GRAF&WU

Street culture embodies the spirit of freedom. It is a culture that emphasizes the importance of confidently expressing yourself. Modern street culture has already broken through many geographic and cultural boundaries and is deeply rooted in today’s youth culture on a global scale. The youth of China have been attempting to find their own voice amidst the endlessly changing trends. Many phenomenal streetwear brands have already emerged from the country, but there are still a lot of misconceptions in China about streetwear with many people believing it is only t-shirts, button downs, hoodies, and so on. Many brands look to transcend the generic designs cluttering the streetwear scene in China and establish a unique brand identity of their very own. GRAF&WU is one of those brands that have successfully done so.

GRAF&WU’s logo is a giraffe, but the “GRAF” in the brand name is actually an acronym that stands for “Generation Represent Artistic Fashion”. This reflects their brand ethos that aspires to have a generation of people using fashion as an artistic medium. The “WU” represents Wuhan, the city that the founder and brand director Graf grew up in. Graf is an illustrator, designer, and 3D modeler who is currently studying at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. The entire concept for GRAF&WU began in 2013 when she was studying in Beijing, and it followed her to the U.S. where it continued to grow as she explored her love affair with hip-hop. It was in San Francisco where GRAF&WU started coming into its own as a brand. As the brand continued to refine their aesthetic and vision, their fanbase in China has grown along with it. Read our interview with Graf below.

Neocha: When did you start GRAF&WU? What inspired you to launch the brand?

Graf: In 2015, the brand was officially registered as a business in China. In the beginning, I noticed certain societal issues on Weibo that I wanted to address. I felt frustrated at my inability to fully articulate my thoughts through words, but at the same time, I enjoyed expressing myself through illustrations. I then realized even if I make a hundred, or a thousand pieces of work, it wouldn’t guarantee that people will look at them. The internet, magazines, and other kinds of print matter are all mediums people use to communicate ideas. I studied fashion design, so I thought perhaps I could use textile and fabric as a medium to express my ideas. Nothing will makes people pay closer attention to your work than if they spend money on it. Also, if someone wore my work and walked around in it, then aren’t my creative concepts being displayed even more effectively? So then I decided to create something basic: t-shirts. That was how the first GRAF t-shirt came to be. From then until now, I’ve lost track of how many I’ve designed.

Neocha: What do you consider to be the distinctive characteristics of the GRAF&WU brand? How did you develop this style?

GRAF: Originality in design. Many of my illustrations and images requires careful observation or understanding of a certain culture to fully comprehend it. In that regard, my customer base is a fairly select group of people. But there are also a large number of people that just like the aesthetic qualities of the images. Most of my designs are closely related to rap music, which is something that I really love. Sometimes I might be feeling the lyrics of a song and I will want to turn it into an image. My focus generally revolves around cultural aspects from the ’80s and ’90s, but my work will also sometimes touch on more recent events.

Neocha: Wuhan is obviously important to you, as can be seen in your deliberate choice to call out the city in your brand name. How do you think Wuhan influences your work?

Graf: To be honest, Wuhan isn’t a huge influence on my work. I just wanted to be constantly reminded about where I came from. Many streetwear brands originated from Chinese cities, but they will force an “LA” or “NY” somewhere in their brand name. When it comes to a person’s creation process, I think it’s important to keep it real. That’s why I included Wuhan into my brand name.

Neocha: What are the concepts behind the brand. What message do you intend to communicate through your brand?

Graf: I often hide slogans in the details of my clothes, such as “Hustle Hard,” “Be Great,” and so on. These can be found on the inside of sleeves and at the bottom of shirts. The concept here is to encourage being persistent and doing everything to the best of your abilities. It’s about pushing your potential to the absolute limit. It’s easy in theory, but hard to actually do. We live in a comfortable world now, and many people think that working eight or nine hours is a hardship. The people that are actually working hard are trying to push themselves and improve themselves every second and every minute. They’re never satisfied. The images on my clothing might just be a fun little cartoon, or just some text, but I intend for these details to become a constant reminder to the wearer. I want to remind them to always be determined and push themselves to do everything to the best of their abilities. This is a big part of street mentality.

Neocha: Does your personal work and your designs for GRAF&WU conflict with one another?

Graf: Some people say it is impossible to turn your hobby into a career, because once a hobby becomes a job then the pressure of work will make you hate it. But this mentality doesn’t apply to me. I love working. I am basically at home creating everyday, or looking for new inspiration in my travels. Even if I am attending some party or event, it will be related to the brand. The majority of my personal artistic creations have turned into products for GRAF&WU and can be found as products. It’s a perfect example of killing two birds with one stone.

Neocha: Can you tell us about the collaboration between GRAF&WU and Vital? Do you plan on working on more collaborative projects in the future?

Graf: Vital is a very talented rapper on the West Coast. He’s collaborated with the likes of Snoop Dogg and Berner. Currently, his label just finished a coast to coast tour in the U.S. and he is preparing to release his brand new album. I am already working closely with his team to start planning out their next tour. GRAF&WU will be designing and supplying all of the products and merchandise for it. Our clothing will also appear on stage during the tour. I am also talking with many other U.S. artists about possible collaboration. These will all be announced on our Weibo or on our online shop in the near future. In China, besides our upcoming Fall/Winter collection, GRAF&WU will also be working with Yo It’s Free between August and October to host a street dance competition. We also plan on working together with Japanese street dancer Kato to release some new products. The street dance competition will make stops in cities all over China. Everyone is welcome to join!

Website: grafwu.com
Instagram: @grafwu
Weibo: GRAF原创品牌
WeChat: GRAFCLOTHING
Taobao: GRAFWU

Contributor: Banny Wang
Images Courtesy of GRAF&WU