No Rules, Just Create: Inside Converse and Tyler’s Pre-Show Playground
Last Monday, everyone in Berlin was focused on one thing and one thing only: Tyler, The Creator’s sold-out concert on his CHROMAKOPIA World Tour. But before fans flooded the arena in their best Golf le Fleur fits, Converse and Zalando cooked up the perfect pre-game party to get us all ready for what was basically a playground for music lovers, sneakerheads, and craft-core creatives with charm addictions.
Hosted just a few hours before showtime in the Zalando space right before the Uber Arena, this wasn’t your average pre-concert pop-up. The moment you walked in, you were handed a cassette to pop into one of the old-school radios scattered around the event. Some of them just played an assortment of catchy tunes, but if you were lucky your tape contained a message that you had just won tickets to the Tyler show, or a fresh pair of Chucks. Basically, it was like Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory for sneakerheads and Tyler fans.
In the spirit of Converse’s “Keep Making” slogan, a team of top creators were present at the event in order to trick out custom-made pairs of Chucks in an array of pop-art-inspired looks. On top of that, all party-goers were invited to customize their own Chucks with charms, beads, and other fun add-ons — by the end of the evening, no two pairs looked alike. As the party got into full swing, it felt like the whole crowd got into the “keep making” vibe, and it’s totally possible that they will continue personalizing their Chucks for years to come.
If you were extra lucky (and fast), you could get your pair amped up by Swiss-based designer Le Zeste, who was on hand airbrushing Chucks into one-of-one pieces. The soundtrack for the afternoon came from an all-female lineup with both established DJ’s like VV$, Moneyama and DJ Sukama, as well as giving the space to new talents to play via an open decks raffle created and curated by isla radio, keeping the energy high while everyone was deep in their DIY era. Later that afternoon rapper Okfella jumped on stage for a charged-up pre-concert performance. And, because nothing fuels artistic ambition quite like burgers and chicken and waffles, food and drink were also on hand.
At the heart of it all, Tyler’s message was loud and clear: create, express, do you—even if it’s a little off the beaten path. See more of what went down here.
