A M E L I A G R A H A M + Ninja Tunes x Independent Music Cup x YUAF
Amelia Graham-Mercuriali
Luke Wren an AR man at Ninja Tunes approached me to design the Football Kit for the annual Independent Music Cup in London. Inspired by the awesome Nigerian National Kit and the host of patterned shirts prevalent in the 80's, Luke was keen to create a standout strip to set Ninja Tunes aside from the other participating Music Industry Teams, and to raise money for the Young Urban Arts Foundation – a charity dedicated to helping disadvantaged kids get in to the creative arts.
I was invited to Ninja Tunes HQ to host a designing session with 4 young women, who at 16 years of age had already encountered more hardship than most of us experience in a life time. Coming from deprived and tricky situations, they had little formal education, but a bucket load of ideas. We worked closely together to design two strips, which were then printed locally in London.
It was my first mentoring experience, and although challenging at times, was well worth it in terms of the feedback we got from the girl's Social Worker-
‘Ninja Tune was amazing this was a massive massive massive thing for the girls to be there today. They came back to the school with the biggest smiles on their faces I’ve never seen them smile like that. So thank you for the opportunity - let ninja tune and Amelia know that that was life changing for them. Even though they were just in the building for an hour that completely transformed a lot for them. So thank you"
We also helped to raise over 6k for the charity.
So it turned out the kit didn't bring Ninja Tunes enough luck to win on the day, that honour went to another team! See the kits in action on the day, including D & B legend Mampi Swift in action for the YUAF, and the working mock ups as we designed them on the day below.....
