SpirloSoul always sees the bright side.

The day Keith Bolling Jr. and I spoke was overcast and misty, but the designer saw the bright side. “I always look towards the original light, the sun.” That brightness imbues the artist’s spirit, and SpirloSoul, his brand of polychromatic, hand-dyed clothing.

Clothing as canvas has been a go-to move for Bolling since he was a kid – he remembers picking out his own clothes at Bradlee’s and G. Fox. But his love for color grew deeper while visiting a sibling in the hospital.

“I saw how color played a very intricate part in people’s emotions – how their environment, being in a colorful elevator, rather than being in a tan one, and thought, ‘I’m gonna spread that through everything.’”

Design is about more than color to Bolling.

Look closely at his Instagram (@spirlosoul), and you’ll see God gets some shout-outs; Bolling’s bio reads, “Darkness cannot comprehend light.” I asked him to elaborate. “I was brought up in a religious household. My dad is Nation of Islam and my mom is Christian. I grew up with that duality.” He learned about discipline and joy through them, faith and community – he also learned during this time a lesson that transcends religions: y’all weird.

“I was always told as a child, by one of my uncles, ‘There’s no such thing as normal’.” That’s a lesson for style, too: be yourself. “Nobody does anything the same,” he said. “You just have to find what you do differently, and express yourself. Style is about creating a costume for yourself.”

The gray day we spoke, Bolling, a father of five, was at home. He’d recently left his space at Real Art Ways, where he moved after being in the arcade mall on Manchester’s Main Street. Turns out, the mall was a better fit – there’s little foot traffic at Real Art Ways.

But Bolling, as ever, looks ahead. He’s expanding his offerings with natural indigo, a process he’s studied with Aboubakar Fofana, the preeminent indigo artists of our time. But his main goal: “I want to do things the right way, in the bright natural way.”

Shine on.