London industrial designer Tej Chauhan's latest projects include a car tyre imprinted with the Nike swoosh and a smart speaker phone that links up with Amazon Alexa.
Chauhan created the Nike tyre in response to a brief from luxury car manufacturer Lexus and advertising agency TeamOne. It asked him to put an artistic spin on a set of tyres for Lexus' first crossover vehicle, the 2019 UX.
Called Sole of the UX, the result was formed as a collaboration between Chauhan, Lexus, and Los Angeles streetwear and athleisure designer John Elliot.
Chauhan modelled the tyre on John Elliot's Nike Air Force 1 sneaker
Envisioning them as the "footwear" of the car, Chauhan took cues for the tyres from Elliot's NikeLab Air Force 1 sneaker, a white on white, high platform sneaker that features Nike's signature 'swoosh' logo across the sides. "I wanted to combine classic AF1 details and John Elliott's signature elements with our emotive industrial design approach," said Chauhan.
The tyre features different 3D-printed patterns and textures including Nike's swoosh logo
"But as an art project it did also carry serious engineering demands, having to carry the full weight of the new Lexus UX."
The outsole of the Air Force 1 sneaker features a ribbed circular pattern that look like wheels, a design Chauhan loosely applied to the tyre's 3D-printed design.
The tyre's white tread brands the new Lexus UX crossover car
The tyre's tread designs include rubber imprints of the ...