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Customization artist Sierato takes ‘exclusive’ to another level with round21

For customization artist Sierato, creating is a must. The Baltimore-based creative and sneaker designer took his talents to the sports lifestyle brand, round21.

Together, they created an exclusive “Rec Set” that dropped on NTWRK of ping-pong paddles and mini basketball hoops that bring art directly into the realm of play.

The renown customization artist sat down with us for a Q&A session detailing the inspiration behind this collaboration with round21 as well as a few gems on keeping the flow of creativity going no matter the circumstances.


Collaboration is key for the customization artist

The partnership between Sierato and round21 is a departure from his normal business. Sierato is known for making custom sneakers for celebrities and star athletes like Ja Morant, Trae Young, and Zion Williamson.

The “Rec Set” steps away from the shoe and instead, focuses on how play can include art. For the customization artist, the collaboration was natural because they both saw the importance of championing new and diverse voices in the space.

“The founder, Jasmine, she champions for creatives and intentionally picking out multicultural people and things of that nature to kind of bring what they do best to the forefront and elevate what they have going on and get it out to the world and to everybody.”


Sierato opens the door for aspiring creatives

One thing that’s important to Sierato is finding a way to put other up and coming creatives on. Much of his passion for helping others comes from not having a clear road to follow himself at the start of his career.

“This is one of the things I wish somebody had done for me…”

“I just decided one day I was going to paint shoes. I saw my guy Marsh out here painting shoes for LeBron and I was like, if he could do that, I could probably do it too,” said Sierato.

It was a leap of faith that worked out and put him in the position to to make other creatives roads easier.

“There’s nobody to help me out. There’s nobody to promote my stuff or get it in front of people that really needed to see it. So now I want to return that and get some new artists some shine and showcase people that are doing dope stuff. “


Creating through hardship

2020 was a down year for everybody, but despite the world’s circumstances, creatives pushed on and did what they do best. For customization artist Sierato, the quarantine period gave him all the time he needed to be creative.

“Being in the house all the time, with not much else going on just kind of really gave me the opportunity to reevaluate what I had going on content-wise. I came up with new show ideas, new sketch ideas, just a lot of new content stuff that we’re going to have rolled out.”

Hope and looking forward to the future also pushed him to create. It’s the backbone of creatives to look forward to a change or positive influence that their art can create.

“I just had something to look forward to.”

That’s the message everyone should take with them. Always have something to look forward to. It pushes us to keep creating and keep going.


Make sure to check out the customization artist and his YouTube for more inspiration

What would Billie Eilish do? 7 times she inspired us to keep it movin’

Billie Eilish has stepped into the limelight in recent years and grown rapidly in terms of fame and wisdom.

She became a known artist quite young and a hugely successful artist shortly after. Her music has often been described as depressing and at other times inspiring.

She’s also been known for “hiding” her body from the outside world, opting for oversized clothing and less revealing fits with ample drip. If only Billie Ellish would reveal her vegan diet…

Recently, she decided to remove some of those layers at the head of her tour in Miami. It was there where she expressed the unfortunate and frustrating scrutiny on her body as a young woman.

The message was lost among the several cheering fans who seemed to focus only on the unzipping of her hoodie and removal of her shirt.

This message of deep introspection and retrospection of Billie’s fame and notoriety is not the first. Billie has often spoken on issues that matter, offered advice to her fans and fellow creatives and stood up to the injustices she’s seen in the industry.

So at KH, we’ve compiled footage from some of her deepest moments on cam, where Billie inspired us to keep it moving.


Billie Eilish on mental health

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Billie emphasizes maintaining happiness as not only a goal but a priority.

On the other side, Billie is open about having struggled with depression. She stands up to the notion that young people cannot be depressed.

Eilish states that whatever you think of her, the idea that anyone could accuse a young person of ‘faking their depression’ is disrespectful. Especially to all the young people who struggle with it every day.

She shows us that depression has no age.


On negativity

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She also acknowledges that one cannot have the good without the bad in any life path. Success is not without its cons and every career has positives and negatives. It’s in recognizing this that we can move forward.

Billie has often received negativity. Haters often comment on her youth, mental health, body or her talent.

She makes it clear that while trolls and negativity are hurtful, criticism can be enlightening. And finding humor in the hate might be more productive.


And on communication

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The important part is to communicate with one another about how we want to be treated. Because if you don’t ask to be treated better, the answer is always no.

But of course, Billie also emphasizes that pleasing others is not the goal. There will always be criticism. But if you like what you’re doing you can guarantee that at least one person is pleased with your work.

She also helps us realize that success is not always based on who you really are but rather how others perceive you. So defining your own success is likely better than any of that.

Billie Eilish doesn’t just share her talent and entertaining personality with us. She shares her wisdom, and thoughtful lessons she’s learned as she’s grown up in the expansive and limiting world of fame.

Kanye is dropping straight gems on Twitter and all creators should take notes

If you’re in the loop, you might know by now, Yeezy is back on Twitter and he’s dropping nonstop gems. After a year-long hiatus from the social media platform, Ye rejoined us all just last weekend, much to our delight.

He’s letting the tweets fly in his usual sporadic rant-like nature but with a bit more consistency. Every time you refresh his account a few more might be on your Twitter feed & the masses are eating it up.

At this point, no one should be surprised. This is what he does:

https://twitter.com/kanyewest/status/986303453763899392

https://twitter.com/kanyewest/status/986302193715294208

https://twitter.com/kanyewest/status/986302131106975749

Today’s rant featured a new development with Kanye as a narrator. In the most unconventional way to reveal a book release, he took to Twitter to announce another project he’s working on.

Channeling his obscure creative genius into a series of tweets, Ye put the world on notice about his philosophy book this AM.

https://twitter.com/kanyewest/status/986625627364077568

Are you not entertained? His account is growing by the millions daily and the engagement per tweet is off the charts. With no release date in sight and the clothing brand seeming to have taken a grasp of most his time, we’re starting to wonder if these tweets are snippets of the author-to-be’s self-help book.

Leave it to one of the wildest creatives of our generation to roll out a book in a way no one could’ve ever imagine. Free knowledge is hard to come by and Ye is spitting nothing but facts, especially for those in the creative space like himself.

https://twitter.com/kanyewest/status/986621201920356352

https://twitter.com/kanyewest/status/986640217904852993

He’s not only focusing on the young creatives though. Mr. West is also offering life advice that almost anyone can apply to their respective lifestyles.

https://twitter.com/kanyewest/status/986629639874297856

At this point, Kanye’s book is already a bestseller and he’s not even selling it. You might want to follow along on Twitter, like ASAP. We never know how long this could last so stay tuned and enjoy the rants while they’re readily available.

We’re getting some very sound advice from someone who’s been Through the Wire.