LX is XL

People wonder what LX is XL means.
It means Lexain is Forty (XL is roman figure for 40) and this was the way I chose to celebrate the milestone. December 17, 2022.

A year or two prior, a few people I knew turned 40 too, some celebrated it as they should, and the big question for me was what is the big deal about being 40?

My adorable wife asked me from the beginning of the year how I wanted to celebrate it and I just told her I’d decide when the time was right. The time came and I just decided that I wanted to be 40 in peace.

Truth be told, I was going through a midlife crisis that year and there was nothing to be up and jumpy about.
One of my major problems was that I cared too much about people’s opinions as I reflected back and prepped for turning 40. That same year, I started a journey of rediscovery and it was liberating. I realised that nobody really cared so I started to pay less attention to people’s opinions of me (I am glad I took that decision).
When a man turns 40, you can’t really change his ways. “A fool at forty they say is a fool forever”.
In my own honest opinion, that man have not done “Think Like A Designer” yet.

I am grateful to God for the things I had achieved before turning 40. Making a Creative Director role of a major agency was a major goal I did set for myself (that is something to be thankful for).

Anyway, I decided to take advantage of one of the best advice I heard in the past decade and it was “Never let a crisis go to waste” so I decided to create an art form with my crisis.

• I created an identity (took me a whole year after trying out several concepts)

• I wrote a piece (spoken word)

• I did a photoshoot as people do but with one aim only

• I created a tech enabled fashion line which I also exhibited at GITEX 2023 in Morocco.

THE IDENTITY

The identity is inspired by the Japanese and Chinese calligraphy.
It was the same concept I used to craft the famous Lexain logo so I just decided to use the same concept to express the theme.

THE POEM

Inhale, exhale
Inhale, exhale
They say life starts at XL
They say a fool at XL is one forever
Pardon me as I reminisce through my foolish moments
It’s been XL years of hard knocks
The last 11 of hard work
A blessing disguised in a curse
This is my thanksgiving
For every gain and every loss

A decade long XXXperiment is come to an end
The treasures in it, I’d keep for life
The residues, stored under pressure archived until the after life
I am grateful to God that I went through it all;
rejection, denial, mistrust, doubt, shame, hate, deceit, backstabbing, betrayal
The rise and the fall
I made mistakes and I failed a couple of times
The friction made a pebble out of a boulder
The polishing will make a marble as I grow older
Here I am, a rose that grew from concrete
Molten gold refined from a black pot under fire and intense heat
This is my comfort zone now in silence
Where I’d rather be till the process is complete
I am better now
I am wiser now
Greyer, with a better sound…of praise
A son of grace, child of mercy
A beacon of hope to a down trodden and
Anyone who makes a whole bread from crumbs starting where they are with what they have
building their life in silence because it is golden

Shout out to the end of an era
And the beginning of another
The shedding of old skin
Letting go of everything that made less sense
A vocation I was never fond of yet devoted to
It made me survive, I ticked many boxes
To God I am submitted to
I discovered who I really was
My purpose is clearly defined
My hair grew longer
My bloodline is now divine
It is almost halftime and it’s time to switch gears
Life hit and I hit, the game ain’t done yet

My mantra is simple:
Play by the rules and serve with good intentions
When the foundations are solid, build yourself a kitchen, make bread on your own terms and stamp your name on your own witty inventions
Have fun with lots of love to give, live life on a daily
You are fine when normal people call you crazy
So, when I inhale, you exhale
When I exhale, you inhale
Life is short no matter how long it is and this is how I choose to celebrate
LX is XL

THE PHOTOSHOOT

The photoshoot was to sell the product. Thanks to my long time great friend Tayo of Belva Phillips.

THE JUICE

This was the core-drive that motivated me to do this project in the first place. The Product.

Interestingly, I had created some NFTs earlier. I used them to create the first t-shirt ever with Augmented Reality artworks which I wore for the photoshoot. Designed and developed by Lexain + Colordtees + Xaine Ingenius
You point your phone at the artwork with Artivive enabled on your phone then the artwork comes alive. This idea took me to Morocco in 2023 to pitch to investors.

The learnings from Marrakech is opening new possibilities and this is just the beginning.

So, yes!
Turning 40 wasn’t bad after all.

OA.

