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Rakitecht on Making Things, Working With Central Cee and His Love for the Nike Air Force 1
“Rakitecht came to be in 2019 when I was a failing architecture student,” Rakitecht says. “I just needed an escape. During lockdown I was making a bunch of stuff using social media as a platform to share it. One of the pieces got recognised by Drake, it just boosted everything I was doing at the time. To me that was the green light to just go all in.”
This led the designer to collaborate with Central Cee on his album cover art work with Nike on some grailed projects. “My goal when I started Rakitecht was always to work with a musician,” he says, “Cench is the biggest rapper to ever come out of the UK, so working with him on a bunch of different Nike projects and get the opportunity to even work with Nike has always been a childhood dream.”
What I love about the Air Force 1 is just how versatile it is as a sneaker. It’s like the perfect white tee of streetwear.
His work as senior designer at Central Cee’s brand Syna World has led him to work on multiple Nike collaborations, such as his recent Air Force 1 collabs. “What I love about the Air Force 1 is just how versatile it is as a sneaker,” he says. “It’s like the perfect white tee of streetwear, it’s like the blank canvas for creators to build upon. But, it can also stay simple and it just gets the job done. It’s the everyday shoe for everyone. You can literally throw on a pair of Air Force 1s and take over the world.”
I always wanted to be a maker of things.
But, he’s had some bumps on the road, too. “I feel like there are multiple moments in my career so far where I felt like giving up. My business bank account was hacked – three years of savings were just completely cleared out and I remember just sitting back at my computer like what do i do now? I was just back on square one. And then you realise like everything is just brick by brick and then with the aid of that delusional optimism you just get through it.”
He adds: “I always wanted to be a maker of things. And to get to make things in all these different mediums has been a blessing.”
Rakitecht on Making Things, Working With Central Cee and His Love for the Nike Air Force 1
