003.

Former Portland bands:

Tagalongs, Commercial Breaks, Faster Housecat....

Former Salt Lake City bands:

Cathy and I, The Downers, V vs. V, The Corleones, The Quitters, Ritalin Kid, Homesick, Vomiting Cockroaches, Sprinkler Head.

Also, check out his Mixcloud! Spinning records around Portland, OR under the name ACTORSLASHVAMPIRE. @actorslashvampire on IG and TikTok

The Spiral House Denizens

Our home and workspace are shared with a rotating cast of feline supervisors. While Jackie was the original "Cat Boss" who greeted customers at pickup, the current crew has their own distinct styles:

Jack: A cat who is professionally terrified of nearly everything.
Buffy: Our newest addition—tiny, curious, and usually in the middle of whatever is happening.

[Explore the Spiral House Denizens Gallery]