AKN1 (Africa’s 1st of its kind)

BACKGROUND

The AKN1 footwear brand is a brand so dear to me as it is an opportunity for me to unapologetically express my creativity in the most genuine way. It gives me the platform to share my thoughts, stories, and that of many inspiring and beautiful Africans around the world. I have heard many of those stories, many of which had never been told. Africans are bold, creative, outstanding, industrious, and stylish. AKN1 is the brand that would give them that platform to freely express themselves.

CHALLENGE

Nigerian shoemakers and sneaker designers make shoes using existing design patterns creating nothing new. They mostly use African patterned fabrics (Ankara, Kente, Ofi etc) to Africanize existing footwear design patterns. After pursuing a dream career since 2005 to design for Nike and adidas that have not happened yet, I decided to design and work on my own footwear brand. During the heat of the pandemic (2020), I put the learnings I gathered in shoemaking and sneaker design to use. I went on several trips to Mushin (a shoemaking resource market in Lagos, Nigeria) to source for local materials and after several weeks of real work, failing and resilience, I eventually finished this beautifully crafted handmade footwear (prototype).

CONSUMER PERSONA

It is no longer news that these days, Africans are proud to express their culture while they fit in anywhere.
Below is a picture (not real person) of who my target audience is.

CONCEPT & MOODBOARD

In 2017, I became more aware of the importance of a mood board when designing even though I have been using it to design and develop brand identities and advertising campaigns.
Mood boards for footwear helps me see vividly within the context of a theme; the materials to use and the colourway for the footwear. In 2020, I pursued a certificate in Sneakers Essentials Yellowbrick.co / Fashion Institute of Technology and one of my assignments was to design a mood board. I am always inspired by my city, the people, their sense of belongings, their creativity and I intend to push our stories with every craft, piece of work and opportunity I get to express my creativity. So, I themed this Lagos, my city.

With Akanni written as AKN1 (a footwear brand designed by Lexain in collaboration with Xaine Ingenius), I want to tell authentic stories, express ingenious African creativity starting from the Yoruba clan and intend to put it on the feet of every African.

SKETCHES

Every design must start from a sketch and it is better you have as many sketches as possible. Each sketch is supposed to tell a story or express your thoughts at least. Each strokes, each line, each curve is supposed to objectively show function and form. The aim here is to design a super lightweight and comfortable shoe that is aesthetically appealing.

NAMING

I thought of a name and the Oriki (Panegyric) name my late Mom used to call me popped up. "Akanni" which means "The First" (amongst other meanings). The name reminds me so much of my Mom. With Akanni written as AKN1 (a footwear brand designed by Lexain in collaboration with Xaine Ingenius), I am telling authentic stories, express ingenious African creativity starting from the Yoruba clan where I come from and intend to put it on the feet of every African.

BRANDING (RETAIL)

To design a mood board that captures what the ideal retail store for the brand would be like. The store would be a modern one that sells bespoke footwear, customized urban wear, and accessories and I want to use the store to tell authentic African stories in a modern way. I intend to install a Volkswagen iD Buzz within the store to replace the old Volkswagen Transporter called Danfo (which is very synonymous with Lagos and reminds me so much of the past). The store would be built with containers so as to be able to use its outer walls as a canvas for all kinds of art that would change for each season. The furniture is going to be modern and African, with a modern lighting system, and African arts on the walls.

The first AKN1 retail store would be located at Opebi Road, Ikeja (the capital of Lagos in Nigeria). It is a very busy road with great traffic and high footfall. I believe the floor plan is self-explanatory. Some of the furniture and display racks would form the AKN1 logo. I am just excited about this even though it is still a plan.
I saw the Sneaker Con videos and I can't wait to participate in one. If AKN1 is going to be at any event, the booth as shown below is an idea of how the brand's presence would be established from a branding POV.

ADVERTISING

To unveil a brand new product, teasing the audience about what is to come is an approach that works if done well.
I discovered that in shoemaking, the last comes first. Since AKN1 is the First, then it will be nice to tease like below.

In sneaker design as I learnt in FIT-NY, you will have to do an unveiling and unboxing video.
I hope you enjoy.

THE UNBOXING

This video was my unboxing concept. It was shot with a Samsung S10, edited on the phone with the Inshot app and it doesn't look bad for an amateur. Anyway, I became a certified Sneaker designer and shoemaker with this project, hoping to become a professional sometime in the future.

