AM90 AIK: The Blue Line

As the club from Stockholm turns 130 years, AIK teams up with Nike to launch a celebratory AirMax 90 and pay tribute to the club’s roots along the blue line metro in SNS's hometown.

Like every great football club, AIK is nothing without its home turf, and the AIK community is inherently tied to the blue line, the subway line that runs between the city center (just meters from where the club was founded in 1891) and the northwestern suburbs of Stockholm, where many players and supporters are born and bred. At the heart of the blue line, we also find Solna, home to AIK’s training grounds and stadium.
A melting pot of cultures and influences, the blue line boasts a strong community of creatives and entrepreneurs within multiple disciplines. We have met with some of them to hear and share their stories and perspectives on the blue line.

Munira Yussuf

Inspired by Japanese aesthetics and powerful color combinations, digital artist Munira Yussuf vividly paints the world around her, with a style that is very much her own. Publications like CAP & Design, VICE and PAPER magazine has highlighted her art, and she has created artworks for Afropunk Festival, the EU and Swedish national television.
She reminisces about her idyllic childhood in Hjulsta.

“When I think back to my childhood, I don’t think of concrete. I really don’t. There was so much nature. Flowers, trees and animals. We used to ride horse and carriage on Järvafältet and in school we had pet rabbits. It was an endless cavalcade of picnics with friends and family. I didn’t even go into town until I was like 15. My whole life was on the blue line, up until then.”

Keya Turan

Arriving with artist and behavioral scientist Keya Turan to his local Husby feels like you’ve scored an invitation to a family gathering. On every corner there’s a new friend to greet. A smile, handshake and some friendly advice to be given. And it’s no surprise, knowing how engaged Keya is in his community. In 2020, he started non profit Husby Basketball Camp together with national team player Binta Drammeh. In addition to being a recording artist and label owner, he’s also a youth consultant and mentor.

“In Husby you can be yourself one hundred percent. When I grew up we could fit 25 guys in a studio, making musik together. If you weren’t being real, the others would call you on it. Some of us still make music today, and authenticity and integrity is still key for us.“

Angelo da Silveira

It’s high time for Swedish fashion to better represent Sweden’s diversity, and designer Angelo da Silveira from Sundbyberg keeps busy pushing that horizon closer. His brand Diemonde redefines Scandinavian minimalism, adding his generation’s street edge to the mix. The label, where he is the founder and creative director, was born out of love for great garments but even more so from the wish to create positive impact.

“Fashion has a powerful ability to innovate, express and define who we are. I want to create an expression that speaks to a new generation, people growing up with many cultural influences, because that’s what Sweden looks like today.“

Nattalie Ström Bunpuckdee

All too often, feminism overlooks the women of the suburbs, explains Nattalie Ström Bunpuckdee, poet and activist from Hjulsta. Using poetry, music and comedy, she raises her voice over and over to represent those who don’t get their’s heard. Voted the “The Suburb’s Best Poet” in 2016, she continues to engage in issues like intersectional feminism and the welfare of socio economically vulnerable areas in Sweden.

“People need to hear about the suburbs from the people who actually live here. We should be the ones telling our stories, not the media or people that hardly have set foot in our neighborhood. Every time my home is on TV, it’s all concrete. No colors, no life, it’s just grey. In reality, it’s so green and lush in the summer. But it’s almost like people don’t want to see that. It doesn’t fit the narrative of the suburbs, I guess.“

Melody Farshin

Early on, comedian and author Melody Farshin from Husby understood the power of laughter, scoring points imitating family friends at the dinner table. After 13 years in stand-up, she’s more than aware of humor’s potential to make important messages both reach further and last longer. Her book Mizeria was recently adapted into a play and book number two is on its way.

“Theatre and literature need to be made more accessible. I want to see young people from the suburbs represented in culture. And not just in the usual stereotypical roles, but real, multidimensional characters that are the heroes of their own stories. If not, how are the 17-year olds from the blue line supposed to feel like the theatre is for them, too?"

Natasa Stanojevic

For illustrator and tattoo artist Natasa Stanojevic, Solna’s is as much a safe haven as the birthplace of her creativity. As a child, she and her sister took ceramics lessons in the artist quarter of Villa Odin in Solna. Although they quite soon got kicked out for fighting in class, the experience inspired her to pursue a creative path in life.

“I used to escape the schoolyard and head to the park there, just wandering around talking to the trees. Just thinking about the area makes me warm and nostalgic. For this project, I chose to illustrate a bench, outside Villa Odin, where it all began. You know the feeling when you sit down on a bench to wait, for nothing in particular, and your thoughts keep spinning, to the point it’s almost hard to breathe? In that moment, I hope the poetry on this bench can help you make sense of it all, so that you understand that you are exactly where you should be."