Welcome to the Custom Kicks Series Alex!

Tell us about you, what's your background?

I'm 25 years old married and a proud father! Gothenburg Sweden is where I dwell.
Has always been scribbling down stuff with pencils in my hand, since I was a little kid! I started to get serious when I got in to Graff!
Graffiti is like THE biggest drug you can find on planet earth! I was Tagging down walls and trains every night, and lookin for spots to paint in daytime!
So it was a mad hectic period of my life, from which I loved every minute of! And since I failed in my art class (wasn't there much else to do), I owe it a lot!
Since I got my kid on the way and meeting up with my wife I settled down a bit and started doing canvas and installations more frequently!

When did you discover you're passion for sneakers?

Ooh, Kicks has always been a big deal for me! I think I was about 11 years old when mom bought me my first "real" kicks! She got me a pair of Nike Tennis Classics.. With them on my feet nothing could go wrong, so after that it was all about Sneakers!

What inspired the theme "Fresh Combination?"

First of all, I always like a good sneaker to be clean, not too much and not to little from a design aspect!
I wanted to play to my strength, and I'm good at, so I mixed the abstract sense to it, with a strong mix of dirtiness!
I gave the tongues a heavy facelift, as the Puma Basket always looks good "Jailhouse Style" (No laces)
I took the elements from the canvas and put it in to the sneaker and shabang "Fresh Combination"

Have you got anything big planned for 2009?

I've got some exhibitions and a few in store events,
I'll gather up with the British Pride - New Balance. I'm doing an installation for em.
I'll also be spending some time promoting my art series - Kicks Coutore

Is the Kicks Coutore just an online gallery or will you be showing anywhere else?....What's the long term plan?

The Kicks Coutore is only online, but it will be making its way into the galleries in 2009/10.
Will also have an in-store show at a Sneaker store down here in GBG in August.
Don't really think about the future much, I'm always living' in the present.

What keeps you awake at night?

Except my baby girl?! He he, it has to be those Yeezy's I gotta have those Yeezy's!!!!!

Hahha - the joys of parenting - have you got your baby girl her first pair of kicks yet? (If not what will they be)
   Will you customize them for her? 

Foo Shoo!! I bought her a nice pair of pink Chuckies when she was in her mom's stomach.. For now she's hooked up with a pair of black Stan Smith's..
The next pair to pull out will be a pair of all white Air Max to customize for her!

Have you done any other collaborations?

For now no, but as I said I'm teaming up with New Balance this year!!

NB...Nice gig - what you got planned?

I got me a whole bunch of shoes lying here so...
One thing will be a teddy bear made of kicks, and that's not all, so I got my summer all hooked up.

Do you still hook up with your Graffiti crew in Gothenburg....or have they all grown up and doin' the 9-5?

My nearest partner is still doing Graf hardcore down here, and as everybody who ever touched the cans knows -you just can't quit.
So now and then I hook up with the posse, go out and represent, do our thang!

What is the worst job you've ever done?

Every job where the client knows best, they want it exactly as they dreamt!
It will always turn out bad, so I always tell the client to trust me, I'm doing what I do best!

Tell us a secret?

I want more KIDS!!!

What is your most treasured possession?

My sneakers and my Playstation 3, It's always nice to relax with a good game and a cold beer!!

So, your sneaks are you're treasured possessions- how many pairs are you packin...which is the king pair?

Hehe, yeah I wish it would be more but I'm sitting on a sixty-five pair more or less.. The kings are always hard to point out, there's too many good styles.
But if I had to, I would probably say my Reebok Los Angeles by Roland Berry or my New Balance Individual Limited for the Radical Sports store in Sweden!
But now I'm going to hook me up with that Nike Terminator by Swagger, so they will be a crown Jewel!!

Heads up for my artwork and my latest series Kicks Coutore!
www.arlbrandt.blogspot.com