Mars Yard Mastermind Tom Sachs Invites You into His I.S.R.U Studio
Exercising your imagination during isolation is just as important as exercising your body. That’s why have partnered up with long-term collaborator and renowned contemporary artist , helping to unleash creativity by offering unprecedented access to his personal studio. A digital workshop experience dubbed ‘In Situation Resource Utilization (I.S.R.U)’, is the initiative designed to inform and inspire during these challenging times. Become the 13th member of the Tom Sachs studio, as the mastermind educates you on the fundamentals of making and creating!
Creating the next chapter of the ever-evolving NikeCraft initiative, I.S.R.U encourages and enables the community to use their limited at-home resources to explore their own creative potential. Hosted via , the weekly workshops invite you to learn from, and create with, a variety of experts through unprecedented access, guided workshops, and open dialogue. You’ll get to see the studio craft evolve from a product concept engine, to a sustainable and inclusive design studio that’s shaping the future of accessible products.
‘My studio team and I use the principles of I.S.R.U as we adapt to working in our own personal spaces outside the studio. We invite the studio community which includes YOU, to participate, learn with us, and share your projects,’ says Tom.
‘The size of your tool kit doesn’t matter. A bag of pencils will get you just as far as a basement workshop. Evaluate the situation, take inventory of what you have, and get started.’
Echoing Tom's sentiment is Nike Sportswear's Senior Global Communications Director, Tim Yu, who believes the initiative is an extension of Beaverton's overarching ethos.
'Collaboration is an integral aspect of how Nike works daily. Collaboration and helping each other is always important, but it seems now more than ever,' explains Tim.
'In this instance, we are collaborating with one of our long time partners, Tom Sachs. Tom has helped transcend traditional boundaries of sport and movement. We value his creativity and share his passion for pushing the boundaries of design and innovation, while connecting a community through creativity.'
Over the years, it's become clear that the Swoosh know a thing or two about the collaborative process. However, even they've had to adapt to the current ever-changing situation.
'Nike exists to serve the athlete holistically,' says Tim.
'NikeCraft I.S.R.U acts as a creative workout for the mind to compliment the body’s workout. And we believe keeping both the mind and body sharp will help you reach your full potential.'
Over 5 weeks, I.S.R.U has covered the topics of ‘Home Set Up’, ‘Pencil to Paper’, ‘Repurposing’, and ‘Artist as Athlete’, with the latest session on ‘Repair’ recently airing on May 1.
Here’s a recap of what’s been served up so far:
Sharpening Our Tools
In this topic, I.S.R.U shared principles on how to 'sharpen your tools', evaluating home inventory, and discovering new resources hiding in junk drawers. You got to make the most of what you got!
Putting Pencil to Paper
Getting started is always the toughest part, so the studio served up their rituals for breaking through the blank page, focussing on ways to draw solutions to problems as a means to kickstart a new project.
Intro to Bricolage
Adapting to your surroundings is key during times like these, and the studio introduced Bricolage (bri·co·lage - noun): the concept of building or repairing with limited available resources.
Artist as Athletes
According to Tom, 'ritual, routine, and rules are as necessary to navigating the conceptual abyss as they are to being an athlete. Take care of your bodies and make good work.'
With that in mind, I.S.R.U issued the challenge: Do as many push-ups as you can without breaking perfect form, once your arms are nice and fatigued, do a line drawing.
Repair
Failure doesn’t mean defeat! We're not robots, so we're all going to make mistakes. For this topic, the studio embraced the concept of 'repair as an opportunity to make something better', taking an exploded stoneware boombox, and bringing it back to life.
Don't allow social distance to dent your imagination. Let your creativity run free! For more information, keep your eyes glued to Tom's IG feed, or visit.