By Oscar Castillo aka Wreckinkickz
Kicks and Art have always blended together and many artists have used sneakers as a canvas to express themselves or maybe enhance the image of the shoe dedicating hours of work into the pairs and revealing the artistic view.
In Chicago, Sneaker Files Hooked up with St!zo from A.Okay Official and Gurelea arts crew, for an inside look at one of the first boutiques that provides custom sneakers for purchase made by the man himself.
Read the rest after the jump!
St!zo, A DJ/Artist/Web Designer/One of the first Prophets of Jesus/Producer/ Lyricist and A shoe customizer that can customize anything from Dunks to Champion Wal-Mart shoes giving the consumer a true 1 of 1’s limited edition pair.
I Interviewed St!zo on his start of customizing shoes:
I started 2 years ago and I’m an artist outside of the shoe game with graphic design and art direction and I wanted a new canvas to display my artwork and one of my friends who’s a big sneaker head gave me some shoes to customize and I posted them on a bunch of message boards and I got a lot of love and with that decided to make something of it and make more. Now there’s people showing love all over the world and even got some dude from new Zealand who I am customizing shoes for. I’ve also created my own lace locks with my logo on them so you definitely want to check that out.
Style:
Other Customizers that I respect have distinct styles. I like to combine all the fields and I just generate what ever comes to mind so you really don’t know what can come out of the lab. Also, since I’m doing it out of a store it seems more legit and people that come in and purchase get a certificate of authenticity.
Keep a look out for Gurelea Arts.
This year, A.Okay Official and St!zo are going to be holding workshops for people that want to learn the process of customizing shoes.
-Oscar Castillo Aka Wreckinkickz
For questions or more of St!zo’s peep:
Myspace.com/djstizo
Myspace.com/aokayofficial
A.Okay Official
Located at 3270 N. Clark Street,
Chicago, IL 60657 One Block North of Belmont Avenue
