February 6, 2019
Page 9
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Nike designer Marcellus Johnson shows off the “culture collection” bike wrap he created for Black History Month and Portland’s Biketown
bicycle rental service.
Biketown Salute to Black History
First in a year-long
‘culture collection”
A new, striking design that celebrates Black
History Month joined the fleet of Portland’s
Biketown bicycle rental service Friday.
The collage of traditional African fabric de-
signs to reflect the multiple dimensions of the
African diaspora was created by NIKE, Inc.
Color Designer Marcellus Johnson, who also
worked on the color and design elements for Ni-
ke’s Black History Month footwear that debuted
in January.
An alum of Portland’s Pensole Footwear De-
sign Academy and a member of Nike’s Black
Employee and Friends Network, Johnson joined
the company in 2015.
“Design and the arts let us tell our stories in
authentic ways. For this bike wrap, I drew from
Pan-African culture and used methods of print
and collage relative to our journey, in a way that
speaks to how we as a people can reimagine our
future,” said Johnson.
Karol Collymore, a longtime Portland Af-
rican-American leader who is now a senior
manager for Nike’s Global Community Impact
division, called the bike wrap design “an oppor-
tunity to reflect on our city’s creativity and rich
African American culture, and to highlight our
commitment to celebrating a diverse and inclu-
sive Portland.”
The bikes are part of the Culture Collection,
a new series of wraps rolling out across the year
that celebrate some of the communities and cul-
tures that make up the fabric of Portland.
The Nike Black Employee and Friends Net-
work, part of Nike’s employee networks that
collectively are called NikeUnited, led the de-
sign process for the Black History Month wrap.
Future Culture Collection designs will be cre-
ated in collaboration with other Nike employee
networks.
A companion book for Biketown’s celebra-
tion of Black History Month, created by Scout
Books, will include a map of select Portland-ar-
ea, African American-owned businesses located
near Biketown stations, plus images of the Black
History Month bike wrap and a statement by
Johnson.
NIKE, Inc. is the title sponsor for Biketown,
the City of Portland’s bike share system that began
in July 2016 as a means to make Portland a more
physically active, vibrant and innovative city.