Customization & Kits. Color & Kicks.

Below you can read some of the Q&A from those meet ups:

Angus and Matt

Angus: Tell us about Soho Warriors - how did you form?

Matt: We founded Soho Warriors - as a creative football team in 2010 - Chris and I were bored of Sunday league and were looking for a way to bring creativity into football.  We saw a team in New York, the Chinatown Soccer club, which is a team of illustrators, designers and photographers and we loved what they did. So we contacted them and decided to bring the concept to London.

Angus: And then how did the connection with Avery Dennison come together?  

Matt: We had seen a few Avery Dennison football collaborations - in New York and then with Le Ballon in Paris. We really wanted to do something together and the world cup gave an opening for bigger ideas. As we were sourcing our own kits and looking to source badges we knew it was a good time to get in touch with Nikita.  And from there we worked together to bring those concepts to life.

Angus: Can you tell us about the clubhouse? What was the concept?

Matt: In terms of the concept we wanted a pub and clubhouse feel where people can come and enjoy the game - not a gallery setting. We wanted a really authentic space, inspired by an old football changing room,  combined with a laboratory experience so that there is a real juxtaposition of design, encouraging reactions from people as they enter and explore. We have had lots of great feedback!

Angus: And what was your experience of our Mactac graphic materials and the Avery Dennison range of embellishments?

Matt: The Mactac product has completely transformed the space - that was the initial aim and hard to imagine before it is realised.  The attention to detail is great and the finish is brilliant. In fact you can not really work out how it has been done - it is considered - very impactful and memorable.

And the embellishments are perfect. People are amazed with the quality and detail - when you are in the creative industry people notice that and some of the badges - e.g. silicon people have not seen before -  so it is a discovery.

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Sonny and Nikita

Sonny: Who is your favourite football team?
Nikita: Liverpool.

Sonny: And who is the best Liverpool player?
Nikita: Today it is Mo Salah - but overall it is Stevie G. (Pausing to remember the generation gap - Nikita adds - Steven Gerrard.)

Sonny: Ronaldo or Messi
Nikita: Ronaldo - every day.

Sonny: What is your job? How do you combine football and design?
Nikita: I head up all development for team sports.  Which at the moment is focussed on football. I have a creative background and love football so it is a win win for me!  I get to work with the design teams on the future football embellishments as well as visit many clubs around the world to talk about what is next in football branding.

Sonny: Are any of those teams coming here?
Nikita: We have had visitors from the design teams at Nike, adidas and Mizuno. We have also had visits from Manchester City and Tottenham - the design teams not the football teams! We expect many more throughout the month of the world cup.

Sonny: What did you want to be when you grew up?
Nikita: A designer.  What do you want to be?
Sonny: I want to be a champions league player.  If I don’t get there I will be a premier league player. If I can not be either of those I might be a designer.