As a Chinese designer, I recently handcrafted a set of bespoke Air Force 1, to commemorate the upcoming year. 2012 is the 30th Anniversary of Air Force 1 and the Year of Dragon. Also, it happens that this year I will be turning 30 years old.
The concept was inspired from several ideas: Dragon and Sea from the Chinese tales, the Eight Trigrams and the Five Elements. The techniques used are the Chinese traditional pyrography and the Western laser technique.
The body pattern on the AF1 was handcrafted by the Chinese traditional pyrography, which is one of the intangible cultural heritage in China. The sea wave pattern covers the toe part, meaning everything in the world is from the ocean. The dragon scale pattern (from the Nike Swoosh Logo to the tongue) meets the the dragon dorsal pattern (around the upper) implying that a dragon is hidden inside the sneaker. Both, the combination of “The Eight Trigrams and A, F, 1, Chinese character ‘Thirty’” pattern and the combination of “The Eight Trigrams and Chinese character ‘Dragon’” pattern are crafted on the inside and outside heels. The Five claw of dragon is crafted around the Swoosh on the top of heel. The exclusive is shown from details like the metallic and wooden buckles and the crafted ZJ DESIGN Logo.
The wooden box was made by traditional tenon-and-mortise technique with laser graphics, keeping the magnet piece and the original natural wood texture.
The laser graphic bamboo case for iPhone 4S and a pair of additional custom buckles with ZJ DESIGN Logo makes the whole package even more abundant.
Additional, you can find “The Five Elements” in this Edition: “Metal” — the metallic buckles; “Wood” — the wooden box; “Water” — the sea wave pattern; “Fire” — the pyrography and laser techniques; “Earth” — the magnet.
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中文：
2012年既是Air Force 1的30周年和中国龙年，也是来自中国北京的设计师王志钧30周岁，作为庆祝他特别设计制作了一个手工定制版本Air Force 1套装。
鞋款创作的灵感来源于中国传说中的龙、海洋、八卦、五行、中国传统烙画工艺和西方镭射工艺。
Air Force 1上的图案都采用已经列入”中国非物质文化遗产’的传统烙画工艺制作。鞋头的部分由海浪图案覆盖，寓意世间万物来自海洋；”龙鳞图案”从Nike Swoosh Logo一直延伸到鞋舌，与围绕鞋面的”龙背鳍纹”呼应，象征潜龙行于其中；”八卦”与”A、F、1和卅(三十)”的组合图案在鞋跟的内侧；”八卦”与”龙字”的组合图案在鞋跟的外侧；”金龙之五爪”围绕在鞋后的Swoosh Logo周围；贴合主题的专属金木材质组合鞋扣和ZJ DESIGN Logo从细节上体现了鞋款的特别。
木盒的制作采用传统的榫卯工艺，配以镭射图案，磁铁部分之外完全使用木料雕刻拼接，100％保留了木料的天然质感。作为配搭，镭射有主题图案的竹质iPhone 4S Case以及一对额外定制的ZJ DESIGN Logo鞋扣使整个套装更加丰富。
另外，你可以在这个版本里找到”五行”元素的体现：”金” — 金属鞋扣；”木”— 木盒；”水”— 海浪图案；”火”— 烙画和镭射工艺；”土”— 磁铁。
Special Thanks:
Tony (Nike)
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Sketch.
Design concept.
