It’s my 1st time to share the making process of sneaker customization via my Instagram account.
As the national emblem of China, Panda has always impressed the world with its furry and charmingly naïve appearance. With this idea comes the new customization based on New Balance MT580, blending the panda features into the sneakers. Eyes, nose, ears and arms are made of black leather and the face of white, hand-sewed with black and white linen thread. The piece of panda add-on patch is attached to the back sole with Velcro tape. This customization is the second part of the “Animal Pack” and a brand new attempt into the traditional handcraft techniques as well.
Not for Sale.
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中文：
作为中国特有的“国宝级”动物，猫熊黑白相间毛茸茸憨态可掬的可爱模样深受全世界的喜爱。这次定制的构思即源于此——基于经典的New Balance MT580鞋款，将猫熊与鞋本身融合在一起。分别用黑色的皮料裁切出猫熊的眼睛、鼻子、耳朵和臂膀部分，用白色的皮料裁切出猫熊的脸庞部分，而后以黑色和白色的麻线分别对应进行手工缝制。鞋后跟上白色面”PANDA”以及”ZJ DESIGN Logo”的白色魔术贴与猫熊皮质配件背面的黑色魔术贴使二者之间的连接更加紧密、牢固。这是此次的”动物系列”的第二个版本，在传统手工艺方面进行全新尝试。
The pigeon can be seen in many cities all over the world, it has always impressed with its lovely appearance. With this idea comes the new customization based on New Balance CM1600, blending the pigeon features into the sneakers. Various parts of the pigeon are made of different colors leather, and then hand-sewn with transparent fishing thread. The piece of pigeon add-on patch is attached to the back sole with Velcro tape. This is the 1st part of the “Animal Pack”, also a new attempt into the traditional handcraft techniques.
Not for Sale.
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中文：
在世界上的很多城市都可以看到鸽子的身影，它可爱的样子颇为人们喜爱。这次定制的构思即源于此——基于经典的New Balance CM1600鞋款，将鸽子与鞋本身融合在一起。分别用不同颜色的皮料裁切出鸽子的各个部分，而后以透明鱼线分别进行手工缝制。鞋舌上分别是经烙画并着色的”鴿”字与飞鸽图案，鞋后跟上”PIGEON”以及”ZJ DESIGN Logo”的白色魔术贴与鸽子皮质配件背面的黑色魔术贴使二者之间的连接更加紧密、牢固。这是此次的”动物系列”的第一个版本，在传统手工艺方面进行全新尝试。
According to the Chinese Zodiac, the Year of 2013 is the Year of the Snake. This was originated from the “Gui Si” Year in traditional Chinese Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches Calendar. “Gui” belongs to water in The Five Elements. Thus 2013 is also the year of the Water Snake.
Snake is also called “The Little Dragon” in Mandarin. As a continuation of the “Year of the Dragon”, the “Snake” AF1 was customized using traditional Chinese pyrography, combined with modern laser printing technique. Throughout the vamp is the serpentine pattern decorated by flipping water waves, matching the water waves beside the eyelets. The Chinese character “Snake” on the outside heel matches the pattern formed by Chinese characters “Gui Si” on the inside. Chinese characters “Two Zero” are on the left tongue with “One Three” on the right. On the crystal soles, wave patterns are painted in white, blending in with upper patterns.
Besides Sneaker, the designer has specially customized a cap and a tee as a set. The cap was made using a white New Era 5950 Snapback with lasered leather parts on it, while the T-shirt was printed using the silk screen printing.
For packaging, the case was made by Red Pine wood with mortise and tenon joints. The case has different compartments for shoes, cap and tee respectively. On the lid was the laser print of Chinese character patterns of “Gui Si” and “Snake”. Small pieces of magnet were used for easy opening and closing of the case.
The tags were made by white leather with lasered “Gui Si” and ‘Snake’ patterns as a match to the shoes. A complimentary pair of leather buckles with the ZJ DESIGN logo has made the whole set more complete.
Not for Sale.
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中文：
2013年，是中国蛇年，农历干支纪年的癸巳年，因”癸”五行为水，即水蛇年。
在民间蛇被称为”小龙”，此次的蛇年版本便作为之前创作的龙年版本的延续，依旧将中国传统烙画工艺和西方镭射工艺结合。以蛇纹贯穿鞋身，搭配水波及层层翻转的浪花纹样，与鞋带孔一侧的水纹呼应。在鞋跟外侧的”蛇”字图案，与内侧由”癸巳”拼接的组合字图案相呼应。在鞋舌上分别是”贰零”和”壹叁”。在水晶鞋底上，则以白漆描绘连贯的波浪纹样，与鞋面图案融为一体。
除了鞋之外，这次还特别制作了帽子和T恤。帽子以 New Era 的 5950 Snapback 白色帽款，将有镭射图案的皮革热压在帽上。T恤以丝网工艺印制。
在包装方面，此次木盒选用红松木，采用传统的榫卯工艺制作，除了鞋的空间，还加设放置帽子与T恤的隔层，盒盖内外分别镭射雕刻上”癸巳”和”蛇”的图案。设置于盒盖与盒身的圆形磁铁使木盒开合顺畅。
作为配搭，鞋扣与吊牌选用白色皮革，镭射雕刻”癸巳”和”蛇”的图案，经手工裁切并打磨皮边。额外定制的一对白色 ZJ DESIGN Logo 皮质鞋扣使整个套装更加丰富。
Today, “12-21-2012″, is the Winter Solstice Day. It’s a very important solar terms of the Chinese Lunar calendar, is called “冬至(Dong Zhi)”.
I designed this to commemorate the special day, also due to “The 2012 phenomenon”. The Chinese word “冬至(Winter Solstice)” is composed by the date “12-21-2012″. The Eastern culture and Western culture are combined together at the same time.
12-21-2012 is not the end of the world.
12-21-2012 is just another beginning to the world.
My partner & Chinese local skateboarding photographer BB Zheng who will launch his 1st personal photography exhibition at Youthology Shanghai from December 21 to 29. I took charge the poster design, and tried to describe the word “瘾 Addiction” by hand drawing in the visual part.
Congrats! Cheers!
On Nov. 25th, I finished my 3rd Half Marathon in my home town — Beijing.
2h34m, so cold and heavy polluted air today.
The Mid-Autumn Festival, is a popular lunar harvest festival celebrated by Chinese people since 3,000 years ago. The festival is held on the 15th day of the eighth month in the Chinese Lunar calendar (which is in September or early October in the Gregorian calendar, close to the autumnal equinox). It is one of the most important traditional Chinese holidays both in China mainland and Taiwan.
The inspiration simply comes from the Five Kernel Moon Cake. The classic New Balance sneaker and ZJ DESIGN Logo were composed by separating the crusts and fillings of a moon cake and putting differently colored materials together on a traditional painting scroll.
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中文：
中秋节起源于中国，有着逾3000年历史，是内地与台湾的重要传统节日。每年农历八月十五，阖家团圆，人们聚在一起赏月、吃月饼。
这次创作的灵感很简单地来自月饼中著名的五仁月饼。将月饼的外皮和馅料分离，在传统的画轴上用不同颜色的材料搭配拼成经典的New Balance跑鞋图案和ZJ DESIGN Logo。
