beauty/performance

When I think about the concept of high performance, as a sports fan, my mind is immediately goes to the kinetic: performance through motion. MJ’s final shot. Jordan Eberle’s ridiculous first NHL goal. Usain Bolt’s 9.58 run. I’ve always associated high performance with dynamic motion, because for me that seems like the most important part.

That’s why I’m so drawn to the Nike Mercurial: a static performance tool that somehow manages to embody the inherent essence of dynamic high performance. And it does it more elegantly  than any other piece of athletic footwear I’ve ever seen. If ever there was a piece of functional athletic equipment that truly represents the beauty of sport, this is it. The Mercurial’s design is striking, clean, perfectly proportioned, and undeniably compelling. It makes me want to be a better soccer fan (yes, I call it soccer). 

There’s a lot to be said for athletic footwear whose design can generate appeal for reasons beyond its intended functionality. I’m more drawn to the Mercurials from a design standpoint than as a soccer fan. It’s a high performance tool, yet still beautiful. Actually, scratch that: it’s beautiful because of its high performance capability. Beauty and performance aren’t mutually exclusive, they’re connected on a very fundamental level. The Mercurial proves that the proper combination and utilization of beauty and peroformance can produce something far greater than the sum of its parts. 

In other words, this: 

This is the Mercurial. Beauty that stems from performance, and performance that stems from beauty, on a level neither could achieve individually.