Studio Brief 1 - Reflective Practise: Lost Art x Nike SB collaboration

Lost Art x Nike SB collaboration

I have an appreciation for skate board brands and their clothing, I love the designs they come up with and appreciate the culture even though I don't actively take part in it personally. A skate shop that is fairly local to my home town is Lost Art situated in Liverpool city centre. I have visited this store over the years as they stock a range of products that I find aesthetically pleasing from their own graphic T-shirts to larger brands that are otherwise only accessible via the internet. When I heard that they had collaborated with the NIKE SB franchise I was happy that their relatively small shop had been chosen to collaborate with international franchise NIKE SB. I went to the opening launch of this collaboration which was two pairs of custom made nike shoes. There was a really good atmosphere within the shop with live DJ's, press documenting the event, the results of the collaboration displayed all around and a range of nicely branded collateral to tie the launch together.  

Nike SB x Lost Art 'BA' Shoe

Nike SB x Lost Art 'Bruin' Shoe

Dave Mackey, lost art founder describes the direction that they took in creating this collaboration which takes direct influence from the Liverpool skate scene. 

The direction, in terms of design, was old and new. This is the reason why the two silhouettes were chosen. The Bruin for the old and the Project BA for the new. Both coloured up in ways that are suitable for their styles, taking elements from past and present. The docks are mostly derelict now, just moving recycled metal from boat to ship, so the BA takes its colours from the elements that surround them, the water, brick and concrete of the docklands. The Bruin takes its colourway and materials from the guard’s uniforms and the LOR (Liverpool Overhead Railway, a rail system that used to service Liverpool’s iconic docklands. Once known as The Docker’s Umbrella) itself. Black pigskin upper with two woolen swooshes coloured to represent the faded numbers on the front of the trains. The Wool being used is also a nod to the main import to the docks at the time and the term Woolybacks being given to the dockers who unloaded the ships.

As time went on it became more and more apparent to me that the route the old overhead railway line had taken was where we would mostly skate from late 80’s until the present day, where the vast majority of skate spots are, so the route itself has become the final piece that has brought the whole project together and back to skateboarding.

The collatoral adhered well to the concept of the design as well creating continuity across the whole campaign, there were stickers and coasters that followed the design inspiration of the shoe design highlighting the famous Liverpool docklands with the iconic river mersey typeset consistently throughout.  

Other designs featured a simple illustration that combined various elements of the design, the life preserver ring anchoring the text reflects the influence of the docklands whereas the inner illustration denotes the overhead railway which was another main influence within this collaboration. I think this design worked extremely well in highlighting the inspiration behind the design of the collaboration and worked well in branding the event/collaboration to a high standard. 

There was also a zine at the launch even that showed the progression of skateboard culture in Liverpool and highlighted Lost Art's continuing presence amongst the Liverpool and national skate scene. I thought this was a nice touch as it shows how much they have grown over the years and also acts as another milestone in their history.