SEVENSTORE
A Retail and community space in Liverpool’s Baltic Triangle.
I worked on the Creative Department; building concepts, productions and overseeing campaigns for Nike, New Balance, adidas and Puma.
I looked after all creative elements from concept to casting, and treatments. I also oversaw the production and post-production processes.
Creative Campaigns
Puma Clyde Pack
By me: Ideation, deck, casting and location scouting, treatment, budget managment and production.
Video by Jake Erland. Shot on a Bolex 16MM
Photography: Chelsea Smith. Shot on Medium Format and digital.
The project also involves an ongoing 12-18 month partnership between Puma and KYSO. A non-profit community youth project.
Feature Copy
The Worker Bee is a humble insect, one powered by a fearless dependability and stalwartly work ethic. It's sensical, then, that this winged creature is the emblem of Manchester: a metropolis built by and for the people. Tenacity is a beating bloodline in the heart of this post-industrial landscape. A diverse melting pot – a buzzing hive of artistic activity – of course, Manchester is no stranger to culture. From the psychedelia of Madchester to the Battle of Britpop, birthing a global movement is all done in a day’s work.
Its southern prong especially, is a thriving creative microcosm. Famous venues like The Reno and its sister club The Nile were local pillars of Jamaican and West Indian culture in the 1970s; Moss Side’s annual Caribbean Carnival has been at the heart of the region for fifty years. Woven into the city’s cultural tapestry, the early sounds of Ska, Reggae and Dub came to define a generation.
For Kemoy Walker, it was a formative adolescence. DJ, host, activist, educator, speaker – he wears many hats. But it was a background in youth work that initially paved his path to pass the torch of knowledge onto the area’s young people. After emigrating from Jamaica in 2002, Walker found solace in south Manchester’s youth clubs. “Living in Moss Side at that time, it was a cultural hub of excellence – Jamaican, Somalian, White British. You could live there and get a degree just for studying culture, because it’s there already and you got a lot from it,” he explains. “I didn’t know what Moss Side was going to be like or what Manchester was going to be like. But coming here and meeting people at the local centres was like a second home,” he continues. "I didn’t feel out of place; I felt like everybody understood me; I felt like I could speak. We all shared that common ground.”
Despite such enriching foundations, Walker noticed substantial barriers to entry for those in his community. “Youth clubs around the UK had to close around 2011 due to cuts. No one knew the future of the centres,” he explains, “so, there was a period where I was more or less on the street with nowhere to go. I realised there was a lot of talented people in the area who sang, rapped, danced, and I thought, ‘could I do something that could get young people to follow suit?’”
In response, he established KYSO in 2012. Open to all aged 11 to 25, the Moss Side based initiative aims to provide a safe space, democratising access to the performing arts. Through the likes of dance, music and DJing classes, KYSO cashes in teenage time wasting for a priceless currency of self-confidence and mentorship. The Worker Bee stands proud as the group’s emblem, where the desire to ‘inspire, nurture and develop’ writes Walker’s manifesto of championing resilience and equal opportunity. Alike to this city, the strength of this collective lies in its celebration of creativity and multiculturalism.
Championing a tightknit philosophy that transcends membership, many choose to stay after leaving the collective, such as 23-year-old Law graduate and KYSO Ambassador Elorm Ashun Ameza. “This has built friendships that extends to become family. That community element is how we build each other up and elevate our confidence,” he says, where he wishes to “work in the community to watch Moss Side grow, by taking people off the streets by helping them gain secondary skills.” Notably, the energy of KYSO’s members is palpable. To the beats of dancehall, standing still seems impossible. Laughter though, seems infectious. “We have a team of characters; we have a vibe. It’s just everyone getting down and showing up. People who come in do so with a smile, and people want to be part of the team,” Walker adds. Although a synergistic group, each boast their own unique set of ambitions – aspiring makers, activists, performers. His mission, then, is merely to amplify pre-existing drive and potential, encouraging both self-pride and community pride for local members. “Before I joined, I didn’t see myself dancing on stages. But now, KYSO opened those doors for me,” shares budding biochemist Allen Odimegwu. It’s a notion that aspiring presenter 19-year-old Maame Addo, also feels. “I want to open more doors for the youth – something that puts them out there and makes them feel the best they can and affirm they can make a good life,” she says.
