Technically-inclined UNM linguistics student and artist Chris Clavio fixed a bunch of Columbia University's sound equipment for fun two summers ago. Now he is looking to change the world with his T-shirt company called Azoova, while living it up playing tuba in the UNM marching band. He also plays the tenor sax, ukulele, guitar, piano and bass.
Chris Clavio: We played a Homecoming game Saturday night, the marching band, and it rained the whole game. Not Albuquerque rain, but -
Daily Lobo: Portland rain?
CC: Portland rain. So I got home at 12, and I was pretty tired, but I decided to work. All the sections have their own section T-shirt, and since I started my T-shirt company, I was like, "I'll make our shirts!" So, I stayed up from 12ish to 2:30 designing the shirt for this section.
DL: Wait, which section?
CC: Tubas.
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
DL: Just the tuba section? You were designing shirts for the tuba section until 2:30 a.m.?
CC: Yeah. And that's how my day has been. A very good Sunday. Oh, not to mention, it feels like the first day of fall. It's totally like an old friend saying, "Hey."
DL: What have you been doing with yourself?
CC: Me and my friend Darryl, we played music all through Europe. I play the baritone ukulele, and he plays the viola, which are not only two obscure instruments, but they sound really cool together. Since I've been back, I've written and recorded a good amount of songs.
DL: You like your own stuff?
CC: Yeah. Any artist, your art is your challenge, you know. To like what you do is amazing for an artist, because you're always seeing what's wrong with it. When you come away with something that you like, it says a lot.
DL: What do you like about what you do?
CC: I put a lot of idea into it. I really am fascinated with perception.
There's multiple ways to perceive things. When we think something is good or bad, it's always a result of our past experience or what we're told. With the awareness to see different perspectives, everyone can be happier and at ease. So, in my art, I really love to use double meanings in every way. That's the whole reason I started my T-shirt company, which is called Azoova.
DL: What does that mean?
CC: It means absolutely nothing. I don't like labels because with labels come misconceptions. Like, are you a Democrat or a Republican? Do you like this candidate or this candidate? Like, my answer - that one word - is supposed to define my entire belief system? Are you kidding me? So, the mission statement is to unite the global population of human beings by spreading awareness through art.
DL: That's a really big goal. And you're going to do it with T-shirts?
CC: Yeah, there's actually a project going on that Google is putting on called 10 to the 100th. It's like the pay-it-forward idea. They're asking for submissions for ideas that would be most profoundly changing in the world. You have until Oct. 20th to submit your ideas. They're going to narrow it down to 100 and ask the public to pick the top 10. They're going to invest 100 million dollars in these ideas to help the global population have better lives in some way. I want to submit this idea called Peace Shirt. The idea would be to create one logo or a new design that represented peace for everybody in the world, and Google would print all of these T-shirts, and so you basically have the entire world now with the ability to communicate to anybody else in the world that you have this underlying belief about our humanity. And like with that, be able to go up and approach anybody else. If you see somebody wearing it, you're like, "On some level, I can go talk to them." You eliminate all fear of interaction.
