After dropping the Nike: Better is Temporary book last month, Nike is releasing new literature that's focused on its substantial collaborative sneaker projects with Virgil Abloh.
Published by TASCHEN, ICONS focuses on Abloh's creative process behind his coveted "The Ten" collection through previously unseen images of various sneaker prototypes. The book also uncovers original text messages between Abloh and Nike designers, and other gems pulled from the Nike design archives. Flipping further into the book are texts by Abloh, Fragment's Hiroshi Fujiwara, writer Troy Patterson, as well as curator and historian Glenn Adamson, who each give their perspective on the collaborative work within fashion and design history.
"The foundation of my practice isn’t nearly the end result — it’s rigor and process of the logic. The archive is the paper trail of those artifacts," says Abloh. "The ICONS book is, in a way, the only revealing lens to understand that the catalog of the 50-plus Nike shoes I have designed are in my mind 'one shoe.' One story."
ICONS will be released in North America via SNKRS and on the Off-White and Canary Yellow websites starting Jan. 22. A wider launch follows Feb. 5 at TASCHEN.com and global select retailers. Prior to the release, Abloh will join host Shaniqwa Jarvis on Jan. 15 in conversation with contributors of the book Adamson and Zak Kyes through a live event on SNKRS.
