John Hoke III, Nike’s chief design officer “A thousand designers is a pretty big concentration,” says Hoke. Williams, though, has had a huge bearing on Nike’s future design thinking: she has given her name to an extensive apprenticeship programme (in which she contributes feedback on students’ final projects) as well as the new building that is the size of 140 tennis courts and brings the core design team together under one roof for the first time in decades. He has also collaborated with luxury brands such as Jacquemus, the late designer Virgil Abloh and artist Tom Sachs. “I am sad, because we’re losing that, but I’m also happy for my friend.”Īcross Hoke’s 30-year tenure at the brand, he’s worked closely with many of the Nike-affiliated star athletes to create clothing collections and footwear. “Serena has been so prominent in this company and in my career I’ve been able to watch her develop into arguably the best athlete we’ve ever had,” he says. “I’m still working through it,” says Hoke, in sleek black Nike trainers and a black T-shirt that reads “Techno” (he just likes the music, apparently). He meets monocle on the fourth floor of the new Serena Williams Building at Nike World Headquarters in Beaverton, near Portland, Oregon, just a day after the tennis star suggested that she is quitting the court. The person in charge of ensuring that the swoosh has this key visibility is chief design officer John Hoke III. There are putting greens, gyms and a climbing wall on campus

Skylab studio