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Excellent book review by Robert Blinn of Core77. A great Christmas gift for me the arty fashionista. Get it for only USD23.96 sans shipping charges at Amazon.

Art & Sole is divided into two parts: “Sneakers & Art” and “Art & Sneakers” (I thought four ampersands in one sentence might be a few too many). Despite the palindrome, the titles are pretty self-explanatory.

“Sneakers & Art” showcases collaborations between artists and sneaker manufacturers. Much of the work consists of vivid graphic art applied to the (occasionally literal) canvas of a major brand sneaker, but some of it showcases the very leading edge of industrial design: laser etching, CNC stitching and algorithmic patterns. Both the one-offs and the oxymoronic mass-customization series impress with beautiful photos and succinct and clear explanatory prose for those of us who don’t recognize names of sneaker designer / graffiti artists like Futura 2000, but also of some surprise footwear icons like John Maeda.

The second part, “Sneakers & Art” includes sneaker inspired 2-D art that, while cool, shouldn’t be nearly as interesting to industrial designers as some one off custom jobs like Takara Tomy’s Nike Transformers, fully articulated transformable sneakers. Just as amazing as the content of the book is the fact that Intercity managed to catalog and photograph hundreds of customized sneakers, many of which were produced in extremely limited runs, and all of which appear to be in spotless condition.

For anyone interested in where popular fashion is headed, and where industrial design is likely to follow, Art & Sole represents quite a catalog of possibilities.