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MEET LULU GIOIELLO
Art Director / Editor-In-Chief of Far-Near residing in Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Where did you grow up and what brought you to (or kept you in) New York City?
I grew up in the east village in New York, I've spent a year or so exploring Europe and Asia but I always come back to New York, there's a particular type of freedom, variety and drive here that I get homesick for.
Can you touch upon your publication FAR-NEAR? What was your motivation in creating this series? And what do you hope your readers will take from it?
When I buy books and magazines that have Asian subject matter or content in it I find they often come from a specific set of perspectives: something that has been approved or created by non-Asian western experience. I didn't experience a platform that clearly and carefully brought together art, culture and fashion from not only Asian American or European perspectives but also from those living in Asia themselves, and furthermore not only just about China, Japan and Korea but also everywhere else that is actually considered part of the Asian continent. Why shouldn't they also be part of the conversation? My goal is to evolve the generally euro-centric accepted notion of what is Asia and to celebrate these creative voices that are exploring it both on a personal and cultural level.
Other than FAR-NEAR, what have you recently worked on or hope to be working on in the near future? What medium do you find most fulfilling?
I also have a art-fashion lifestyle label with Urara Muramatsu called Forbabies. We launched last year in Tokyo and basically create small capsule collections as series relating to a certain concept or direction we want to take. Our main goal is to create intimate and often one-of-a-kind pieces that tell the story of the unusual girl and her surroundings.
Our first collection included a set of dream blankets based on our collective dreams, incorporating illustrations from Urara and photographs from me. We also created a series of hats for Tokyo that express the unusual girl, or "henna onna," something that is not often fully accepted in Japan. This year we are releasing a set of immigration scarves and ties that take I feel fulfilled coming up with ideas by pulling from different areas of culture and being able to curate talented people in various industries to create unique and meaningful visual work.
What do you enjoy doing in the privacy of your own home?
Watching 5 movies in a row, I have a super long watch-list, there are so many movies out there!
What draws you to an object, be it an article of clothing, jewelry, artwork etc.?
Often the cultural history of the piece and definitely the uniqueness. I have a tendency to search ebay for vintage items that I wouldn't know were out there unless I searched for the right keywords.
What is something you have loved for a long time?
Movies, the color red and green vegetables.
Maimoun comes from the Persian language word meaning to welcome guests/invite company. If you could invite anyone to a dinner party, who would it be?
Buddha!
