ARTIST SPOTLIGHT : Meet the Designer
Manni, age 26, they/them
How did you get into art/design?
Ever since I can remember I found myself engulfed in art. Growing up as a neurodivergent individual on the autism spectrum, I often found myself at a constant standstill when it came to communicating with the world around me. I found that the only way I was able to communicate and get my vision across was through my art. Art and design became almost necessary for my survival and acted as a coping mechanism. I mostly focussed on drawing all throughout my younger years and eventually got into different mediums in my late teens. It was during high school that I dived into the world of design and began to shift my gears into fashion.
I studied Fashion Design at FIT for three years, but always found myself exploring fabric manipulation, dyeing and printing techniques when working on my collections. It was when I was studying abroad in Florence, Italy that I came to the realization that I was more interested in the textiles behind my work than the actual garments themselves. A year later I transferred into the Textile Design program at FIT, restarting my bachelors degree in this major. Although, I worked at various internships I mostly focused on print design post graduation. Within my own work, I began incorporating all of the skills I learned at FIT to blend my art background with my design savvy brain.
Describe your aesthetic/style-
I would say a lot of my work has organic elements, that often have fluid movement to them. My work tends to have a lot of abstract motifs that are inspired by nature. My pieces tend to be very detail driven, especially when it comes to my illustrations. Stippling is heavily used within my illustration pieces. I love the use of stippling not only to create depth in my work but fill the negative space with organic fills that create patterns.
In my design work, I love combining both fluidity with structure. I love a good level of juxtaposition and contrasting elements within my designs, which plays a lot into my choice of fabrics.
What is your source of inspiration when working on a design/project ?
My greatest source of inspiration comes from nature. Growing up on a lakeside property, I have always felt a special connection with nature from a very young age. Being able to find comfort in the serenity of my surroundings has been very important to help prevent sensory overload. I find myself getting lost for hours in the details of the world around me and all of the natural beauty that our environment has to offer. I would say the organic components of my work are definitely impacted from various plants and nature’s textures.
What projects are you currently working on ?
Aside from my brand, I am currently working on an illustration series. I started it about a year and a half ago but haven’t made substantial progress since the beginning of my relaunch. This series was based off of finding self confidence within my work and self image. My first piece was 19x24” which is one of the largest illustrations I have worked on to date. The idea was to transform myself into a dreamy, otherworldly creature based off of self photographs. These fae like characters are surrounded by an ambient dreamscape. The use of black to help define the background amplifies the extreme detail of the foreground. I have started another large scale illustration that is similar in nature and have created supporting all over prints that are nature inspired.
What inspired you to create this brand?
I was inspired to establish this brand based off of the desire to create and explore the processes of screen printing. As someone who often struggles to define themselves as either a designer or an artist, screen printing was the perfect medium to help merge the two. Since art and design are my special interests, I have this unstoppable love of learning and exploring new methods of creating. I gravitate towards collection based capsules because this allows me to take a specific medium or idea and see how far I can expand on the concept.
I found myself creating and designing garments that I couldn’t find in retail. It truly began by creating a vision of what I wanted to see myself in. I found a sense of comfort in my clothing because it was based off of freedom of expression. It was later on that I realized this sense of comfort was formed from not attaching my pieces to a specific gender. Through my work I was able to come to the realization that I identified as gender fluid. As someone who fluctuates between being feminine and masculine the idea of gender based clothing while shopping is often times overwhelming. A lot of the times I find that what is offered in the market does not speak to my identity. This is why you will not see items categorized by gender on my site. My items speak more towards celebrating the individual within.
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