Aaron Hope 
The phrase ‘Nike Air Force 1 Bespoke’ has become synonymous with the pinnacle of personalized sneaker design, but let’s not forget that the word bespoke has its roots in handcrafted high-end fashion. So when Chinese designer Zhijun Wang created an Air Force 1 ’30th Anniversary & Year of the Dragon’ bespoke design, it wasn’t through the NIKEiD process at 21 Mercer or Nike Harajuku, but rather, a personally-directed custom work that expanded to include a premium wooden shoebox and matching iPhone 4 slider case. The theme that unites these accessories with the shoe is the combination of the latest Chinese Zodiac symbol in combination with the AF1’s three decades of dominance, a period that just so happens to correlate perfectly with ZJ’s time on earth. He was inspired by the Eight Trigrams and the Five Elements, and put them to work on a laser-etched design made after traditional Chiense pyrography that goes so far as to vary its touch to imitate a hand burnt surface. The attention to detail here is extraordinary, and you can see for yourself in a series of images awiating your click on the jump below. Let us know how these rank against the best Air Force 1 customs and Bespoke designs we’ve seen here on Sneaker News, and especially how they compare with Nike Sportswear’s own AF1 YOTD.
