Created in partnership with Rakuten, brought together thousands of custom sneaker artists from across the US and Europe. With Rakuten’s support, the competition became one of the largest creator-driven sneaker showcases ever produced, giving emerging artists a platform on a global stage. From thousands of entries, just 100 creators were shortlisted by a world-class judging panel featuring leaders across sport, design, music, and sneaker culture. These Top 100 designs formed the Art of the Game Official Collection - a rare, curated snapshot of sneaker culture at its most innovative. The journey concluded in San Francisco, where the finalists were flown out for a filmed finale with the Judges. This finale marked a milestone moment: a celebration of creators, culture, and the evolution of custom sneakers as a legitimate art form. Now, for the first time ever, you can own a piece of this history. Each Top 100 sneaker - whether the original pair or a made-to-order version in your size - represents a creator who rose above thousands to earn their place in this landmark Rakuten x Stephen Curry series. This isn’t just a sneaker. It’s a piece of the Art of the Game legacy - and a chapter in the future of sneaker culture.
Color that remembers
Product Details
“Color That Remembers”
My design is inspired by the visual language of the 90s and the idea of returning to the “building blocks” of childhood. As a 90s child, I grew up surrounded by bright objects, simple graphics and early digital aesthetics, so I chose to translate that feeling into a pixel-art universe built on soft pastel tones. I based the palette on CMYK, the four primary print colors, because they symbolize beginnings. CMYK is the source from which every other color is created, in the same way childhood forms the foundation for everything that shapes us later in life.
I painted the sneakers using acrylic paints and worked pixel by pixel with a flat brush. Every square was placed individually to keep the structure clean and intentional. I used an airbrush only on a few geometric elements to maintain smooth edges without breaking the pixel aesthetic. Creating perfect squares on a curved shoe surface was the most challenging part of the process and required precision, patience and continuous corrections. The entire project took three days of uninterrupted work.
Both shoes share the same concept but are designed differently, forming one complete composition when viewed together. I enjoy when paired sneakers don’t mirror each other but instead build a unified story through contrast. The objects scattered across the shoes are part of the visual memory of the 90s, presented as stickers within a pixel world. They represent nostalgia, simplicity, early creativity and the playful energy of childhood, but also connect to digital beginnings through their pixelated form.
The design communicates a return to a slower rhythm of life, when connection felt natural and unforced. Pixel art itself reinforces that message. A pixel is the smallest, simplest unit of an image, mirroring how early experiences are the smallest, simplest units of identity. By combining nostalgic objects with a modern color logic and a structured technique, the sneakers blend emotional memory with deliberate design.
What makes this pair unique is the combination of CMYK as a conceptual foundation, the fully hand-painted pixel execution, and the approach of treating the two shoes as complementary but non-identical canvases. The process opened my mind to a new style, and exploring pixel art in a physical, hand-painted form was one of the most inspiring parts of the project.
Read the full story of the artwork
This product has been made by the Creator previously and is part of their amazing portfolio. The Creator has listed this item as available to remade for clients.
Additional customisation elements may be available.
Own The Art. Wear The Story.
Discover the Top 100 sneakers from the CANVVS Global Competition - designs hand-picked by our judges from thousands of entries worldwide. Each pair is created by a rising creator pushing the boundaries of art, culture and sneaker design.
By owning one, you’re not just buying a sneaker - you’re supporting emerging talent, championing creativity, and wearing a piece of global competition history.
A HISTORIC COLLABORATION