By honouring the tenacity of those who came before, KYSO has since imbued itself as an indispensable facet of Moss Side’s new artistic dynasty. Originally built in 1901, the nearby NIA Centre has been at the heart of the community for over a century. Nearby, Moss Side’s Millennium Powerhouse was built ninety-nine years later. Both are cultural bastions for the area, with the first cementing that creative spirit has thrived in South Manchester for decades; the latter, signifying the next generation. The Powerhouse “gives life chances and allow people to become the best version of themselves,” Walker explains, which has since become their permanent hub. “I feel like KYSO is that upcoming revolution that our elder’s would talk about in the 70s,” he adds. “We have done something off the back of that – coming together again in the city: that’s our purpose.”
For those who thrive on the energy of the underground, Puma has been the outfitter for movers and shakers for generations. Their seminal Clyde silhouette, whose reputation far outweighs that of its svelte suede body, was first born on US basketball courts in the 1960s and reimagined by hoops legend Walt 'Clyde' Frazier in the early 1970s. In the same decade, aided by soundtracks of mixing and turntables, it quickly uniformed early New York’s early Hip Hop dancers, helping to bring Jamaican sound systems to the world stage. What was born in this era – Brooklyn or Moss Side alike – has arguably fed into the hand of a new seismic cultural resurgence.
“KYSO is 100% a second education,” Walker concludes. “Young people have school, college, university... but here, they learn so many transferable life skills; they’re forever learning.” For this silhouette, this brand and this north-westerly city, a lot has changed over the course of five decades. One thing remains though. There are no legacies without leaders, no culture without people, and no progress without change.
SEVENSTORE would like to thank the members of KYSO, and those at the Millennium Powerhouse and NIA Centre for their involvement with this project.
The Puma Clyde OG is available in-store and online now at SEVENSTORE.
New Balance 2002r: Refine the Future Pack
By Me: Concept, deck building, casting, location scouting, treatment, budget management, post production management.
Video project with photo Editorial and ceramic commission for in-store activation
Feature Copy
One accidental jolt of an arm and a perfect clay pot could be ruined: ceramics are an unpredictable venture. The pressure of a hand, the oscillating of a potter’s wheel, the pliancy of clay; it is a visceral, laborious practise, where a mutual conversation between maker and material is in constant volley.
One of the oldest cities in Europe, Lisbon is a city of ruin and historical marvel. Under the city’s panorama of aging thoroughfares, ceramic tilework called Azulejo – scenic lacquered squares of painted cornflower and ivory – are centuries old reminders of the endurance of urban rebuilding after the city’s earthquake of 1775. Aging scars of cracks and chips adorn Lisbon’s tile laden hub of Neoclassical architecture, bridging centuries of craft for a city famed for its artisanship.
For local ceramicists Duarte Galo, Joana Passos and Caetano de Oliveira, this cadre are united by the responsive intimacy of clay; devotees of a craft treading the fine line between control and unpredictability. Festooned with malleable clay and a formidable army of drying pots, their creative incubators offer a window into Lisbon’s new microcosm of makers. Despite their distinct practises, the artists succumbing to the medium’s fickleness acts as a common mutuality and moreover, the secret to its intoxicating allure.
In the same vein, Wabi-Sabi – a 14th Century Japanese design principle – derives from respecting the imperfect. Championing permanence over trend and wisdom with age, momentary scars of fragility – a cracked pot, fraying fibres, misshapen clay – become the ultimate symbol of nobility.
Distancing itself from ephemerality, the New Balance 2002R ‘Refined Future Pack’ sits at this projects’ nexus, embracing the lasting beauty that comes with aged physicality. The revered silhouette, a model creator Yue Wu confesses was accidental, stands as a “precedent to encourage people to wear,” at a time when arguably hype has hushed the culture and ‘box fresh’ has silenced the utility. The 2002R muse is a wearer of function; albeit a well-dressed one, who appreciates a wearable product with intention. Crafted from stacked shavings of rich suede, shades of Mirage Grey, Arctic Grey Purple and Lilac Chalk sit atop an exposed body of mesh and leather anchored on a signature N-ERGY midsole. Imbued with embracing purpose, choose any destination and this ‘Made in Japan’ design celebrates the beauties of the threadbare.
With the Portuguese being the first Europeans to reach Japan in 1543, there is a deep-rooted diplomatic relationship between Japan and Portugal. Whether channelling Wabi-Sabi through ceramics, dress or morality, SEVENSTORE travels to Lisbon to explore Wabi-Sabi and the 2002R ‘Refined Future Pack’s' spurring of beauty in impermanence. In response, this trio of ceramicists have each produced a commission to the theme of portraying the grace of imperfection. Because, as Wu admits, “it’s just a shoe – you can wear them, and you should:” A sneaker, or a pot, or a story, showing the signs of a life well lived.
Read feature here.
