Nike local artist collaboration, Sports Direct Cardiff Flagship Store

We love working with Nike, they love to collaborate.

At the heart of our in-store communication for Nike, is the celebration of Cardiff’s unique identity. Our brief was to find the best artists in their respective cities to collaborate with and invite them to celebrate the city, sport, culture, diversity, and inclusion.

To ensure the storytelling was authentic, relatable, and tailored to the local audience, we worked with local artists Will Barras, Hannah Frances aka VOZIE, Hannah Davies, Phil Morgan and Ed Fairburn to provide Nike with a powerful platform to engage shoppers and artfully articulate various facets of the brand.

Will Barras is an acclaimed British artist, illustrator. Will started his artistic career back in Bristol where he moved from his native town to study graphic design. Shortly afterward, he became interested in street art that eventually led to him becoming one of a fresh crop of young artists working within Bristol’s extremely diverse and widely renowned urban art scene.

Will beautifully merges the cities diverse landscape and those that use it to play, enjoy and compete within. The piece is an elegant, fantastical, vibrant blast of energy and visual storytelling, and it’s huge, it spans the high-level atrium bulkhead, A real showstopper.

Hannah Frances aka VOZIE  was born in Cardiff has been painting for ten years, flicking between bold colourful murals and black and white. She also enjoys teaching young children within the arts and runs graffiti and art workshops in youth centres and schools in Wales.

Vozie's piece for Cardiff, is big, bold and confident. It celebrates local artist friends in the art & music industry. These characters show up as dynamic graphic portraits interspersed with glimpses of the city.

Hannah Davies Award winning Illustrator living and working beside the sea side in Swansea. Combining illustration and pattern design, Hannah’s illustrations are compared to a sea of jewels, capturing Water, life and the environment in all its glory. She is fascinated by microscopic patterns and the extraordinary decorative detail that can be portrayed.

Hannah’s piece for Nike Womens, puts her entomological lens on Nike product, treating an array of Nike sneakers and equipment as living creatures, a beautiful play to bring texture, energy and life to the piece. 

Phil Morgan’s  background as both a musician and skateboarder prove to be the strongest inspirations of all, imbuing his art with an authenticity that is instantly recognisable to peers with similar passions.

Phil brings colour, energy and fun to the Nike kids area. Phil's trademark hand people wander between some of Nikes most emotive statements, you can’t help but smile when this art hits you, it connects at every age, and everyone will have a favourite character they’ll relate to.

Ed Fairburn is an English artist whose ability to combine the geography of our facial features with the geography of the earth leads to a startling and compelling synthesis of the two. Fairburn known for his evocative portraits, which produce complex human features from the apparently random patterns found in mundane topographical and astrological maps.

Ed was our first choice to create a piece to celebrate the original ‘Jumpman’ Michael Jordan.

Ed worked into a detailed geographical map of Chicago. Jordan wearing his iconic number 23 vest, positioned over the United Centre Stadium (home of the Chicago Bulls) where he played for a majority of his professional career. The piece occupies top and centre of the grand atrium, towering above the proceedings below, art reflecting life literally. A truly worthy homage to the legend.   

Each artist has created a truly unique piece that really elevates each area in store captivating visitors with engaging and immersive narratives that reflect Nike’s values and resonate with their target audience.

A must see at the new Sports Direct Flagship Store in Cardiff!