I appreciate the efforts of any team involved in any design process when I started this project, learning all I could from Sneaker Essentials by Yellowbrick.co and Fashion Institute of Technology. The training opened me up to the process involved in designing and manufacturing what we wear. If only you know, you would take good care of your genuine sneakers better.
Below are three more AKN1 sneakers design concepts I submitted during my training.
The first is a running shoe with an adire patterned upper preferably a breathable knit with an embroidered leather heel counter that extends to the quarter panel. The midsole is 3D printed extending to the flex point where it is infused with EVA (Don't know if that is even possible but hey, everything is possible until we try a prototype)
The second is a lifestyle concept which I designed from a tennis court sneaker structure. It would be leather with the adire colour effect. It would have an EVA midsole with a rubber outsole.
The third is a basketball shoe concept I designed for the fun of it. We play basketball but not as much as we play football, run, and hustle.
Which is your favourite AKN1 Concept?

MORE CONCEPTS

I see these type of sneakers on young people's feet these days especially the Alte tribe so I tried my hands on a few concepts. The first 3 are my concepts for adidas. The top left is inspired by my Oriki, the top right and bottom left are inspired by YZY while the bottom right is inspired by my son's love for Spiderman!.

More than 23 years ago, the dream was to design sneakers for Nike and adidas. My first set of designs were rejected by these same sports giants (I actually received a letter from Nike HQ and several emails from Adidas' legal department more than 18yrs ago). I submitted multiple entries to win a spot at Pensole Academy to train professionally as a sneaker designer but it never happened. Then I learned shoemaking locally and my mindset changed forever. I began to look within to appreciate my people, my upbringing, my culture, my environment and I began to see reasons to keep sketching and designing footwear that tell our stories.
AKN1 will compete with nike, air jordan, adidas and yzy.
Keep following this story as they come to life one footwear at a time.

The MIYAGI Experience

Dear intern, management trainee, rookie, young people,
Have you heard of the name Mr. Miyagi?
If you haven’t, then I think this is an opportunity for you to go and see the 1984 first instalment of “The Karate Kid” franchise. It is a classic! A story about Daniel LaRusso (played by Ralph Macchio) who was taught karate by Mr. Miyagi, a Japanese sensei (played by Pat Morita). In the movie, Daniel wanted Mr. Miyagi to teach him karate so bad after several beatings from a bully who knew karate and trained in a well-established dojo. Mr. Miyagi agreed to train him, took him to his place and the first instruction he gave him was to wash and wax the cars in his compound. His instructions were simple and specific.
Wax the car.
Wax on, right hand in circles (clockwise)
Wax off, left hand in circles (anti-clockwise)
Wax on, wax off
Breathe In
Breathe out
What does this have to do with learning karate?

Day 2
Daniel came so excited about learning karate but Mr. Miyagi gave him yet another set of instructions to sand the entire wooden floor he built. The instructions were similar to the first.
Sand the floor
Right circle (anti-clockwise)
Left circle (clockwise)
Breathe In
Breathe Out

Day 3
Mr. Miyagi instructed Daniel to paint the wooden fence in a specific manner.
Paint the fence
Wrist up
Wrist down
Long stroke
Bend the knee
Breathe in
Breathe out
Small board, left hand
Big board, right hand

On the fourth day, Daniel was instructed to paint the whole house, side to side.
He painted the house till late in the night and when he was almost done, Mr. Miyagi told him he missed a spot. Daniel was so furious that he snapped back at Mr. Miyagi. He felt he was been enslaved as against learning karate. He was about to leave in anger when Mr. Miyagi called him and ordered him to demonstrate how to wax the car, sand the floor, paint the fence and paint the house.

Little did Daniel know that those demonstrations were the defensive basics of karate that he needed to learn first.
Please, understand that some of your direct reports, supervisors, superiors, mentors know some things you have no knowledge of. So, when they give you some type of instructions, those instructions might be the basics and foundation you need to build a great career on.

In 2000/2001, I went to learn how to make handmade greeting cards, my bosses would instruct me to paint walls. Fast forward to 2011 when I got my first job as an Art Director, I was instructed to design almanacs, posters, FAs and I did it for a year. Well, the rest is history!

Laying that solid foundation for your career is a hard job and it could come with its frustrations but it is relatively for a short period. This would keep happening in phases as you grow in your career and life from one level to another. Serve faithfully and to the best of your abilities because it is going to payoff someday.

Your dreams are valid!

Image courtesy: Columbia Pictures