Design Manchester celebrates stripes, shell toes and Stan Smiths
- Text by Katy Sykes
After a highly successful London showcase in July 2013, Spezial curators Gary Aspden and Mike Chetcuti bring sneaker heads and trainer lovers together to share an even larger collection of Adidas footwear in Manchester.
The Spezial 2014 Exhibition showcases additional collections from a host of local collectors, including Nigel Lawson, Barry Bown, Neil Pestell, Bobby McCarten, Pete Lawton and Alan Hodgkiss.
Considering the region has one of the highest concentrations of Adidas collectors in the world, Manchester is the perfect place to exhibit the archive footwear and quotes from influential aficionados: designers, musicians, collectors and fans – all with a story to tell on the role trainers have played in their lives.
Malcolm Garrett, co-curator of Design Manchester says, “It is fantastic that a company with a lengthy connection to this city, are bringing the Spezial collection to the festival this year. The curator, Gary Aspden, is himself a Northerner and likens this to a homecoming for Adidas.”
Design Manchester is an annual, week long festival of creativity that this year is themed around the science of imagination.
You can find the free Spezial 2014 exhibition at 7 Dale Street in the Northern Quarter until November 2, as part of Design Manchester.
You might like
Gold-tinged togetherness as Londoners flock to Primrose Hill for the solar eclipse
Celestial gathering — Ella Glossop photographs the once in decades event from one the city’s most popular gathering spots, and the community spirit that encapsulated the moment.
Written by: Ella Glossop
Surveying community and resistance in LGBTQ+ nightlife
Sex, Clubs Dissent — A new book collates queer nightlife photography over the past 50 years, and the people who found refuge and safe spaces after dark.
Written by: Miss Rosen
In photos: Electric nights in ’70s Japan
Tokyo–Koza — Keizō Kitajima’s new photobook explores the explosion of party culture of Tokyo and Okinawa during an era of rapid change in the country, as well as its stranger turns.
Written by: Miss Rosen
“Magazines are cultural artefacts”: magCulture’s Jeremy Leslie on the enduring importance of print
We love magazines — Despite the ever creeping digitalisation of the world and culture, physical objects are taking on different, yet vital, roles in culture today. Ella Glossop chats to one of London’s biggest proponents of the art about why we need to support independent publications.
Written by: Ella Glossop
The anti-tourism guides revealing Lisbon’s true, radical heart
We Hate Tourism Tours — The Portuguese capital sees millions of people visit a year, against a backdrop of political turbulence and a housing crisis fuelled by short term holiday lets. Jack Burke meets the crew subverting their city’s perception, while bringing lesser seen stories and monuments to light.
Written by: Jack Burke
Defiance and pride in Chicano Camera Culture
A Photographic History — A new major exhibition surveys Mexican American photography over six decades, platforming Chicano artists at a Chicano museum for the first time.
Written by: Miss Rosen
