Monorex Recap

The good peeps at Slough Young People’s Centre in conjuction with Sneaker Seeker and Soleheaven held an inspiring sneaker customising workshop, Monorex. Sneaker Freaker were all up on the from the get go, so we decided what better way to spread the knowledge than to have the folks at SYPC give us the full recap on this fantastic venture.

As part of the Sneaker Seeker project, we invited Monorex down to run a workshop designing onto sneakers. Monorex are a creative collective of artists who are well respected for their innovative approach. The Monorex workshop was filled to capacity and had a waiting list as long as a giraffe’s neck.

An incredible range of young people attended the workshop at Slough Young People’s Centre. From fashion conscious teenage girls to guys in their early twenties who study graphic design, the workshop attracted young people from all walks of life and backgrounds. Everyone worked incredibly well together and found common ground in the process of customising sneakers yet they all gained something different from the experience.

The guys from Monorex had some great examples of their own work to show the twenty participants including films from the Reebok trade show to customising a pair of sneakers themselves on the day. The young people were really impressed with the laid back approach of the Monorex boys and saw them as great role models.

Each participant was given their own pair of trainers, hand picked, to create with and the designs ranged from elaborate tagging to Pop Art style designs. The work created was very individualistic and the sneakers reflected what was important to the young people personally. Feedback was extremely positive with 100% of participants wanting to take part in another one in the future. Comments included:

‘It was so much fun. Thanks for the chance to do this’
‘Makes me want to design on trainers I have at home’
‘Flipping cool u heard’

Monorex even held a competition to award the best creations on the day and all of the sneakers will now be put forward into the Sneaker Seeker exhibition for final judgement. The event was deemed ‘an unbelievable opportunity’ by everyone involved in the project and we’re looking forward to the new phase when we’ll be working with Sneakart to create more wicked sneakers for the exhibition.

Thanks go to: Positive Activities for Young People, Slough Borough Council, Dale at Soleheaven and Monorex!