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NEW YORK, United States — Ahead of the 2014 World Cup, to be held in Brazil, art director and graphic designer Fausto Fantinuoli — who, as part of OMA, has created videos and lookbooks for Prada — has turned four of Nike's newest shoe designs into full-page, kaleidoscopic collages for a special Brazil-themed issue of niche architecture and design magazine PIN-UP.
The result is a riot of dynamic, multi-hued textures that evoke the country’s natural and manmade landscapes: bright orange mesh-cage football shoes and Air Max sneakers in vibrant turquoise traced with electric green have become swirling mountains of colour and fields of swooshy shapes reminiscent of Brazil’s rich flora and fauna.
PIN-UP founder and creative director Felix Burrichter told BoF: "When we set out to work on a Brazil special for PIN-UP, it was a natural choice to work together on something with Nike, a company synonymous with innovation, design and Brazilian sports, which is such an important part of Brazilian culture."
“Few people have the talent to take something as seemingly banal as a sneaker and turn it into beautiful, visually engaging landscapes – but that's exactly what Fausto Fantinuoli did for the issue,” added Burrichter.
The creative collaboration is the latest example of the cultural fluency of Nike's niche marketing and communications efforts — small, highly targeted initiatives that the company deploys alongside its more visible mass campaigns.
