This young Black designer wants her sneakers to be relatable, comfortable, and something everyone wants.
Brooklyn teen designer Amira-Dior Traynham-Artis is the designer behind the shoe line Lane1 and is preparing to present her sneakers at a celebrity gift suite ahead of the Oscars.
According to Good Morning America, the 14-year-old was invited by Nathalie Dubois, CEO of global brand execution platform DPA group, to present her shoes at the 2023 luxe gift suite.
forwp-incontent-ad1">“I was definitely excited,” Traynham-Artis said about being offered the opportunity. “I didn’t know how to feel at first.”
Dubois learned of the teen through a PR group.
“Today’s world for the kids, I think is very dark,” she noted, saying she wanted to help Traynham-Artis, whom she called “brilliant.”
In preparation for the gift suite, which Dubois said is a free market for celebrities, Traynham-Artis has been working with Gernie NYC and Marc Joseph New York to design over 70 pairs of sneakers.
“We want to bring stuff that pops, but doesn’t talk too loud,” said Jack Gernie Ashkenazi, CEO of men’s lifestyle brand Gernie NYC. “We want something that when the celebrity sees it, they’re going to say, ‘We like this brand going forward.'”
With a push from her mother, Traynham-Artis created Lane1 around two and a half years ago.
“I know that my daughter is very creative. She has been creative since a very young age,” Kenesha Traynham-Cooper said, adding that she was “designing things already. So I figured, you know what, let me give her a platform where we can make this tangible.”