Do you know that according to the most famous trend forecaster Li Edelkoort the creatives in the future would be multidisciplinary and the education might become hybrid.
You can start your professional career as a gardener and then get interested in how to make cloths from the plants’ fibre.
Or write music tracks and design sneakers at the same time. That’s exactly what Ilija Nikolic is already doing.
Inspired by concept cars and retro-futurism, this artist creates comfortable shoes for the people like himself – freethinkers who rather set the trends than follow them.
My brother, who’s 9 years older than me was into streetwear, as he played in a rock band and he always had some cool sneakers. They were not made for kids, so I started to draw what I thought would be even cooler sneakers. Also, my best friend’s dad managed a shoe store and we hung out there sometimes. That’s where we learned a lot about footwear and other product as well. Even later as a teenager, my parents couldn’t afford to buy me sneakers I liked, so I drew my own.
I like futuristism of the past, which can generically be called retro-futurism. Architecture, concept cars and other product design from the 70s and the 80s are some of my favourite go-to inspiration sources.
Yes! Just like in music production where you can tell how fresh is the latest sound of the snare or a synth in a particular song, sneakers also have to feel fresh and they should bring innovation. I can draw many parallels between music and design.
Ideally, I like to design for someone who does not follow trends, but is rather a trend setter.
I rather set than follow trends. I feel like I don’t even have to check all the time what’s trending, because I feel I have a strong fashion clock ticking inside me. Still, as a designer I have to be familiar with trends so that I don’t repeat them in a bad way – unintentionally. Sometimes we have to design commercial shoes for various clients.
Earlier this year I started to use Oculus Quest II VR set to create 3D models of shoes in a program called Gravity Sketch. That was the next big thing for me as a designer, after learning Photoshop years ago. I love to design conceptual shoes that are almost impossible to make with contemporary tools. This inspires me to push the limits and think about the future of footwear and advance further as a designer. Metaverse is a space where these concepts can be worn and I am currently working on getting my designs into that space.
Ugly is a relative term. What’s ugly today to one person may be beautiful to someone who’s bored with “standard beauty”. Silhouettes change and “beautiful” will become “ugly”, just like the “ugly” will become “beautiful”. Young people who are involved with the culture will always be the main judges of that.
I am always developing as a designer, regardless of my job position. I would love to have my own brand one day, but I don’t mind working for other brands as long as the product is relevant and brings something new.
