mark arcenal

From helping fuel a sneaker revolution to building cars, Mark Arcenal has literally done it all. Some of you may have heard of his personal project www.fatlace.com or some of you may know him from his insane car builds, either way this guy is the real deal.
By that, I mean he not only managed to land any “sneakerheads” dream job at NIKE doing marketing in their US headquarters, but he has also built a reputation on being a no-compromise designer…. of EVERYTHING!

fatlace 240sx

We were lucky enough to grab a quick online interview from him while he was packing up his stuff in Beaverton Oregon. Mark has always been a huge influence of mine especially in the cycling world and it was a huge privilege of mine to pick his brain for a while.

fatlace Ruckus

NAS – GET DOWN (Quantic Soul Orchestra Mix)

HIEROGLYPHICS – YOU NEVER KNEW (DOMINO REMIX)

fR: Frst and foremost … where are you right now? and what are you doing?

MA: Are we starting?

Yeah

I’m in Beaverton, Oregon. Just got home from work, dinner, and visiting my new place in downtown.
I’m just packing up all these toys, taking a break at the moment

Where are you moving to?

Moving to a loft on NW23rd. (Oregon)

So you commute every weekend from Oregon to SF?

Yeah, for almost 2 years now.. about 96 flights back and forth a year. That’s without counting the work flights to NY, Tokyo, or wherever they want me to go.
they as in Nike

Your position now (at Nike) do you think its largely because of the progress and success you have had with fatlace?

Yeah, i think where I am now in this world is definitely because of the progress and success i’ve had with fatlace. working in ad agency world for the last 11 years also helped a ton also but honestly, real world experiences and the people i’ve been fortunate enough to hang out with and learn from is for the most part, the key.

Yeah… speaking of… what was the idea behind fatlace in the beginning? Was it your revolving sneaker collection?

Fatlace was a spin off of one of my weekly posts on my first exploration into blogsphere, caffemocha.com. i wanted to talk about hip hop, graf, b-boying, and music. it’s definitely turned into something more organic and i’m very excited where it’s going to be going in 2009. i used to code and design everything but with the gig at nike, I’ve got an agency working on the site, a whole new look is coming.

Now it has gained a cult like following in SF… Do you think that is due largely because of your relationships internationally? (Hiroshi, Junya, Jun)

I think that the relationships I have helped push it to the next level but the people contributing to the site all have something to talk about. It’s not all about showing off the coolest products they’ve received for free, for them, its about what motivates them. I love meeting people and knowing about them. i’ve met a few and invited them to blog from Thailand to Tokyo to NY to London, we’re trying to cover ground.

Awesome.. that is a really good way of keeping things into perspective… So since this interview is geared towards your talents as a designer of practically everything… What project of yours in the past 3 years are you the most proud of?

I can say there are a few.. from the launch of nikesportswear.com to opening the fatlace store in SF…

fatlace store in SF

but honestly, i think the revival of fatlace.com is what i’m most proud of. I killed the site in 2004 cause kicks were over saturated and in 06, I felt it was time to come back. from being ranked 3million to top 100k sites, I think that’s the most impressive.

Yeah I think the only way we are going to get our site on that level is if i do a weekly nude photoshoot… otherwise we are screwed

Ahahah

Can you tell us a little about your SEMA build this year? I know that Scions arent really the most impressive “sports” cars out there but what you did to that car actually made it look better than a lowered egg it is almost like something you could buy direct from Scion.

(taken from: Autoblog.com)

Yeah, the scion project was pretty cool. I think it’s something where you don’t want to do too much to but you need to make it look different. The half satin/ half gloss made it stand apart from the other cars. I’m really into Porsche’s right now also so I thought up an interior similar to the GT3.  Suede roll cage, roof, and interior. The result was something I would take home, take to the track, or just cruise around. It was a real car you could actually drive hard.

Yeah so many “project” cars these days loose their drivability / real world aesthetic in order to put some retarded paint job or ridiculous rims and widebody kit on it in the case of the scion you took it to the extreme but where it would still work… If you had any direction where you would want to take FATLACE or even NIKE in the future …where would it be? and why? OR do you already have future plans for both that you are excited about (other than the website release)

For NIKE, I’m really excited on projects i’m working on. lots of music and sport related stuff. for fatlace, i’m just excited that the store in tokyo is going to happen.

Where in tokyo will it be?

Shibuya…. My friend distributes fatlace right now there and he will be opening FATLACE in the summer

One of our friends lives in Shibuya and we are trying to take fR there next year… we will make sure to stop by the shop if we do.… Considering you are primarily the one person who got me back into cycling when am I going to get my damn fat lace rim vinyls? Ahahaha no…do you have any plans on releasing your own BMX cruiser in the future?

As a matter of fact, we’ve got a BMX 20″ and BMX cruiser coming out. It’s something i’m real passionate about. Track/fix bikes are great…

fatlace Trackbike

but all the tricks all started on BMX where I and probably everyone one else first learned to ride…. It has a split top bar, like a torker back in the day…

vintage torker

Totally true I am getting back into BMX as well but I’ve noticed I fall much more often; and each fall usually puts me out for a week instead a couple of days like when I was a kid…. Alright so last question… Tell us the top 5 artists that have most influenced you? (Musicians or Art)

Nas, Twist / Barry McGee, Hieroglyphics, Jordan, Russell Simmons

Jordan as an artist?

There is something to be said regarding athletic skill as an art.. But yeah I would have never thought of it that way. Thanks for the chat Mark… Next time we are up in Oregon we will drop you a line.