AIR TALK

SNEAKERS - The Nike Air Max 1 [originally released in 1987] is an amazing shoe, yeah it's not our personal favourite, but there's no denying the impact it's had on youth culture, sneaker design and the wallets of teenagers parent's. Whilst talking to a good friend of ours from Nike, he went into the history of the shoe and the origins of the visible 'air bubble'. We thought it was interesting and worth sharing. If you know where the inspiration came from... sorry.

The inspiration to make the air bubble visible came from The Pompidou gallery in Paris [above] designed by Italian starchitect Renzo Piano. The building is famous for the exposed internal piping. All of the functional structural elements of the building are colour-coded: green pipes are plumbing, blue ducts are for climate control, electrical wires are encased in yellow, and circulation elements and devices for safety [e.g., fire extinguishers] are red.

When the idea was proposed to Nike, the designer was almost fired for such a ludicrous piece of sneaker design. Well, lucky for Nike they came to their senses and allowed a great bit of architecture into their running shoes. Lets face it, we all like to see the innards of the things we own. Whether it's taking things apart when they work perfectly well or being fascinated by the crap your Dyson picks up.

joes[a]fiend