Nike Air Max 97 OG ‘SILVER BULLET’
Nike Air Max 97 OG 'Silver Bullet:' When Time is the Propellor of a Legacy
Graphics: STUDIO ACCI and Existential Pleasures
Me: Concept, deck building, casting, location scouting, treatment, budget management, post production management.
Digital Editorial
Feature Copy
The artists view sees things most cannot. Opportunity in the derelict, life in the mundane. Often a misunderstood perspective, genius may sometimes be mistaken for absurdity. Vogue’s Anna Wintour was once fired as a Stylist; Microsoft’s Bill Gates was a university dropout; Steve Jobs was once fired from Apple. Technological and creative advancements – a feared, alien realm by some – is a welcomed friend for inventive thinkers, noting innovation as the key to progress.
A quarter century ago, marrying technology with design thinking was primitive. Arguably, alike to the attitudes that first saw it. “The Internet? Bah!” Newsweek once said in 1995, chiming that “no computer network will change the way the government works,” and the internet would never be a competent source of learning. It’s not necessarily a naïve view – seemingly no one could predict the ascension of progressive technological and artistic worlds over recent decades.
Akin to this move from stretched canvas to computer screen, mediums are morphing. Stories once emerging from paper shift to pixels. Amid the rush of a production line, considered design is an old friend. With this, aims to reshape the future of the current creative scape are ingredients to a transgressive recipe. One, that has birthed a tenacious spirit for a young cohort navigating the repercussions of seismic generational shifts in recent years. Here, there is an arguable theme of underestimation – a now globally dominating medium that was once misjudged; a generation that is rejecting tradition. Away from the physical world, the digitally welcoming ether and those who operate within it now hold the weight of the next 25 years of the UK’s creative landscape.
A quarter century ago, along with the first Tamagotchi and edition of ‘Grand Theft Auto,’ Nike's Christian Tresser’s first silhouette saw its debut. The curvature of the signature Swoosh, alike to that of the svelte body of Tresser’s Air Max 97, are indelible marks. It was ‘the first’ in more ways than one – the first Air Max model to be foamless, to boast a hidden lacing system, and the first sneaker to grace fashion week runways. From Milanese gabber halls to Armani catwalks, the model has acted as a connecting bridge between the worlds of heritage and futuristic design. Rippling water – smooth, flowing – with its capillary waves, proved the silhouette’s inspiration.
The original colourway released in 1997, the ‘Silver Bullet’ silhouette has swiftly careened through small-town subcultures and global streets with elasticity, a radical silhouette that has lived on in the Air Max dynasty. Scarlet accents and lacquered branding offer a futuristic nod, accented with kinetic chrome leather ribbons. Sitting atop a full Air Max sole unit, Tresser’s “metal on metal finishes like aluminium and polished titanium,” brand the model limitless; his creation finds time not a challenge, but the propeller of a legacy.
Here, Manchester, the city of ‘Cottonopolis’ whose history is rooted in the industrial age, acts as a hub looking forward to the UK’s fruitful creative future. Toasting the ‘Silver Bullet’s’ quarter century reshaping sneaker culture, a quartet of the UK’s new wave of creators – CGI artist Belle Docherty, NFT artist Numan Khan and Designer’s Jared Knight and Edd Powell – decipher the 25-year legacy of the ‘Silver Bullet,’ following the trajectory of this city and this silhouette as cultural vanguards. From homegrown talent to makers who have called Glasgow and London home, the spirit of this city – alike to the ‘Silver Bullet’ – is one that has fuelled subcultural movements and embraced change over the last two decades. With Manchester acting as a geographical middle ground, irrespective of medium – like the 97 – these makers have been bolstered by creative communities, as well as the fearlessness that drives them.
In collaboration with Latin-Brazilian agency STUDIO ACCI, digital garments dress these protagonists. Married with environmental accents by Scouse studio Existential Pleasures, this ode to the ‘Silver Bullet’ represents the symbiosis between celebrating new technology and respecting heritage.
“You could see what made the [Air Max] different – what made it work better – and therefore, what made it interesting and more overtly storytelling oriented,” noted Air Max’ original creator, Tinker Hatfield. What better story, then, for the Air Max 97 ‘Silver Bullet’ a quarter century on; One of hope, welcoming the next generation of the UK’s creative scene with open arms.
adidas NMD S1
By Me: Concept, deck building, casting, location scouting, treatment, budget management, post production management.
Video project with accompanying editorial, DJ mix, original score and physical activation.
