About
A design anthology that connects material innovation, cultural moments, and the athlete in motion. Nike: Form Follows Motion is a hardcover exhibition catalog from the Vitra Design Museum that charts five decades of Nike’s design language through artifacts, prototypes, and the research that shaped them. Edited by Mateo Kries and Glenn Adamson, it reads like a deep dive into how performance constraints become aesthetic signatures.
You get the early waffle sole story with Bill Bowerman’s kitchen experiments, original sketches of iconic sneakers, and collaborations with voices like Virgil Abloh and Marc Newson. The curation balances technical R&D with human narratives, including the Tennessee State University Tigerbelles, showing how design and sport intersect with social change. Print quality is high, photography is generous, and the layout favors clean grids and readable interviews over clutter.
As a coffee table piece, it feels substantial without being precious: 352 pages, modern typography, and a consistent visual system that makes flipping through eras intuitive. If you care about how product design evolves from lab testing to street style, this lands squarely in that sweet spot.
