Virtual Exhibitions: Stephanie Kane

Having displayed work at the V&A, on Apple's homepage and TATE Modern/TATE Britain, we caught up with Stephanie Kane (SKK), illustrator and sneaker lover from London. We spoke about her recent Nike x Office project, her quirky linear style and how she got to where she is today. If you're a sneaker fan – then you need to check out SKK's work.

Stephanie focusses her work on fashion and sneakers, which shine through, prominent in her pieces. A minimal linear style can be seen through all of SKK's works, with bursts of colour taking over sections while neutral hues contrast alongside.

A strong self reflection can also be seen throughout the work, in an autobiographical style. Stephanie is inspired by day-to-day life and occurrences in her own life. As Stephanie grows as an artist, so does her ever evolving style. Check out her work below with Nike x Office below, alongside some of her personal work.

I've always thought sneaker world and the art world are very similar with their collectors. There's the same sort of hype and decisions that people make, whether they will keep the item perfect in the box/frame or wear them in to the ground/stare at it every day in sight for everyone to see.<br /> With my own style, I love a tailored pant with a pair of sneakers. I like to be comfy and pick things based on the small thought out details. When I found out the Air Max 95s are based on the skeleton I fell in love with them that little bit more.

I work in response to things people have said to me that I find strange or funny. Things such as: "your hair looks like Darth Vaders helmet” or when people follow my name with “female artist”. My work is very autobiographical, I really like looking back on works from the past because they're little reminders of particular moments and usually times that I can laugh at.

Colour is also a massive factor. Majority of the time, it's the reason why I get a massive spur to create a piece of work and get mixing a tasty shade.

I started working with oil paint, which is quite time consuming, but I always finish off all my works with really fast marks made with crayons. Those fast, loose lines have filtered through in to my work to whatever medium I'm using that day. I can't ever imagine being too precious with my work, I find it difficult to keep within the lines as I get too excited about colour and texture!

 <img loading="lazy" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-184056" src="https://cms-cdn.thesolesupplier.co.uk/2018/07/Screen-Shot-2018-07-02-at-16.45.24-1-tsw.jpg" alt="Nike x Office With Illustrator Stephanie Kane" width="1206" height="1302" /> <h3 class="p1">What led you to collaborating with Nike x Office? Did you enjoy the project?</h3> <p>Air Max Month was coming up and I really wanted to do something to celebrate it as Air Max 90s have always been my staple studio trainer. I got in contact with Nike and asked what they thought to the idea. The next day, I got a phone call asking if I wanted to work on the pack with Nike x Office and of course I jumped at it! I'm a massive believer of living by the phrase 'knock and the door will be opened'.

I really loved every part of the project; from the start, to working with the animators at SEEN Displays, to holding a workshop at the end. The workshop was where a group of people got to make their own illustrations, these illustrations are currently being printed onto their own Nike shoe boxes!

I was given the freedom to do what I wanted in response to the brief. I find this is such a key element to enjoying the work being created and to give your strongest outcome.

The pack was based on the word “panache"; which is French for “flamboyance”. I had a photoshoot with the trainers and wanted to recreate the moment when you're surrounded by golden options. I knew I wanted to create this digitally so we could animate some of the images to fly around and for it to be really bright and bold. The SKK logo used in store was my favourite to create and to see as a vinyl for the shelving. I used the three colour options with the laces spelling out SKK which I thought was quite funny.

I have been working on iPad for just over a year so my style and skill is still evolving which is fun. Looking back to the first time I used one to now, I see my work's really come a long way.

The first time I used one was leading up to a performance with Kojey Radical at the TATE Britain. For some reason, when we were invited to create the event, I suggested that I created live illustrations to be projected over Kojey whilst he was doing his set. I'm glad I made that jump, as I have other times, otherwise I wouldn't have been given the opportunities that I've experienced so far (and hopefully ones in the future too!).

I want to try my hand at more materials, so I never get too comfortable with the same medium but still have my work be recognisable as an SKK piece. Whether it be on a sneaker or the side of a house.

I love collaborating with musicians, it's the perfect marriage. Being asked to be an artist for the global Apple campaign “Today at Apple” was an insane experience. We filmed late through the night in the Regent Street store and I had to create live art work on the iPad. This was projected on to their screen 'larger than a double decker bus' in front of the crowd and 3 music artists: Pepstar, Hannah Faith and Anna Straker. I always feel like drawings turn in to dances, your pen moves in time to the BPM.

Let us know what you think in the comments, view the full Nike x Office series here and don't forget to follow Stephanie Kane's Instagram to keep up with and show her some love on her posts. Get in touch if you have a favourite sneaker artist, we'd love to see them! And as always, don't forget to subscribe to our social channels and website for daily sneaker releases, streetwear style guides and news.