Nike Festival of Air

I have always been a fan of the Nike brand, most importantly after I enrolled for my honours studies in Brand Management it was one of the brands I aspired to work for. I think they do brilliant brand strategy, customer retention, and so forth on their brand. Therefore why would I not aspire to be with such?

Anyway, that was about 18 months ago when they asked me the question at school and I have since found my home at a financial services provider that is totally phenomenal and innovative. Right now, there is no other place I would rather be. Anyway, back to Nike...

On the 5th of October me and my friend Nwabisa went to attend the Nike Festival of Air held at the Nike House of Innovation, which was to celebrate the design innovation (and the people behind it) that Nike is so famous for. For starters I was completely excited to have a chance to experience Nike beyond the sneakers I wear. They started us off on a creative design/arts workshop where, true to the fine artist in me, I produced this:

In my team, combined we sort of pulled this off. Do not ask me what it is, I was just happy to be dabbling in a bit of art expression again.

On the street while taking a walk during one of the breaks I was able to snap this one and only graffiti work I noticed:

We also went to Kitcheners and some companions of ours from East London, namely Transkei Republik, were having a young performance there:

And right before the afterparty started, we dashed off to the heart of Joburg CBD to grab some stuff and I snapped the only piece of cityscape I could manage in that little window I was standing in:

And then the party of all small parties started. It was that because all the cool kids who rep the Nike brand were there, bloggers and some other socialites our age. It was quite an interesting event, with me experiencing Dirty Paraffin live for the first time (I totes love these guys) and meeting some of the guys I follow religiously on social networks. What a Jive!

I'm ridin' on my gusheshe gusheshe gusheshe....!!!

Photo's taken with my iPhone

The rest of them did not make it.

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Back to the City '12

Newtown, Johannesburg has long been a favourite area of mine. But this is before all the bustle died down and the place was left dry and quiet. I recently took my sister Alu there on her first visit to Jhb, and I was disappointed. There was nothing I could show her except where things used to be and where they used to happen and trying to paint the atmosphere of the place before to her. I will say though that Newtown might not be dead to all of us, but to me, it has less to offer than it did when I first laid my eyes on it in 2008.

As per all things that wilt away, there are times when the corpse that is Newtown is injected with Life and everything in it springs back into action. One of those is the annual Back to the City hip hop festival. I first attended this in 2010 and I was riding solo. I have always been of the sentiment that I want to share the pleasures of my life and things that interest me with those close to me. I was honoured with the pleasure of attending this years festival with my best friend in the whole wide world. My best friend is the complete opposite of me, and this scene is not something usual, but my best friend was blown away. Particularly enjoyed the break dancing section of it, considering the lack of dancing skills possessed. I on the other hand enjoyed the people, more than the performances. I somehow expected to be blown away by street style, but there was nothing that unusual or extraordinary. Yes the people were dressed best as they could, the problem was my standards.

Newtown was alive! It was bustling! Skater boys rolling up and down the short streets, young kids watching attentively as they tried to identify with the passion, red eyed blunt smokers zoning in and out with lost smiles. So much was happening all at once! Stalls selling the most popular apparel and wanna be designers showcasing their rare pieces. I was intoxicated in a joy that you can only experience when you are amongst creatives. Fun was had, lots and lots of it. I could not stop smiling as I saw faces I had not seen in years. Right now, my heart is content. Unfortunately, I am hungry for more.

Back to the City 2012 in pictures:

mbuso (cloudnine urbanwear) and entourage.

i don't know who these performers were, and honestly they were not that great.

one of the only female break dancers I saw on stage, she had her game face on!

the likes of us, spectators.

the graf work, which happens while the festival is taking place. every year they paint over the previous years artwork. dope is what it is!

one of the fashion (most of them were t-shirts) stalls.

like mother like sun. the kid who stole our hearts while trying to imitate his mums dance moves. we know your destiny boy (:

neo and i

the little bit of street style that i could find, something like it fell out of a story book.

ariel

quaz

hard at work

mbuso

xoxo
StreetSindz