Intercity recently commissioned sneaker customiser Alex Nash (aka NashMoney) to create a piece of artwork as part of the Inspired Ingenuity project. To help promote the competition, Intercity commissioned three artists to create a piece of work that takes the everyday and turns it into something special – and as we see sneaker customisation as its own form of Inspired Ingenuity, Nash was an obvious choice as one of those artists.
The brief for the competition, was to take the everyday and turn it into something special. His answer was to transform a pair of all-white Nike Air Force 1’s into a fully functional set of ‘Sneaker Speakers‘.
Alex Nash: “Initially when I thought about this project and its construction I didn’t anticipate how much work would be involved. Here is a list of what had to be done:
1. Dismantle the amp and speakers
2. Meticulously take apart the control panel, switches, nodules and input sockets (checking at each stage to make sure things still worked – and solving any problems)
3. Mark on the sneakers where I was going to cut out the holes for the speaker cones, and then very carefully cut out using a scalpel
4. Gut the inside of the sole unit to fit the amp and mark the outside of the midsole to fit all the volume controls and LED (again making sure all was still working)
5. Mark and cut out the holes for the on/off switch and the audio input/output sockets
6. Design the wooden stands, cut them out, sand, clean, varnish and assemble them
7. Attach the sneakers and run the power cables through the stands
8. Fit the speakers and rig all the wires with a soldering iron and heat seal shrink rubber tubing (of which there were about 30 soldered joints)
9. Make bespoke phono cables, as standard cables are just black
10. Add a small plaque, depicting what does what on the sneaker control panel
This is a simplified list of what had to be done, and when each process is new to you (combined with the fact there is no room for error), you have to take each step very slowly and carefully.”
You can read more about the Sneaker Speakers (together with an interview with Alex) at the Inspired Ingenuity website.