If you have never met Giani of Galleria di Giani, before today, then you probably don’t spend much time in Zibbet’s Community Hub.

Giani is a frequent contributor in the forums and we are very happy to have him as a member of the Zibbet Community. He’s always positive and upbeat while applauding his fellow artists.

Please enjoy the interview, leave Giani a comment, and then use the Share tool so others can read his interview, too. Please Spread the Zibbet Love!

1. Tell us a bit about yourself?

   I have been playing with beads, in one form or another, since I was a kid.  The city park across the street from my house had an “arts and crafts” thing on weekends, and I made a lot of things over the years.  I made lanyards, pot holders, etc.  It was where I learned to appreciate making things by hand.   As a teen, I had one of those small bead looms, and actually made a few Native American inspired panels that I used to decorate the front and back of a vest that I had.  Little did I know then that it was only the beginning.

   About 15 years ago or so, a friend took me to a gem and jewelry show.  One of the bead vendors had these hematite loops that I just absolutely fell in love with.  I hadn’t done anything with beads in years, but knew I had to make something with those.  I found some tiger eye beads from another vendor that fit nicely inside the loops.  I loved that piece so much, I knew I had to start making more jewelry.  And the rest, as the saying goes, is history.

2. Apart from being ‘creative’ what do you do?

   I work as an admin assistant at a local hospital.  I have worked as an admin assistant within the health care industry for most of the last 25 years.  I have always felt, if I had to work a day job, I wanted it to mean something.  As an admin assistant, I could work anywhere, Boeing, Starbucks, Microsoft, etc., but, at the end of the day, I like knowing that I had some small part in people getting well, as opposed to some people getting rich.  That simple fact can really help take the edge off an otherwise difficult day.

3. What inspires you to do the kind of work you do?

   For the longest time, it was simply just a love of beads and a love of creating.  The early days of my first consignment shop orders sort of reflected that, though.  I was creating a little of this and a little of that, and it had no focus.  By the time I got to my first online shop about two years ago, I was getting a little more focus, but I was still all over the place in terms of designs.  It wasn’t until about a year ago, when I realized that between watching Project Runway since the start, reading every one of Nina Garcia’s books, reading and blogging about Vogue’s Fall Fashion issue for several years, and watching multiple fashion-related documentaries, that I really knew more than a little about fashion.   That realization provided me the one missing piece of the puzzle.  It finally honed my design aesthetic.  I could now start to think about the clothes that my pieces worn with, and it helped bring everything into focus.  I started to think about the number of different ways women will mix and match their separates, and how their jewelry could very easily be an extension of that same philosophy.  So, now, I design with that in mind.  It has opened up my thinking tremendously.

4. Do you look up to anyone? Who? Why?

   In a pure fashion sense, I would have to say Nina Garcia.  If you read her books, she tries to make fashion as accessible as possible to everyone.  She really goes through every facet of your life and helps you figure out how to dress for each and every occasion.  In fact, one of her 4 books is on the very subject of what to wear for every possible event/situation.   Her works really help me think about pieces that can go from day to evening, or pieces that will work with your sweater set at work as well as your little black dress on the dance floor.  She has probably forgot more about fashion than most of us will ever know.

   On a more personal level, even though I am not religious, I have to say there is no one on the planet that I admire more than His Holiness The 14th Dalai Lama.  This is a man who lives in exile, who leads an entire movement in exile, who holds off an insurrection on a daily basis by being, essentially, the cork in the powder keg between Tibetan dissidents and the Chinese government, and does all of this with a complete sense of calm and one of the most amazing senses of humor I have ever seen.  The man is just amazing.

5. What other passions do you have in your life?

   In addition to my jewelry, I also do quite a bit of photography.  I have done over two dozen exhibits around Seattle in the past 15 years.   I am hoping to one day turn it into its own line of cards and calendars.  We shall see.

   Beyond that, just being creative in any way is a passion for me.  In my lifetime, I have been a published journalist, an actor (my Bachelor’s Degree is in Theatre), and even a stand up comic.  I just love being creative.

6. What do you like most about Zibbet?

   I like the community.  Yes, this is (for now) a smaller site, and there is a communal sense of “Let’s get the word out, folks!”.   However, there isn’t the overriding sense of competition that there is on other sites.  People here do not see your success as their failure.  Everyone is really trying to help everyone succeed.  I have had people pin, tweet and stumble my listings for no reason other than they liked them and wanted to show them off.  Other sites I have been on don’t have that same sense of “let’s work together”.  I think, ultimately, as this site grows, if it can manage to grow in a way that keeps that same sense of community and team,  it could lead to this site being the “next big thing”.  Here’s hoping!

7. What ‘new’ things would you like to see added to Zibbet?

   I would really like to see the stats expand.  I would like to know, over the course of time, how many views certain pieces are getting.  Right now, unless I keep track myself, I lose the previous month’s data at the start of the new month.  I would like a running total on pieces.  It would help me to know which ones get seen most, which are most popular, etc.  On that same line of thinking, I would love to know who is making my items as favorite and how many times my individual items are marked as favorite.  By comparing that data to the same data on my other sites, it would help me hone more of a sense of the Zibbet shopper as a whole, and help me target my marketing a little better.

8. How do you promote your work?

   It’s funny, but most of my promotional work in on sites where its best if you don’t self promote.  I love my Twitter account, and am actually making some influential contacts on Twitter.  I am still working on how to convert those contacts into business, though.

   I also use Pinterest.  I use it for fashion boards, which people are really responding to.  I now have to find a way of subtly working my own pieces into the occasional pinterest board, so as not to be spammy with it.

   I started a Tumblr, but need to use it way more than I have been.  I think the big promotional goal for 2012 is to get tumblr up and running on a regular basis, since it is the one of the three that would allow me to promote my own stuff quite a bit.

   I have a blog, that I use less often than I used to.  Again, I use that mostly for fashion related information as well.  I am really trying to draw in the people who need to learn more about fashion, so that they can see how my work plays into their fashion.

   I also do craft fairs.  I have not done consignment lately, but am getting offers that I am starting to weigh.  We’ll see where that goes.  I have found that my work sells much better in person than it does online, so I am working on doing more shows in 2012, as well as working on getting more wholesale orders.

9. How would you recommend other Zibbeters make the most of Zibbet.com?

   I would definitely say jump into “Community” with both feet.  Be a presence in the forums.  You meet a lot of great people, and get your work seen (and, as stated earlier, pinned, tweeted, and stumbled).  There really is a sense of “let’s all work hard to make this site visible” and everyone on Zibbet should really tap into that.

   As of the time I am responding to these questions, we are just now in the discussion phases of a separate blog and possibly magazine related to Zibbet.  People can definitely hop on board that project and help contribute.  It helps you get seen, and it helps Zibbet get seen.  It’s win/win.

10. In the future I’d like to be…

    In the future, I would like to be in the rolodexes of many personal stylists and personal shoppers.  It would help ensure that my work is worn by many of the top female execs and local celebrities as possible.  I realize that may sound like a much smaller dream than “Having my line appear on QVC” or “Having one of my items on a red carpet”.  Both of those would require me to move beyond being strictly handmade, though.  I am not sure how I feel about that right now.

    My aesthetic is mostly about having the white collar working woman look good and feel confident.  From where I sit, achieving that on a larger scale is a pretty darn cool accomplishment to strive for.

Tags: featured zibbeter, Galleria di Giani