Meet the man creating bespoke art for the world’s best athletes
By Ben Church, CNN
London (CNN) — On a boiling hot day in England, Jordan Dawson walks into a London pub with a tote bag by his side. He plonks it on the floor, its contents rattling around inside, before he digs inside and places a pair of soccer cleats (or boots in the UK) on the table.
“These are for Antoine Semenyo,” the 31-year-old tells CNN Sports. “These will be going to the World Cup.”
On request, Dawson then takes out more goodies from the bag, each boot adorned in a unique design that makes the otherwise plain white shoes pop with an authentic flash of personality.
These examples, like the hundreds of others he has designed over the years, make up a portfolio of work that has endeared him to the world of professional sports and has taken him to places he never dreamed of when starting his artistic career from his bedroom.
Now, though, Dawson is a man in demand, designing custom footwear for the top athletes on the planet. Much of his best work has come in the world of soccer, with Dawson creating personalised designs for the likes of Kylian Mbappé, Marcus Rashford, Enzo Fernández and Gigi Donnarumma – to name just a few.
This weekend, the designer will be in Budapest for the Champions League final, creating a pair of boots in collaboration with PlayStation. But it will also be a full-circle moment for Dawson, who will get the chance to watch a player who was his first client many years ago, Arsenal midfielder Declan Rice.
How it all began
A life mixing with the stars wasn’t necessarily on the cards when Dawson fell in love with art as a child.
“I drew since I was a kid,” Dawson says. “I remember sitting in my grandma’s conservatory drawing cartoons, and then you would always find me in the art classroom. I studied art at school and I always put my extra hours into it, whether that was in lunchtimes or after school.”
Over the years, he developed and fostered his obvious talent, experimenting with several techniques – from animation to painting and multiple avenues in between.
He went on to study at London’s Chelsea College of Arts, focusing on fine art. While there he learned how to create hyper-realistic portraits, which initially seemed like his calling, but getting a job in that field isn’t straightforward.
There just wasn’t a well-trodden path to employment with a fine art qualification, leaving Dawson wondering where he would channel his passion. To make ends meet, he started working in retail at the Nike Store in central London.
It wasn’t a job that scratched his creative itch, but it did at least get him close to his other passion: sneakers. He would take some of the spare shoes home with him and use them as a canvas for his designs, quickly putting together a small portfolio of work which combined his passions for shoes and art.
Catching a break
From that point, he slowly built up the courage to show his work to organizations, pitching around 30 different companies for collaborations.
“There’s definitely been a lot of knocks along the way, but I guess it’s taking that risk and putting yourself out there, making sure that at least you try, I guess,” Dawson says, reflecting on his journey.
Eventually, he did catch a break, and from a source very close to home. While still working at Nike, he pitched to his own company and was invited to be a designer for a London Air Force 1 campaign in 2018. It was a pivotal moment that triggered a wave of other work.
It was during a brand collaboration that he met Rice, who was then playing for West Ham before his big move to Arsenal. The rest, he says, is history.
“(Rice) has got a massive love for boots, and he asked me if I have ever customized a pair of football boots. Then, I think two weeks after the event, I messaged him on Instagram, just to try it,” he says, laughing about the absurdity of DM-ing a professional soccer player from his own room.
“That was then the first player that I did boots for … and that again just snowballed into working with ex-teammates, current teammates and England internationals.”
Word of his talents spread through locker rooms like wildfire and soccer stars and their agents started reaching out directly for designs – the process of which is reasonably straightforward.
Dawson simply asks for the boots to be sent to him and has a conversation about what exactly the player or brand is looking for.
And while he does show digital mockups of his designs with clients, the finished product is only revealed when he hands them over – and that can be at a training ground, locker rooms before a match or even at the player’s house.
The turnaround time for designs can vary, with most taking a few hours to complete. So far, he says, the recipients have been very happy.
“Some players know bang on exactly what they want. Other players have a little idea, and then it’s just having a conversation with them and trying to get to know their personality a bit more,” Dawson says.
“I try to steer away from just doing like name, flag and number because anyone can have that on their boot. I want to tell their story and bring out their personality on the pitch.”
Despite embedding himself into the sport, messaging his idols regularly still doesn’t feel natural to Dawson, but he says seeing the final products grace the biggest stages feels like a “pinch-me moment” and a “dream come true.”
He doesn’t even mind when the designs he spent hours working on get scuffed up or muddied by a big tackle or a physical match. After all, the boots are made to be worn.
What next?
With his stock rising and social media following growing, Dawson wants to keep experimenting and developing as an artist. Although he loves working with soccer boots, he has ambitions that stretch beyond just the Beautiful Game and one canvas.
He’s dabbled a bit in other sports, be that athletics, rugby and baseball, but is eyeing the likes of NFL and NBA stars who often pay close attention to fashion.
But the ultimate goal, as it stands, is to work more within Formula 1. It’s a sport Dawson loves and he’s already designed artwork for a Red Bull car. For him, all this is just the beginning.
“I guess I like to set the bar high,” he says. “So I’d love to get to the pinnacle of each sport and customize for them.”
The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.