Feature Copy
To wear adidas is to believe in the power of performance. adidas just believes it shouldn’t be limited to a track or trail. The commuter of today is both the urban wayfarer and mountainous explorer – someone who understands the need for ease amongst the noise of modernity. The adidas NMD – the ‘nomad’ – eschews from the binary of occasion, moving through genre and days with pliancy. Ceaseless suitability for both formal and casual, both sunlight and moon, it is in essence, the shoe for all and any time.
The silhouette’s creator and mastermind behind adidas’ collaborations with Stella McCartney and Yohji Yamamoto, Nic Galway, notes the NMD’s philosophy was centred around combining “the two worlds [of adidas Boost and Originals] and shaking things up,” by taking elements from the adidas Boston, Rising Star and Micropacer models of the mid 1980s. Here, the NMD acts as a conflation of ground-breaking technology with the adidas heritage label – craft in its finest sense.
First launched in New York in 2015, the City That Never Sleeps proved an ideal setting for a silhouette so rooted in flexibility. As such, a city like Manchester has proved a soundtrack to life here is an easily inspired feat. Where nightclubs have shaped these streets, and where generations of music are a thriving lifeline in the city’s blood, its youth have always found refuge to dance after dark. Kai Elcock, a local multi-genre DJ whose sound has taken him from a bedroom in Bolton to the signature tiled booth of HÖR Radio Berlin, crafts synth laced sets that move with a kinetic energy. Under the alias of ‘DJ Drakula,’ an elixir of “melodic electro, Jazz influences, early Detroit house and spacey techno” has shaped Elcock’s “soothing sound” – both behind and away from the decks. He is a humble musician, where easy conversation comes easily at his home in the south of the city.
For an artist so accustomed to instinctual making, Elcock notes the importance of respite as the catalyst for a transgressive track. Exploring nature and “going out hiking or wild camping, and seeing a sunrise or sunset with different pinks, purples, greens, can make me see something which I couldn’t exactly think of myself,” he begins. “Or even walking past industrial equipment on the street that are uniquely designed can influence the tougher side of things.” This harmony – manmade and natural, ethereal with darkness, day with night – are Elcock’s fine-tuned equilibrium, a balance amongst the mental and creative rigour of composing. “When you’re a one-man band, you’re controlling three different keyboards, two drum machines, and a full hardware software,” he explains. “You’ve got to be able to reign into each thing and tune your brain into five different aspects of sound. Mind mapping lots of things and getting that into three or so minutes is a craft” – an attitude that has seeped into an experimental practise.
As such, consideration of craft is a lingua franca for both Elcock and Galway – the desire to look beyond material and envision artisanship. Within the discussion of musical inspirations, a piece of wisdom came from the artist. “I think the best way is to learn something as a craft and focus on it that way I think. The best songs take a craft of someone moulding the sound,” Elcock noted. (Of which, Basic Channel’s ‘Quadrant Dub II,’ is his “absolute favourite tune of all time.”) The shared secret to passion? Seeing the challenge of honing craft not as a daunt, but as the key to unlocking boundless creativity.
With this, alike to the NMD, Elcock’s practise is transitionary. Days spent producing or browsing the shelves of Manchester’s famed Piccadilly Records, feeds a thriving nightly spirit anchored in artistic freedom. “Music is 100% an everyday thing,” he says. “It creates a whole new energy to people, an atmosphere; I feel like music plays a key part in what I’m doing or where I’m at in life – I’ll always focus on that feeling.”
For a lifestyle so accustomed to creativity regardless of hour, the NMD is an apt choice. A Primeknit construction – digitally knitted, moisture repelling – atop a BOOST midsole and textured trefoil outsole offers daylong energy return. “We built the NMD for a lifestyle, rather than a look,” Galway once stated; so, when the office becomes the dancefloor, or an errand becomes a journey, it acts as the loyal exploratory friend – a reliable choice when music and making comes first. In the footwear lexicon, the NMD S1 speaks a clear language: one of reliability, craft and the aid to a lifestyle in motion.
To coincide with the launch of the adidas NMD S1, and capturing the multifaceted nature of his musical style, Elcock toasts to duality – one delicate, and one grittier – with a mix in parallel with the two colourways of the adidas NMD S1. In tandem, SEVENSTORE will be hosting a night of music at the Northern Quarter’s vinyl haven Eastern Bloc, Thursday 15th December from 8pm - 1am. The tri-stripe, the formidable linear mark weighted in an almost centennial history, is celebrated here with a line-up of five of local artists: Elcock, alongside Eastern Bloc residents DJ Kerrie, Means&3rd, Jim Bane and Akaram.
Read feature here.
