Tom Sachs Is Going Post-Nike Sneaker (EXCLUSIVE)
It's very possible that hardly anyone noticed the small detail that distinguished Tom Sachs' "Bricolage" General Purpose Shoes that released on the NikeCraft website last week. But, as customers start to receive their pairs, they'll notice a small, red, handmade ceramic bead discreetly hanging from the sneaker’s black laces. Anyone purchasing the shoes elsewhere wouldn't receive this little detail.
It might've been easy to miss but that small red bead has huge implications. It's more than a neat collectible — it's a miniature work of art, a tiny human touch on a mass-produced object, and representative of the future of Tom Sachs' Nike project.
“A bead is a symbol of bricolage. A bead is a sculpture,” said Sachs, who has subtly included handmade ceramic beads (and similar shapes) throughout his decades-long practice.
"I’ve been making beads in the studio forever," the artist continued, citing the Governor's Island activation for 2017's Mars Yard 2 launch and the Nikecraft Down shorts, where a little bead dangled from the belt buckle. "I use them in my sculpture, I use them as pull chains to turn on a lamp, as zipper pulls on jackets and fanny packs and I’ve attached them to AirPods and key chains to make them easier to find.”
And, to be clear, despite these little red beads being quite tiny, they're as considered as any of Sachs' large-scale products. They're all handmade in his New York studio, for instance.
This marks a new frontier for Sachs' Nike partnership, which was previously defined primarily by space-age sneakers (of which an original pair resells for over $10,000) mixed in with multipurpose gear inspired by NASA designs and survival clothes.
That's partially because these aren't just Nike x Tom Sachs beads. Their red ceramic outer is stamped with Sachs' name and the logo of ISRU, the pandemic-wrought social-media initiative Sachs began in 2020 and has since grown into a makeshift summer school complete with its own app. Nike I.S.R.U. participants complete assignments designed to combat doomscrolling, from reading before bed to tying knots to learning photography.
And when you complete an ISRU semester, you get access to exclusive Nike x Tom Sachs goods. Although, as the I.S.R.U website points out: “If you are here for stuff, you are here for the wrong reasons.” The journey is the destination, the "things" are merely part of the ride. Not that they aren't important of course but they're symbolic, like a scout troop patch.
“The beads follow the same rules as the rest of my work,” Sachs said. “A sculpture can be an inch high, like a bead, or it can fill an entire exhibition space. But for it to matter, you need to see evidence that the artist was there. Each bead has its own identity as a sculpture.”
The beads are also available as a standalone purchase on April 14 for $19.99 via the NikeCraft website. And, at an April 24 exhibit at Salon 94, a special activation will offer ISRU participants the opportunity to buy an ISRU ID card (Sachs will not be at attendance, mind you).
This marks a new era for Tom Sachs' Nike collaboration, one that goes beyond the sneakers that've made it a household name among a certain sect of sneaker collectors.
Sachs' plan, as he says, is to leverage this Nike-backed ISRU project into a bigger-picture carrot and stick situation, or really a carrot and additional carrot situation. Come for the sneakers, stay for the self-improvement — Or as Sachs calls it, "conceptual art" that everyone can do.
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