My Journey: From Fine Art to Footwear

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During my time at Chelsea College of Arts, I spent three months working on a hyperrealist drawing that would become a major turning point in my career. In 2017, that piece—a portrait of Conor McGregor—earned me Young Artist of the Year at the National Open Art Awards.

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After graduating, I worked part-time at Niketown London. While I enjoyed being around the culture, I quickly realised I wanted to be creating, not just selling, sneakers. That’s when I began experimenting—customising shoes from my own collection, deconstructing and reshaping them, and painting new designs by hand.

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This passion turned into a portfolio that I sent to over 20 companies—none responded. But I kept going. Eventually, I took a leap and presented my work directly to Nike HQ. That moment changed everything. I was invited to design for Nike’s 2018 London Air Force 1 campaign, where I created digital designs, customised shoes live for thousands of customers, and worked with names like Jorja Smith, Mason Mount, and Phil Foden.

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After that, things really took off. Brands like Adidas, Puma, Converse, and Ellesse started reaching out to collaborate. I ran customisation workshops, worked on creative campaigns, and built a portfolio working with some of the biggest names in footwear.

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In 2019, EA Sports invited me to design the FIFA 20 Volta pitch alongside Anthony Joshua. At the launch party, I customised Adidas Superstars for football legends like Kaká, Callum Hudson-Odoi, and Ian Wright. During a BBC Sport interview, they asked if I’d ever customised football boots. I hadn’t—yet—but that question sparked an idea. I decided to start customising boots for football players, and my first client was Declan Rice.

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In 2022, I was invited to Nike’s Air Max Day event at Chelsea FC, where I customised a pair of Air Max shoes live for the crowd. That same month, I created detailed portraits of Antonio Rüdiger and Malang Sarr. I also teamed up with PUMA to customise limited-edition boots for Usain Bolt and Andriy Shevchenko, raising funds for UNICEF’s Soccer Aid.

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Since then, I’ve had the opportunity to work with some incredible players, designing bespoke boots for names like Kylian Mbappe, Marcus Rashford, Mason Mount, Enzo Fernández and Darwin Nunez—and more recently, for Gigi Donnarumma, Marc Cucurella, Raphinha and Dele Alli. I was even nominated for Best Boot Artist of the Year by FootballBootsYT in 2021.

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But my work isn’t just about footwear. I’ve had the chance to expand my creativity onto different surfaces. I’ve painted cars for Red Bull, customised fragrance bottles for Yves Saint Laurent, and worked with Nike Vision and Ray-Ban on custom glasses cases. I've even worked on custom basketballs for the NBA.

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Looking back, it’s amazing to see how far this journey has taken me—from fine art to the world of sports and design. Every project I take on allows me to push the limits of creativity, whether it’s for a world-class athlete or a unique collector’s item. For me, it’s always about telling a story through the work.

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Follow the journey on my Instagram: @jordan.dawson