Interview with Marco Neroni

We recently came across the creations of Marco Neroni on Instagram, drawn to his work and wild mash-ups of all sorts of footwear we wanted to get an insight into what goes on behind his creations. Below follows our interview with Marco Neroni. 

 

 

1) For those who don't know who you are, please introduce yourself and tells us a bit about your art.

 

I was born 28 years ago in the suburbs of a South-Central Italian city called Latina. Since I was a kid I remember being obsessed with Kicks, I used to play basketball all day and I wearing the same sneakers even at school. I remember I was 9, my favorite player was Kevin Garnett, he was an AND1 player at that time, I do not remember how but I found out where I could buy his Signature Kicks. There was no internet, no Instagram, no nothing yet. It was probably an NBA magazine with ads and store addresses in it. I was like crowdfunding the shoes for my birthday, all my relatives took part in it and in the end, I bought those; it has been like one of the greatest emotions I ever felt as a kid. Looking at that now I must admit It has been one of the Ugliest shoes I have ever worn, I think that I have a sort of perversion for ugly kicks, if you look at my Shoe-Room it's not like a conventional Sneakerhead Room, it's like a Monsters Vault. LoL

Well I was 9 and in 20 years I have done all my best to cultivate my obsession, I have bought multiple pairs of shoes all over the world, I went to college with the aim to design footwear one day and now It has been 7 years since my business card says that I am Sneakers Designer. I have worked for multiple Italian brands and I love more than ever the things I do every day... I am a lucky guy you know

 

2) Whats the concepts behind your creations?

 

To me, it's like a spiritual gym. Many people ask me where I do find ideas since I design shoes all day for a living; It's easy when you design you need to concentrate on many aspects of the project, it's not all about the idea, the creative process it's like 50% of Sneakers Design. You need to consider the environment you are in, all the industrial issues, costing, briefings, sell in and sell outs; lots of things that are part of the business. When I create Concepts it's pure Anarchy, it's something to train my Creativity because I do not want it to be constructed by the business rules that make the sneaker game goes around. Doing Concepts it's like my struggle to keep the 9yrs old Me alive forever.

 

3) How do you choose which sneakers you want to combine?

 

I do not like many things in the sneaker game but the ones I love I am truly obsessed with. I hardly use easy to recognize elements, I want to challenge my self and the guys I show my concepts to find out what's the recipe behind them. Mostly I use kicks I own or I want to buy, lots of trail runners, lots of GTX and Boa Closure System. I use elements that are really part of my visions, I want all my Concepts to be connected somehow, I do not really care about being understood so much because my daily life is about communicating ideas. Even if I use Social Media to post them I am not really Like oriented, I create a sort of Lab portfolio, I prefer receiving like 10 DMs and talk a few minutes about what's behind them with some cool guys I know instead than hundreds of