Emmanuelabor Customs
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October 21, 2012 Re-working and updating the site. For now contact me this way: contact@emmanuelabor.com
Also, I can be found on Twitter/Instagram : @emmanuelabor
Tumblr as well: laborpanes
Thanks
10/2012
Cement Lions April 1, 2012 “…I’m way harder than the concrete; I say what my mind speaks…”
I can’t front. I’m not a fan of the Lebron 9. It just doesn’t work for me. But I have to admit, they’re dope for customizing! The paneling really lends itself to some creative options. This is just the first of many custom 9’s on deck.
For this pair, I used the black cement III’s as my point of reference. An all-black upper surrounds panels with the infamous cement/elephant pattern and red swooshes. The tongue is grey carbon fiber with a red liner. To play to the Jordan III theme even more, I added red eyelets.
Aquamamba April 1, 2012 To some, crossing a Kobe shoe with a Jordan color way is blasphemous. To me, it’s not that serious.
In this instance, I applied the air Jordan “Aqua” VIII theme to a pair of Kobe VI ID’s. Sitting on top of a clear outsole, is a black snake scale upper with purple and teal accents. To top it all off, AQUA is embroidered on the tongues.
tale of the tapes April 1, 2012 “where my killa tape at…?”
I’m an old head. In this day and age of mp3’s and cd’s, I actually kinda miss cassette tapes. I mean they’re inconvenient if you wanna hear a particular song, but as far as a tangible music source, I dig em.
A few years back, one of my first reconstructed sneakers was the “Purple Tape AF1”, based on Raekwons Only Built 4 Cuban Linx cassette tape. Aside from being a certifiable classic, I always thought it was dope that the tape was purple, and I wanted to pay homage.
Thing is, the craftsmanship wasn’t the best. The concept was there, but I needed more practice.  Fast Forward to 2011, I was asked to recreate them, and a pair based on Nas’ Illmatic cassette as well. With my reconstruction skills up to snuff, I was ready for the task.
Both pair feature lined paper graphics with song lyrics from each respective tape. On top of that, there’s actual cassette tape strewn across for added realism. “…one love keep it real yo…” The mid panels are transparent images of the actual tapes and are topped with transparent swooshes to boot.
bringing sand to the beach July 31, 2011 When Nike developed a series of LA-centric Kobe VI’s (3D’s, Orange County/Sunsets, East La)
in relation to the NBA all-star game being in LA, I decided I wanted to make a few of my own LA themed Kobe’s, since I’d be in LA for the festivities.
The 1st pair I did was based on the LA smog…you can see those here:
http://www.emmanuelabor.com/?p=202
Once I saw the “Glass Blue” VI’s,
I felt they’d be a perfect base shoe for my next concept…Venice Beach!
Ever since I saw the movie White Men Can’t Jump, I’ve wanted to play at Venice Beach. The idea of hooping