1. What/Who inspired you to be a sneaker customizer?
I believe it started when I saw NBA players wearing player exclusive sneakers and wanting to have my own. I started with an air brush and some leather dye, and fell in love with it. I didn’t find out about full reconstructions until I saw JBF’s Dunk High ‘Geisha’ customs and they simply blew me away. And meeting the Shoe Surgeon and his amazing team in NYC gave me the skills and confidence to become a sneaker customizer.
2. Which are your favorite top 3 sneakers customized by you? Can you tell us why?
- Air Jordan 1 “Joker” – my first pair will always hold the top spot for obvious reasons. There are so many flaws yet it is the perfect pair. I keep it on display to show my students that people don’t succeed from day one – trust the process and it will take you places.
- Air Jordan 1 “Porter” – I made this pair by upcycling a backpack I haven’t used in years with a pair of shoes that kept making my heel bleed. My daughter was doing a unit on recycling at school and it inspired me to show her one way it can be done. Pretty much all the features from the backpack were used and remain functional on the shoes.
- Air Force 1 “Drip” – the paint drip concept has been used so much that I think everyone is tired of seeing it on another pair of sneakers, but I decided to give it a little twist and use patent leather for the drip effect. It looks like I spilled oil on my shoes and the oil dripped over the soles as well.
3. How do you come up with sneaker customization ideas?
It’s about making connections. Usually I start with a theme/colour scheme and brainstorm a list of related elements. Then I cross reference it with my “cool things I want to try” list and see if anything would work well together. There’s not a lot of space on a pair of shoes so it’s important to get the details right. There’s always an urge to put a lot of details into the design but it can easily go over the top and ruin the whole thing. It’s a balance that I try to find through the shoe-making process, so the final product rarely looks exactly the same as the mock up I did at the beginning.
4. What does StockX mean to you?
Even though most of the time I only keep the soles and remake everything else, it’s important that I’m working with a pair of authentic shoes. I send the shoes back to the client if I find out they’re fake. Besides, it’s not always easy to get the soles of the right colour from retail. (And don’t listen to anyone who tells you they can change the colour of the soles, unless you don’t intend on wearing them.) StockX is a reliable source I can trust and where I get most of my donors from.
5. Tell us about some of your upcoming projects.
It’s not a new project but I’d love to resume my shoe making classes. There’s probably even more satisfaction to teach someone how to make a pair of shoes than making one myself. Everyone who comes through has a genuine interest in the craft and I love sharing what I know. You learn a lot from the process of teaching and that will only help me get better. Space is of a premium in Hong Kong and the sneaker customizer community is still very small, so I rent out my studio to my students so they can continue to hone their skills and set their creativity free.
I also want to try making something other than sneakers, maybe dress shoes or boots. But I have to clear the queue of custom orders before I can indulge.
6. What’s the most overrated? (Anything you don’t like about the sneaker culture, any silhouette, etc)
I think what’s lost is the appreciation for the design and craftsmanship that goes into making a pair of sneakers. Some collabs are very thoughtful while others simply slap a logo on a classic silhouette. And my pet peeve is how some people put their shoes in display boxes (or worse in a storage) and never wear them. I don’t mean you have to treat all your shoes as beaters but they definitely look much better on your feet than on a shelf. Find a special occasion and take your sneakers out for a walk, they last much longer if you wear them.
