At the Alive and Kicking workshop in Nairobi, Kenya, Joel, Francis, and Collins work keenly. When you walk in it looks like a library. Then as Francis explains their creative process and takes you around the Printing Department you realise that these are not books, it is a library of screen printing frames collected since 2005 when Alive and Kicking started producing balls.
These three talented individuals were part of the creative process that screen printed 32 beautiful footballs, designed by 32 creatives from 32 countries that qualified for the 2022 World Cup. The Bola World Cup Project was an artistic project commissioned by Costa Rica based Pupila in partnership with Alive and Kicking. It was a global design project inspired by and for the beautiful game of football with each one hand-crafted by Alive and Kicking in Kenya.
Francis, Collins and Joel took up the challenging task of transferring the artistic designs onto panels to create a football that looked exactly as had been designed. They describe a delicate process of transferring the artworks onto screens and mixing dye colours to achieve the correct colour toning for the balls.
“We had to generate several samples until the client gave an approval and go ahead.”
According to Francis the most difficult design was Canada, however, after several samples the team were able to get it right and the client was happy. For Collins “The creativity of these designs was on another level, they were intricate, delicate and required exceptional attention and keenness. I felt so proud and content to look at the balls when we were done.”
After printing, the balls were hand-stitched. The Alive and Kicking Kenya production notions “Participating in the making the World Cup designer balls made us feel connected to the rest of the world and the 2022 World Cup. We were proud that our craftsmanship was recognized on a global platform..”
You can purchase the beautiful hand-stitched footballs here
Costa Rica Ball Stitching
Ghana Ball Printing
Ghana Ball Printing
