"As long as it has the swoosh on it," was the only requirement Sandy Bodecker, Nike's VP of Global Design, asked of Michael Lau as they began work on Nike China Federation BMX Racing Team Kit for the coming Olympics this August in Beijing. The request is almost fitting of Lau; a Hong Kong based designer who is considered by many as a pioneer in the vinyl toy movement which continues to sweep and obsess the masses globally.

The confidence that Bodecker and others inside of Nike expressed of Lau does not come short handed. His work on the BMX Kit is not his first venture with Nike nor with footwear. We only have to look to his work with the SB team on the Woodgrain Dunk collaboration to see how far and to what lengths Lau can stretch the canvas of a Nike shoe.

From talking to Mr. Lau last week in Beijing, just days after the Nike China Federation Uniform Launch, it is clear that he did not take the task of working the full China BMX Kit lightly. "When[I] heard about this project [being developed] especially for the China team uniform... I was a little bit nervous [yet] very happy and very touched," Mr. Lau said through a translator at the Peninsula Hotel in downtown Beijing. Handing the reigns to design the full China BMX Kit (thats top to bottom including footwear, gloves, and the bike's nameplate) to Mr. Lau was important to the Nike BMX team, who wanted to ensure that a Chinese designer was involved in the project.

While growing up in HK, Lau absorbed much of Western culture into his own- including BMX. "BMX is a part of my childhood memories.  I still remember the days  when I was trying to learn freestyle on BMX, realizing that BMX was not just a bike to ride."

This exposure came full circle last week in Beijing during Nike's BMX Celebration, where the China Kit was unveiled. The kit, which features a custom Nike Blazer, encompasses as much of China as it does the 40 year legacy of BMX.   Lau's vision of mixing elements of BMX onto the Blazer seem almost perfect in design.  "I wanted to use the Blazer ... because it was more old school and [I] naturally thought of the name plate at the back of the shoe." Lau points out the Blazer's heel cap shape that almost perfectly mimics a BMX nameplate. "It was a natural connection."

Many other subtle elements in the design of the Blazer continue this mix, including five venting points in the shape of the five stars on the Chinese flag, the leather lace lock made to resemble a BMX top-tube pad,  and the yellow arrowed detail that passes from the foot base across the lower to resemble the dirt tracks where BMX racing occurs. "Everything synced together," states Lau.

But the Blazer is really only the start of the full package. The box looks like a mudbrick carved out from a BMX track. The vinyl figure, done in the Lau’s iconic style features a BMX rider resplendent in the China BMX Kit and helmet. The nameplate, which brings elements of his earlier work, is woodgrain in view and prominently features the "Beijing 08" mark.

Mr. Lau seems pleased that the "spirit" of BMX and China will stand proud on August 8th when the Olympic Games officially open in Beijing.

-- Jeff Carvalho