For customization artist Sierato, creating is a must. The Baltimore-based creative and sneaker designer took his talents to the sports lifestyle brand, round21.
Together, they created an exclusive “Rec Set” that dropped on NTWRK of ping-pong paddles and mini basketball hoops that bring art directly into the realm of play.
The renown customization artist sat down with us for a Q&A session detailing the inspiration behind this collaboration with round21 as well as a few gems on keeping the flow of creativity going no matter the circumstances.
Collaboration is key for the customization artist
The partnership between Sierato and round21 is a departure from his normal business. Sierato is known for making custom sneakers for celebrities and star athletes like Ja Morant, Trae Young, and Zion Williamson.
The “Rec Set” steps away from the shoe and instead, focuses on how play can include art. For the customization artist, the collaboration was natural because they both saw the importance of championing new and diverse voices in the space.
“The founder, Jasmine, she champions for creatives and intentionally picking out multicultural people and things of that nature to kind of bring what they do best to the forefront and elevate what they have going on and get it out to the world and to everybody.”
Sierato opens the door for aspiring creatives
One thing that’s important to Sierato is finding a way to put other up and coming creatives on. Much of his passion for helping others comes from not having a clear road to follow himself at the start of his career.
“This is one of the things I wish somebody had done for me…”
“I just decided one day I was going to paint shoes. I saw my guy Marsh out here painting shoes for LeBron and I was like, if he could do that, I could probably do it too,” said Sierato.
It was a leap of faith that worked out and put him in the position to to make other creatives roads easier.
“There’s nobody to help me out. There’s nobody to promote my stuff or get it in front of people that really needed to see it. So now I want to return that and get some new artists some shine and showcase people that are doing dope stuff. “
Creating through hardship
2020 was a down year for everybody, but despite the world’s circumstances, creatives pushed on and did what they do best. For customization artist Sierato, the quarantine period gave him all the time he needed to be creative.
“Being in the house all the time, with not much else going on just kind of really gave me the opportunity to reevaluate what I had going on content-wise. I came up with new show ideas, new sketch ideas, just a lot of new content stuff that we’re going to have rolled out.”
Hope and looking forward to the future also pushed him to create. It’s the backbone of creatives to look forward to a change or positive influence that their art can create.
“I just had something to look forward to.”
That’s the message everyone should take with them. Always have something to look forward to. It pushes us to keep creating and keep going.
