Art Meets Tech In Former Mailbox Designer?s New Textile Project Bulan

Sometimes when life seems too pre-ordained, you drop everything and flee in the opposite direction. That’s what designer Elle Luna did when her picture perfect career at Ideo stopped resonating in the way it once had. Then that’s what she did again shortly after her former startup Mailbox was acquired by Dropbox. She disappeared out of tech and dived into art.�Luna, who has a Master of Fine Arts from Chicago’s Institute of Art, started painting ad nauseum. Canvas after canvas became a solo show. Instagram shots of her work fueled sales. But it wasn’t clear where her former and present life would meet. In a confessional interview a few months ago, she said: “Right now I’m making a giant mess. I’m in that liminal place between where I’ve been and where I’m going, and it’s a little uncomfortable and a little scary, but I’m sticking there until I know�exactly�which direction I’m headed next.” Today, she’s releasing the first of several projects that intersect art with technology. The Bulan Project is an e-commerce platform for textiles. “The phrase I keep coming back to is livable art,” she said. “These are paintings you can also throw in the washing machine.” She’s initially selling a hand-painted cloth that’s a little over 6 feet-by-3 feet with all of the year’s moon phases illustrated on it. For every day of the year, there is a representation of what the moon will look like on that date. “The moon’s phases illustrate the life-death-life cycle,” she said. “There are�the beginnings of things as the moon grows, expands and swells. Then�then reach their full potential, like having a full belly or idea realized.�Then as the moon begins to recede and wane, you see it getting smaller. It’s maturing almost like the end of life. There’s something�also really beautiful about a waning life. It’s almost distilling itself. It’s becoming more seasoned, more rich and more potent. That makes me think about the�beautiful melancholy in the ends of things, when they�reach their natural terminus.” She went on, “The moon is both�constant and�ever-changing. It’s both�steadfast and ephemeral. It’s mysterious, yet erratic.” Luna put together the textile with help from artisans in Bali, who helped perfect a waxing and dyeing process that was chemical free. The idea is to offer a single cloth for every ‘edition’ of the Bulan Project. Luna was inspired by a New York-based store that changes its entire

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