Having lent his creative direction to everyone from Kanye West to Lil Uzi Vert, Abloh’s influence has manifested itself in all corners of contemporary youth culture. Most recently, he was approached by Nike to deconstruct some of its most revered sneakers, resulting in ‘The Ten’ collection which has generated worldwide hype with its DIY aesthetic. From court classics like the Jordan 1 to the lightweight, bubble-centric Vapormax, Abloh left his signature mark on Nike’s arsenal of footwear favourites.
Last week, Abloh arrived at the space to give a talk and host a workshop around another Nike icon, the Air Force 1 on its 35th birthday. After chatting with Woody (Sneaker Freaker) about his rise to fame and creative process, we were given a chance to design our own Air Force 1 model. Available to use was a pair of white-on-white Air Force 1s, as well as a multitude of swooshes, straps, stencils, textas, sewing thread and more.
While the white-on-white Air Force 1 is a masterpiece in itself – favoured by everyone from the Roc-A-Fella stable to Nelly – here was our chance to get in touch with our arts and crafts side, on a more unusual canvas. With the assistance of BespokeIND and Lacespace, some attendees used scalpels to remove full panels and tongues from their shoes, while others kept it more reserved with more downplayed, intricate detail. Others simply scribbled on any blank space they could find, which seemed to be a popular and effective approach.
So how did our arts and crafts session go? Let’s just say that designing a shoe is a lot harder than it looks – but who knows, one of us might be up for an official Nike collaboration next.
