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Artist Luca Mainini Reveals His Process and Passions

For our Winter 2019 issue, we enrolled the help of talented collage and GIF artist Luca Mainini. Mainini, who has worked with luxury brands such as Marc Jacobs, Jimmy Choo, and Versace, created three unique illustrations outlining the themes and hero objects found in our gift guide. Through collage, Luca was able to bring to life a message without words for each of our three themes. Here, we dig deeper to find out more about the artist and his process.

What is the planning process before you start an illustration? 

“I love to go bookstores and buy all my favourite fashion magazines. Once I arrive at my studio, I start cutting everything—every image I know will be interesting  in some artworks. Then, when I have thousands of cuttings, I start to create a collage as a way of brainstorming.”

Where do you look to to find inspiration? 

“I only look at movies, especially vintage movies. My first inspiration comes from Old Hollywood divas.”

How does working with a brand on a collaboration change your process? Are you generally given creative freedom? 

“Working with brands that I love is just amazing. I love my work. Sometimes they do not giving me creative freedom, but when it happens…I think it’s the greatest thing for an artist.”

How did you start your journey into collage? 

“I started to do collage at six years old at school. Later, I created dozens of diaries and notebooks full of collages. I love to create wonderlands that do not exist from pieces of paper.”

Where do you source the images for collage? 

“I take all the images from present and past fashion magazines that I collect.”

Hands are a reoccurring part in a lot of your work—is there a specific reason why? Are there any other items you find yourself using in many ways? 

“I’m obsessed with hands, legs, shoes, red lips, lipsticks, skies, and gold. I don’t why, maybe it would be interesting to ask my therapist.”

What has proven to be the best part and the most challenging part in your career? 

“The best moment in my career was being called to do a workshop at Tate Britain in 2014. The most challenging part? It has yet to come.”

What can we expect to see from you in the near future? 

“I’m trying to transform my collage and GIFs in something more physical. Stay tuned.”

View the gallery for a look at Luca’s work and check back to see the illustrations he created for our Winter 2019 issue. 

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