This poster series is a personal project inspired after reading 'Shoe Dog' the memoirs of Nike founder Phil Knight. While reading the book I also became really interested in the Interview magazine covers by Andy Warhol as well as works by Dave LaChapelle. Each poster is inspired by a few figure in Nike, and illustrated with my favourite quotes from the book.
Bill Bowerman and naming the Nike Cortez -
“Bowerman liked ‘Aztec,’ in homage to the 1968 Olympics, which were being held in Mexico City. I liked that, too. Fine, Onitsuka said. The Aztec was born. And then Adidas threated to sue. Adidas already had a new shoe named the ‘Azteca Gold.' Bowerman “took off his ball cap, put it on again, rubbed his face. ‘Who was that guy who kicked the shit out of the Aztecs?’ he asked. ‘Cortez,’ I said. He grunted. ‘Okay. Let’s call it the Cortez.’”
The Steve Prefontaine best mile run time coincidence -
"I think of countless Nike offices around the world. At each one, no matter the country, the phone number ends in 6453, which spells out Nike on the keypad. But, by pure chance, from right to left it also spells out Pre's best time in the mile, to the tenth of a second: 3:54.6."
Phil Knight on "The Swoosh" -
Salesman: "And what's THIS?" Knight: "That's a swoosh" Salesman: "The hell's a swoosh?"
Knight: The answer flew out of me: "It's the sound of someone going past you"
