This past weekend we had the opportunity to attend the Flyknit Collective Workshop 1 at Bowery Stadium. The Flyknit Collective Project is a series of workshops led by designer, artist and educator Jenny Sabin on Lightness, Sustainability, Form-Fitting and the core benefits of the Nike Flyknit. Ben Shaffer, Studio Director at Nike's Innovation Kitchen in Portland, opened up Workshop 1 by sharing the history and inspiration behind Nike's development of Flyknit. Sabin later went on to explain the direct correlation between the ideas that helped create Flyknit and the ways she explores data production from the body to create structures in her own work. Shortly after we were split into groups of two or three people for a relay race around three locations in the city (Union Square, Christopher Street Park, Tompkins Park East Corner) using Nike+ and FuelBands to gather motion data. The data will be used to connect our physical activity to Sabin's Flyknit Collective Project. After the race, we brainstormed different ideas and concepts based on questions presented to us by Sabin and the Nike team. The Workshop closed with refreshments and outlined the next few steps in the project, which will be continued with Workshop 2 in July. Keep it locked on Complex for more information regarding the Flyknit Collective and the official Nike Flyknit launch later this summer.
