Chioma Nnadi: You're one of the few New York designers who actually was born in New York. And tell me what it was like growing up in Brooklyn. I mean you grew up in Williamsburg. Raul Lopez: Which was called Los Surez, which is the south side of Williamsburg. I mean it was definitely a diamond in the rough. [laughs] It was not a good era to be living in Brooklyn. It was probably top five or 10 in the '80s and '90s deemed one of the worst places to live in. Raul Lopez: But to me it was beautiful. I loved everything about it. We were getting robbed every month, probably. And our- our, we would get, I- I remember coming home and no TV, everything was gone. Like just he sofas. And my dad was the- the super of the building so they hated us. It was like- Raul Lopez: They would spray can our, like, door. I mean this is, like, the graffiti era and it was, like, floor to ceiling graffiti in the building it was just, like, crazy. It looked like an art, now- now it would be, like, an art installation. But we would get home and it'd be like, F the super. And, like-
Raul Lopez: ... I have the kryptonite for his wife. Like, it was, like, crazy. But even though it was this, like, really crazy urban dystopia, I mean that's all I knew. So to me it was really amazing and it was beautiful. And a lot of my inspiration comes from that era. I feel like it built the skin that I have now and the person I am. And I'm very grateful for everything that I saw growing up in this, like, shitty dump. I always sit back and think about it, I mean I was in an Uber coming over here. And I got really emotional because I was just looking out the window and not to sound, like, cliché. And I was like, damn, it's so crazy. Like I'm still in the same apartment I grew up in. Raul Lopez: You know? And to me it's like, all this can come and I've lived a life of, like, any kid would wish to have. You know? And I've been privileged. I scraped myself to the top and I've hustled and bustled. So and, like, going to the bathroom right now I was upstairs. And, um, sorry I'm getting a little emotional. But, like, the guy who was, like, in the bathroom cleaning the windows, he- he was just, like, you make me so proud. You, like, I'm Dominican. And I see how hard you work in your office. He's like, "I didn't know you were Dominican." He was like, "Thank you so much for doing this for us." And I was like, "Thank you." And I was walking down here and I was, at the time I was like, I need to take, like, a- a moment. But I think that's, like, my mission is just we could all do it in this, like, space.
Chioma Nnadi: Yeah. I mean the- the energy at your shows and having seen how hard you worked and how you really lead from your heart and your soul. Chioma Nnadi: And there's something really pure and beautiful about- about that. I recently went to the Harvey Milk school to talk to some of the kids with a friend of yours, James Garland. Raul Lopez: And also designed, like, the accessories and, you know, he was part of the team. It was just, like, us three, you know? But it was just so funny because I used to go there because Shayne would use the Photoshop class and we would use it to make the HBA T-shirts. Raul Lopez: So it was, like, we were going there and then we were, like, get the PDF and then take it to, like, I think it was, like, on Barrack Street. And get the screens burned. And then we would silkscreen in my house on the floor.
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