In conversation with: Métaraph

Métaraph, Raffaello Donnaloia, is a multidisciplinary artist whose creative journey weaves through DJing, performing, music production, and jewellery design. Seamlessly blending fashion, music, and performance art, Métaraph’s work is deeply connected to the creative process and the communities that shape them. From crafting patchworks and customising jewellery in their teens, to launching Inaurem and making waves in London’s underground queer scene, Métaraph’s artistic reach continues to grow. Now performing on some of the world’s biggest stages as a non-binary artist, their work remains rooted in storytelling and the fusion of different creative expressions.

We know you’re a creative multitalent..  who is Raffaello Donnaloia as a person?
I’m a Taurus and my friends would describe me as an easy going, grounded person, stubborn sometimes but hard working and generous. When I’m not creating art, I enjoy working out, relaxing in nature, good food and good times with loved ones enjoying life and its beauty. Most of my passions have always been related to arts.

Besides DJing, performing and producing you’re also a jewellery designer! Which came first, music or jewellery? Does it interact with each other at all?
I started my approach to fashion when I was 12 years old, doing patchworks, customising upcycled clothes and creating jewelleries, then around the age of 13 I discovered dance. I’ve trained for 5 years from ballet to hip hop, modern jazz and contemporary dance. Then when I was in london at 21, I started with performance art, in the meantime at 22 I launched my jewellery brand Inaurem, then at 23 I started djing, at 24 co-founded a collective that was creative multidisciplinary rave experience, and at 25 I started producing music and keep going with all the other projects. The point of exploring all those mediums was to intertwine them in the creation of a multidisciplinary experience, so wearing my own garments, whilst djing, whilst performing and curating acts through fashion and performances under a conceptual curation.

Can you tell me about your journey with jewellery design? It seems quite successful!
Since I was a kid I was always interested in recycling old jewelleries and metal scraps in order to recreate them and give a second life to something unused or broken. I used them to create my look for the nights out in London and one day I started creating face jewelleries from metal wires. Club kids from the scene started wearing them so much that I decided to launch the brand. Then from local customers I started reaching out to people all over the world thanks to social media and started collaborating with celebrities, stylists, fashion weeks, music videos, magazines and showrooms. Sadly when corona came, the brand started to decline and right after the corona moment was over, djing picked up so quickly and so intensely that I had to put all my energy into it and wasn’t able to dedicate  time to my other projects.

And what brought you to music?
Music has always been a huge element in my life, growing up as an outcast in a small village in the south of Italy has brought me to feel misunderstood a lot of the time, but music and arts always gave me a sense of being understood and heard. When I started dancing my connection to music got even bigger and united me to the motion and learning how to express through the body movement and music. When I was 18 a friend showed me a software to mix music which got me so excited in discovering a new medium but it was only later when I was 21 I just started learning djing and having my first gigs in London. Only when moved to berlin in 2021 my music career really kicked off, debuting at hor berlin , signing up with Ellen Allien’s label Bpitch and starting touring. 

Your sets combine genres like ‘hardtechno, ambient, neo rave, and psy through hard kicks and sharp percussions, always bundled with longing trance melodies’ – what’s your most recent inspiration been? (artist, song, album, other DJ?
Aphex Twin will always be my main inspiration.

You describe your music as “Fast, ethereal, powerful, melancholic and raw journeys, created through sound,  tearing out the individual inner chaos and transcending it to a higher level of consciousness”. Can you elaborate: why is this important for you and how do you approach this during sets/performances?
For me djing is like witchcraft, the preparation of the set, the selections of the tracks and the elements is something carefully crafted for each journey. It’s like storytelling and I do like to tell stories that have a lot of dynamic plot twist tension and reliefs as the actual journey of life it is. A journey through hardness, softened, aggressiveness, sensitivity, mystery. 

What do you feel sets you apart from other artists? 
My approach to dj comes from a multidisciplinary approach, it’s about the intersection of mediums, as music, movement. and aesthetic creates a stronger impact on the spectator.

You’ve been touring all over the world! What’s your favourite tour-memory?
One of my favourite moments whilst touring was when I went to China last year and got to meet my dad in Shanghai. We never had such a deep connection and he didnt support my arts, but then to finally see him happy and proud of what I made so far, and to see him attending one of my shows while I was there in my full opulence –  feeling his support was an incredible feeling. For context, my dad is about 70 and he has be ever seen me with makeup on stage.

As a nonbinary artist that started in the queer underground scene of London that’s rising to bigger stages now – how does your work interact in the communities you exist within?
I think it is important to bring representation of non binary artists nowadays into bigger spaces that are predominantly heteronormative and also keep being connected to those communities creating platforms and opportunities for others to grow and shine.

What has your biggest accomplishment been so far?
Boilerroom.

What’s your favourite song at the moment?
Spiderwrap – Rose 

Latest guilty pleasure?
Dj Gigola – La batteria 

Lastly, what are you manifesting for the future?
Manifesting to start up my own event series that will create spaces for multimedia experiences combining different artistic mediums. Manifesting to launch my own music label. Manifesting to bring back my jewellery brand Inaurem. Manifesting to start up my fashion line too.