ADI DASSLER IS A REAL DIAMOND

SNEAKERS - This year marks the 60th birthday of the Adidas brand founded by Adi Dassler who is the younger brother of Rudolf Dassler, known for founding Puma.

We've managed to get our grubby hands on a really fine selection of Adidas imagery ranging from iconic vintage kicks to some of the very first print advertising campaigns the brand ever created. Head over to our Flickr page to check them out or just click here.

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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.

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IAM1 LOOK BOOK

SNEAKERS - We do tend to get a little over excited when a courier arrives at the studio bearing a package. Even more so when you know you haven't bought anything recently and they're not returning your broken iPhone.

The package in question was the beautifully produced IAM1 look book [limited to a production run of 100]. The look book contains stills from the IAM1 videos and profiles of the IAM1 artists including INSA. Taking a look through the book only reinforced how much we love the tilt-shift technique which is used in the stop-motion videos for the IAM1 campaign. The image above has been created using the techhnique, making the Pompidou Centre look like a model.

We took some pictures of our favourite spreads, they're on our Flickr page, click here to take a peek.

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WHEN NIKE LET THE DOGS OUT

When we got a call from our friends at Nike iD London and they told us they had a pit bull in the studio, we were a little confused. They told us to make sure we popped down to see it for ourselves. So we did and we LOVE it! As the old saying goes, 'a dog is a man's best friend', it's true. The pit bull is part of a two dog set, the other canine can be found at Loveless in Aoyama, Tokyo. If you can pop into the London studio to pet the lovable little creature.

The pit bull was created by Vinti Andrews, an ex fashion student from Central St. Martins. The design school's notable alumni include John Galliano, Giles Deacon and Gareth Pugh to name a few. We’ve got a feeling Vinti Andrews will be one to watch in 09.

Click here to check out our Flickr page for more images of the Pit Bull.

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JOES[A]FIEND X NIKE ID

joes[a]fiend got a call from the Design Consultants at Nike iD London about the new Olympic materials pack which has just dropped, we were asked to pop into the London studio to make a pair of trainers and t-shirt. With an opportunity like this we couldn’t say no!

We played it safe and went for a pair of high-top Dunk’s in the joes[a]fiend corporate colours – red, white and black, although the new Olympic gold material turned us into magpies! We are expecting delivery within the month, when we get them you'll be first to see them.

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NIKE DUNK HIGH PREMIUM 2008 GOLD

It's not often I see a sneaker and think right away that I need to add it to my collection, but when I saw this bad boy I knew it needed to join the space underneath my bed!

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AND SO IT BEGINS...

This is the very first post - expect many more. The blog will be a channel for me to post things that I wish to share with you; whether that be music, art, fashion, design and anything else that is stimulating. Something for everyone I hope.

So here goes...

Dutch designers Freedom of Creation (FOC) have been commissioned by Onitsuka Tiger (of Kill Bill fame) to create a giant illuminated shoe containing a miniature city. The shoe bears a strong resemblance to the Ahibara district in Tokyo which is more commonly known as Electric City.

Electric City, Tokyo

The shoe is one of the coolest pieces of design I have seen in a long time. There is no doubt that we will be seeing much more of FOC in the future.

I hope you enjoyed the first post, I decided to keep it short and sweet.

Check back tomorrow for the latest.

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