Weekly Highlights
Highlight from this weeks articles, conversations and creative inspirations from Rosie Lee and our community. Opening the lid on topics, news and inspirations that affect our thinking and our work.
This week we were able to celebrate our friend and inspiration Maxime Papine, founder of Grammes in Amsterdam - a wonderfully modern bakery that we supported with a visual identity when they launched.
Our podcast episode with Clive Ormerod has been recorded and edited and is set to release next week. Ever since our conversation we’ve been remembering and reminiscing about our history. It is hard to believe Rosie Lee has been going for 25 years and probably have (we’ve lost count) over a thousand projects under our belt!
This week has also seen collaborator Foday Dumbuya nominated British Menswear Award 2025, and we have been featured in an update of the legendary book Art & Sole, reminding us of our long journey we’ve had with the sneaker industry and community.
Aside from looking back, we’re also looking forward - the new Against Time website is nearly ready to launch and were planning a US trip for October - get in touch if you want to connect.
Unorthodox Blend
UBA111 - Who pays when convenience wins?
Self-checkout replaces the cashier. AI replaces the copywriter. The economic equation shifts, but where do the benefits land? Do they all flow to shareholders, or should some of those saved labour costs be reinvested in the people and places left behind?
The piece explores the “robot tax,” the social cost of convenience, and what happens when efficiency always wins over community. It’s a call to rethink how we share the benefits of progress.
Friends
Friends - Maxime Papin
When James Nelson moved to Amsterdam to lead the team, coffees and pastries with Maxime quickly became a thing. A friendship grew, and we got the chance to help shape the identity of his bakery, Grammes. The idea was simple: take the craft of traditional baking and give it a modern touch. The result is clean, contemporary, with just the right hint of indulgence.
Seeing Grammes buzzing in the Amsterdam community makes us proud. If you’re in Rivierenbuurt, go try the croissants. Somehow, Maxime still squeezed in a Q&A with us.
Rosie Lee News
Saucony London 10K 2025
Rosie Lee Creative
Saucony Europe asked us to evolve the London 10K identity for 2025, aligning with new global guidelines while keeping its community spirit intact.
Using the brand line Run as One, we refined the toolkit, updated race assets and produced teaser videos to build anticipation. Collaboration with crews like Your Friendly Runners kept the work authentic and connected to the community.
Art & Sole
Rosie Lee Creative
Originally published in 2008, the original Art & Sole book was and is an epic resource in our studio, celebrating the creative side of sneaker culture, featuring the best artist and brand sneaker collaborations whilst showcasing artists who base their work on sneakers. An incredible 17 years later, the new Updated Edition of Art & Sole continues exploring the creative heart of sneaker culture, complete with new cover artwork by artist Steph Morris and foreword by sustainability-focused designer Nicole McLaughlin.
Written and designed by Intercity, Art & Sole has been completely revised and fully updated, including over 40 new artists and more than 400 new images. Brands featured include Nike, adidas, Converse, Vans, New Balance, Reebok and Puma, along with the artists and designers who have collaborated with them, such as Virgil Abloh, FUTURA, Nicole McLaughlin, Geoff McFetridge, Parra, Shantell Martin and KAWS. Nice to see some of our work featured alongside some epic artists and designers and iconic sneakers.
Inspirations
Fukushima United unveils Japan’s first all-wood stadium plan
Fukushima United FC has unveiled plans for Japan’s first all-wood football stadium, developed with architecture startup VUILD. The 5,000-seat venue will be built entirely from timber sourced in Fukushima Prefecture and designed for full disassembly and reuse making it the world’s first fully recyclable wooden stadium.
The Thursday Murder Club hits the streets with knitted post box toppers
To celebrate the release of The Thursday Murder Club, Netflix has taken a playful turn with its marketing, rolling out hand-knitted post box toppers across the UK.
Marie Antoinette style lands at the V&A
Opening 20 September at the V&A South Kensington, Marie Antoinette Style dives into the legacy of one of history’s most fashionable and notorious figures.
If you have any inspirations that you’d like featured on UB, then please share them with us.
News from our friends
The Camping Tent at Jasper Morrison Shop
The Shop is welcoming back Typologie, the French design team behind beautiful exhibitions and books on pétanque balls and wine corks. This time they're examining camping tents. Their London Design Festival show features vintage tent models, archival pegs, and striking tent photography from around the world. What looks simple proves surprisingly complex with these Western-designed, Asian-made shelters uniting everything from festival culture to refugee camps.
Protective yet vulnerable, temporary yet enduring, tents embody fascinating contradictions most of us never consider. The exhibition reveals the sophisticated engineering behind these everyday objects that pop up everywhere from muddy fields to urban landscapes. A new Typologie journal accompanies the show.
Shoreditch Design Triangle
Jasper Morrison Shop 24b Kingsland Road London E2 8DA
Foday Dumbuya nominated British Menswear Award 2025
The British Fashion Council has revealed the nominees for The Fashion Awards 2025, set to take place on the first of December at The Royal Albert Hall. The ceremony will celebrate British and international fashion talent whilst raising funds for the BFC Foundation, which supports the British fashion industry through education, grants and business mentoring.
Amazing to see Fods (for Labrum London) nominated amongst some incredible names and innovators in the fashion industry - wishing him all the best! The British Menswear Designer of the Year accolade may be one of the tightest awards this year, with Grace Wales Bonner for Wales Bonner (last year's winner) taking on Craig Green, Kiko Kostadinov, Nicholas Daley and Stefan Cooke with Jake Burt for Stefan Cooke.
The winners will be announced at the awards ceremony in December.
Work with us
We’re coming to the US in early October so if you want to talk, hang out, give recommendations for great coffee spots then get in touch.