Meet Massimiliano Di Lauro | Illustrator and art director

We had the good fortune of connecting with Massimiliano Di Lauro and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Massimiliano, how does your business help the community?
I ask myself this almost every day.
I like to think that helping small brands, local producers, small publishers with an interesting editorial plan, independent festivals, can somehow improve the cultural offering in my area, help people make more conscious choices about what they consume, have a smaller environmental impact, and therefore improve people’s quality of life.
I try, I hope.
And then maybe even simply thinking that people can find joy in hanging one of my works in their home or having one of my books in their libraries is a beautiful thing.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I’m excited by everything I’ve never done before.
I hate repeating myself, it bores me.
I find it lazy and discouraging.
I think one of my greatest qualities is curiosity, an honest, sincere curiosity and I believe that people who work with me can feel this.
I enjoy doing new things, learning, experimenting, not taking refuge in what I already know how to do, but trying to maintain a constructive, design-driven approach.
And if creative work is fun while we’re doing it, I’m convinced that this will be perceived by those who experience the final result.

It hasn’t been easy to keep doing this job over the years.
Some time ago I made a decision: to stay in my own territory, a territory that was very difficult at the time: culturally isolated, far from big brands, agencies, and places where you could truly experience culture.
I gave all of that up in favor of a better work–life balance, but also to be able to choose who to work with and who not to work with.
These are choices that, in a sense, may have penalized certain aspects of my career, but they have allowed me to live more peacefully.

All of this has allowed me to work with people I respect, with true friends, while still reaching major brands, international magazines, and agencies on the other side of the world, and to have creative freedom, an essential aspect of my work.
I’m happy with my winding, zigzagging, non-linear path.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Oh… I absolutely love being a guide in my city and in my region, especially in summer.
I live in Puglia, in southern Italy, in a small seaside town called Trani.
Our area is famous for Romanesque architecture and white stone, and I would start by visiting the wonderful cathedral by the sea, completely white, perched over the water, made up of three churches on three different levels.
Around it are white buildings overlooking a square paved with white stones that shine in the sun, blinding by day and glowing at night under the full moon.
Then we could get lost in the medieval alleys, visit the small churches, the seaside castle, and then head to Castel del Monte, a castle built by Federico II with an octagonal plan, a truly magical place.

In the following days we’d visit nearby cities, including beautiful Bari, Ostuni, the salt flats of Margherita di Savoia, Alberobello, Monopoli, and Polignano a Mare, all stunning places.
And of course, there’s the sea.
Puglia offers a great variety of coastal landscapes. I’d start in the north, in the Gargano area, then move down toward Monopoli and further south to Salento, to the wilder coastlines toward Tricase and Castro Marina on the Adriatic Sea, and Punta Prosciutto and Porto Selvaggio on the Jonio Sea.

The local food is incredible: fish, mussels, fresh vegetables, mozzarella and burrata, olive oil, focaccia.
I love small bars, kiosks, and little trattorias.
In the afternoon, after the beach, a cold beer and some taralli at a small bar in a little square are almost mandatory.
Some evenings we’d grab some focaccia and wine and ride our bikes to the beach to chat and cool off, other nights we might go to a nice seaside venue to listen to a great concert or get invited to the countryside by some friends to enjoy the breeze, listen to music, and drink wine.

Finally, we could head to the Murgia, a hilly area near my city, where some friends of mine organize Secolare, a wonderful and rapidly growing festival featuring non-mainstream music, free camping, free water, and lots of activities like horseback riding, workshops, and excursions (and for which I curate the visual identity).

I think Puglia should pay me for this advertisement.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
This is a wonderful idea!
I completely agree: nothing we do is done alone.
It’s right that each of us takes credit for what we manage to build, but it’s also essential to acknowledge the people who have encouraged and supported us.
And I am surrounded by people who have done this for me.
First of all my parents, who have always encouraged me, publishers who trusted me, people I’ve been lucky enough to collaborate with, such as Martin Dupuis (a great art director, thank you!).
There are so many people I should thank.
But right now I want to thank Lorenzo and Marta from the animation studio La Testuggine.
Almost ten years ago our collaboration began from nothing: they trusted me, they saw in me things that I myself didn’t even know I could do, and this collaboration is still going today, with ever-growing trust and, for me, greater responsibilities.
We are now working on an animated feature film, something that would have been unimaginable for me some time ago.

Website: i have no website

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/massimilianodilauro/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/massimiliano-di-lauro-ba2421168/

Other: my portfolio online:
https://www.behance.net/massimilianodilauro