Today we’d like to introduce you to Maria Moscato.
Hi Maria, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I am a California native who grew up in Diego. I’ve been creating art my entire life and pursued my university studies in the visual arts and design with a BA in Studio Visual Arts from UCSD (1987) and an MA in Industrial Arts from San Francisco State University (1995). While working as Fine Arts Chair at OLP, I met my future husband of today, who brought me to living in Bologna, Italy. Today I divide my time between Bologna and San Diego, which lead to the San Diego based e-commerce store of Mia Luna, which brings together the worlds of sustainable design, fine art, and yoga.
In 2006, my husband, daughter and I moved into our home located in the ancient selenite quarries that built the city of Bologna. Taking the selenite rock, I began with hand-drawn mandalas inspired by my world travels. I’ve collected tapestries from around the world that represent the woven nature of life and of our own being as mind-body-soul. Like the making of a paper snowflake, my Mia Luna featured logo “Selenite Mandala” turned out to be a tessellation pattern of angel wings emitting its very nature as an Angel Stone. Following the Selenite mandala, I created its logo compliment, Sole, representing the sun and balancing the moon’s energy.
Selenite represents the history of sustainable and traditional architecture in the history of Italy, and this is how the “spirit of selenite” represents our brand’s mission: to create sustainable clothing with weaves that are organic, recycled, or repurposed. Our organic weaves are locally made here in Italy to avoid shipping from abroad. Sometimes I pack up organic repurposed fabric in my suitcase when visiting California to bring back to Bologna.
Mia Luna’s mission is to transmit beauty and a connection to the origins of selenite rock-its healing properties as well as its structural qualities for building used through Italy’s history. We strive for innovation in concept using high-quality materials, experienced pattern makers and local tailors. My screenprints are hand-drawn and perfected on photoshop software. My goal is to create slow ecological fashion that can change the mindset of buying clothing: with sustainable fabric and long-lasting pieces that my customers will love and keep.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
Entering the world of fashion is always challenging, especially when dealing with a sustainable ideology. The price points are higher in the supply chain, and many consumers do not yet embrace paying more for planet-friendly clothing. The majority of consumers today are caught up in fast fashion. Luckily major brands and top designers are becoming ecologically conscious and changing the mindset of consumers. Sourcing local ecological fabrics is also challenging, as well as finding production that can produce on order without high minimums.
To keep myself balanced, I find that continuing my work as a painter is essential and have made these pieces into wall art and part of the Mia Luna collection and another avenue to earn capital.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar, what can you tell them about what you do?
I am a screen print artist, painter and fashion designer who brings together the worlds of sustainable design, fine art, and yoga. My work shares a variety of eclectic styles and imagery dedicated to soul searching, nature, meditation mandalas, yoga imagery and digital patterns created from illustrations.
Whether it’s watercolor, canvas, raku, or silkscreen on fashion, I am continuously experimenting with different mediums while at the same time bringing them together with a common theme: how our intrinsic nature connects to the larger cosmos.
My work also expands and evolves while I overlap concepts of cosmology and how we can find ourselves and true nature by understanding how we are all interconnected. By branding my art and prints onto fashion and home design, I make my work more accessible to a wider public.
Before we let you go, we’ve got to ask if you have any advice for those who are just starting out?
You need to believe in yourself above all and listen to your intuition. Don’t be too influenced by other people’s advice when it comes to your own aesthetic. If you feel there is not a demand for your work or product believe that eventually there will be. Perseverance is key. Don’t give up, Quitters don’t win and winners don’t quit.
Contact Info:
- Email: mialunadesign@gmail.com
- Website: www.mialunadesign.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mia_luna_design/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mialunadesign
