Ilija Nikolic is a designer and musician who grew up in an artistic family surrounded by music and art.
He began studying classical piano at age seven, while drawing became another early passion—everything from sneakers and cars to rock stars, warriors, and aliens. Much of his early artwork was design-driven, even before he knew the word “design.” Torn between music and design, he first chose music, completing his BA while playing in funk, jazz-fusion, and drum’n’bass bands in the late ’90s and early 2000s.

 

          After graduating, Ilija taught music in his hometown. Life in post-war Serbia was challenging for creatives, but he eventually moved to New York to continue exploring both composition and design. While working on his master’s degree in composition at CUNY and performing in several bands, he found himself deeply influenced by New York’s urban sneaker culture, which reignited his childhood dream of designing footwear. This led him to San Francisco, where he pursued an MFA in Industrial Design at the Academy of Art University.

 

          Following a design internship at Specialized Bicycles—where his first produced footwear designs were created—Ilija moved to Milan to study footwear design at Domus Academy through a scholarship. He completed a specialized “Made in Italy” internship at a footwear factory producing for several global brands, earning his Master’s degree in Accessories Design with a focus on footwear.

Ilija returned to New York to freelance for Coach, Marc Jacobs, and Diesel, contributing to some of their best-selling sneakers.
 

          In 2012, he joined Salomon in France as a full-time running footwear designer. Over 2.5 years he created several models, including Salomon Speedcross 4, which became the brand’s all-time best seller and a global fashion icon.

From 2015 to 2016, he served as Senior Footwear Designer at Dolce & Gabbana in Milan, working across men’s, women’s, and children’s sneakers and gaining deep exposure to luxury fashion.

 

          In 2016 he moved to Boston to join Reebok, where he designed for the Training and Sport Style categories for 3.5 years—during which time his first son was born.

 

          Between 2019 and 2020, Ilija returned to New York to work for Rag & Bone, helping establish their sneaker line and designing the brand’s logo. When COVID hit, he freelanced for multiple brands before joining KEEN full-time, working remotely on trail and hiking footwear. This period allowed him to spend more time with his family and record music with world-class musicians, including Grammy winners. During this time, Ilija released his album Projections and several singles, all of which are available on major music platforms.

 

          His Instagram has a substantial following due to his innovative conceptual design, some of which has been featured on WGSN, worlds main trend forecasting site multiple times. In 2023 he welcomed his second son. 

         

          Throughout his career, Ilija has received several patents in the US and EU for his footwear innovations created for the global brands he has worked with. His designs has been featured in Vogue, Hypebeast, Highsnobiety and other reputable fashion sites.

 

          Since 2025, Ilija has been working for Converse in the Sport Style and Basketball category, designing on the team responsible for signature footwear for double MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

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The "curse" of two passions still exists, which you can SEE and HEAR on this site.

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