UCLA alumnus Brian Lim’s EmazingLights inspired by new gloving art
UCLA alum Brian Lim owns two companies that produce rave equipment, such as light gloves.
By Regina Napolitano
Sept. 9, 2013 1:20 a.m.
Every business starts somewhere. Brian Lim’s light show equipment company started in the trunk of his car in an In-N-Out Burger parking lot.
In July 2010, Lim, a UCLA alumnus, started selling light show products and materials for gloving, a dance spawned from raves that uses a pair of gloves with colored LED lights at the fingertips to weave intricate movements and patterns.
Lim’s business grew so much that in December 2010, Lim opened his first retail store in West Covina, Calif. and his company, EmazingLights was born. Today, Lim owns two more retail stores in Milpitas, Calif. and Anaheim, Calif., as well as another company, iHeartRaves, which specializes in rave apparel.
Raves are large parties or festivals where electronic dance music is played either by a DJ or live band, and are often a space for gloving performance.
Both of Lim’s companies were born from his passion for raves and gloving. Lim’s love for raves began his final year at UCLA, when he attended Together As One, a rave in Los Angeles hosted on New Year’s Eve with more than 50,000 attendees.
Lim said that after attending this event, he immersed himself in rave culture.
“Everyone comes together for the love of the music and you see tens of thousands of people moving almost at the same time to the same beat,” Lim said.
Lim discovered gloving when his girlfriend purchased a pair of LED gloves for herself.
After experimenting with the gloves, Lim said he quickly fell in love with gloving. Lim said he also realized there was an opportunity to start a business due to the lack of supply of light products and growing demand for gloving equipment at the time.
“I love gloving because compared to other dances, it’s relatively new, so it’s changing all the time. Even old glovers have to adapt to the changes,” Perez said. “It’s a really welcoming community that doesn’t discriminate based on age, gender, race, or skill level.”
Perez said everyone who works for EmazingLights works diligently to support the gloving community and to have the dance recognized as an art form.
In this pursuit, EmazingLights hosts monthly and annual gloving competitions. BOSS, a monthly gloving competition, takes place on a rotating basis at each of the EmazingLights and iHeartRaves’ stores.
EmazingLight’s annual event, the International Gloving Championship took place last weekend at the Yost Theater in Santa Ana, Calif.. The event featured 300 gloving contestants, 75 judges and thousands of dollars in prizes.
The International Gloving Championship also played host to other LED light show art forms, including LED hula-hoop performances and glow poi, a dance involving glow sticks spun around in geometric patterns.
Although Lim said he thinks the abuse of drugs in rave culture is exaggerated by the media, he said it is important to haveseparate gloving events like the International Gloving Championship to detach the dance fromthe rave scene’s perceived association with drug use.
Lim also said that the gloving events also help his business because they showcase the many talented artists in the gloving community.
EmazingLights also sponsors a gloving club called Ambience at UC Berkeley, UC Irvine and other college campuses.
Andrew Neeld, a fourthyear math and economics student and the president of UCLA’s Electronic Dance Music club, said he is interested in partnering with Lim’s companies.
“Gloving is a huge part of EDM culture,” Neeld said. “At every rave, festival you go to you see people waving around gloves, so gloving would be a great way for us to foster EDM culture.”
Lim said the clubs and events his company sponsors also give glovers a space to express themselves and collaborate because even though gloving was born in the rave scene, many electronic dance music festival promoters, such as Insomniac, no longer allow gloving at their events.
Lim said some promoters banned gloving because they claim the dance is a fire hazard because so many people sit down to watch gloving performances.
“For us, that’s like someone telling you that you can’t dance at a concert,” Lim said.
However, the ban also inspired iHeartRaves to sell stash underwear, underwear with large pockets in it, to sneak gloves past security pat downs.
Lim said his employees’ passion for LED light show performances and raves leads to the innovative products like stash underwear offered by his businesses. Lim said any success his companies experience is because of his worker’s direct involvement in their market.
“We all either rave, listen to electronic dance music or are light show performers, and I think that resonates within our crowd.” Lim said. “They can trust our products because they know that we are the scene.”
