Customizing is hot. Everything can be customized: from pimped cars to retro furniture. This major trend is especially popular in footwear. Customizing your own shoes is a way of stepping out of the crowd, of showing your personality. Just about every sneaker brand has found a way to put street art into their products; rain boots have never been more hip; and there are even customize festivals and exhibitions.
By inviting 150 artists and illustrators to show/create customized shoes the book will appeal not only to sneaker freaks, fashion fetishists, and trend watchers, but also to the graphic design and art audience. The main focus is on the artwork but the text examines the trend and asks: How did it start? What materials do the artists use? There are also tips and tricks on how to create your very own unique shoes.
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MAKI is a small design and illustration studio based in Groningen, The Netherlands, run by Kim Smits and Matthijs Maat. Besides customizing their own sneakers, MAKI work for a variety of clients including magazines and many t-shirt companies around the world.
Product Details
Paperback: 224 pages
Publisher: Laurence King Publishers; First Edition edition (May 15, 2008)
Good book. awesome design & layout. sweet sneakers customized by the routiest of souls. features fouled footwear by Damion Silver, Jeremyville, SKWAK, Kelly D. Williams, Koa, Maki and more. yesss
This book made the 2009 Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers list put out by the American Library Association's YALSA division (Young Adult Library Services Assn). The color photos will inspire you to do something with your sneakers besides wear them. However, that's the limit to what the book offers--fabulous photos by very creative people but no instructions on how you could do the same. Tools, materials, and safety tips would be extremely helpful and make this a stronger book.
The artist value of the book holds its own weight. Contains an ample supply of rich graphics and designs using footwear as the canvas. A book that should rather be found in the art section opposed to the fashion section. Not as much information on the actual hobby of custom sneakers an its imprint on the fashion and sneaker industrial world. Great array of artists, but would much prefer a mini manifesto opposed to a picture description. You will definitely find a photo that will strike your taste in footwear.
