Kide Baharudin introduces his hometown Kuala Pilah to the world via Vans collection

Kide’s hand-painted drawings of his hometown Kuala Pilah in Negri Sembilan are beautifully captured in Vans Surf’s newest collection. Photo: Annatasha Saifol

If you’ve never been to the small town of Kuala Pilah in Negri Sembilan, then visual artist Kide Baharudin is the man to show you his hometown’s pre-war Chinese shophouses, traditional Malay village houses and its sprawling rice fields.

Through his digital print works, Kide has been actively championing Kuala Pilah since 2014. The 30-year-old artist has something better in store. Soon, fans of American shoe and apparel brand Vans, under its Vans Surf collection, will get to wear a full head-to-toe spring collection, entirely drawn by Kide, featuring completely new artworks featuring scenes from his hometown.

The Vans x Kide collection, which will be available from May 8, is a direct reflection of the artist’s playful, vibrant take on storytelling and the unique characters he dreams up through his relationship with local history and culture. Kide’s hand-painted artworks are instantly recognisable with their colourful visions of retro and cool Malaysia.

“For this Vans series, I created two different themes which are town and kampung scenes. These images, based on local lifestyles in the 1950s and 60s, are inspired by my parents’ childhood stories,” says the Seremban-based Kide, who took nearly three weeks to complete the new paintings.

His acrylic on paper artworks were then scanned and the team from Vans Surf combined both the themes into one full design. Interestingly, Kide also reveals he owned his first pair of Vans shoes when he was 18.

Kide is the first Malaysian artist to be commissioned by Vans for a collection. Photo: Annatasha Saifol

“I bought them in a second hand bundle store. This pair was an old school classic Vans design. I bought it because my brother recommended it. He used to skate with Vans. But I’m not a skater. I wear them just for cycling and for studio work. I still have them now!” says Kide, who has his own studio in Seremban.

The head-to-toe collection, which includes hats, shoes, T-shirts, surf trunks, tank and backpack, will feature elements which are quintessentially Kide, while paying tribute to an old Malaysian town. In these storybook scenes, you can expect to see buffaloes, chickens, people on bicycles by the rice field and clear blue skies.

Key to the collection is the Slip-On SF in Kide classic white/marshmallow colorway. The updated classic is constructed of a sturdy cotton canvas upper with engineered collapsible kick down heel, Vans UltraCush sockliner for maximum cushioning, and an original waffle outsole. Finally, the entire shoe is crafted with water-based ink and glue.

This also marks the first full head-to-toe collaboration between Vans and a Malaysian artist.

This international collaboration marks an exciting new chapter in the artist’s career, which has been filled by group exhibitions, including last year’s mosque-inspired Mihrab, and local commissions.

A Vans shirt featuring custom artwork by Kide. Photo: Vans

“I was so happy (when I received the news) that I couldn’t sleep!” he recalls. But this collaboration did not come out of nowhere. In 2017, Kide won the Vans Asia Custom Culture competition. He also illustrated the House of Vans Asia Tour poster.

Originally, the Vans Custom Culture was created to inspire American high school students to embrace their creativity through art by designing on blank Vans shoes customised around specific themes. It was then opened to artists in Asia in 2017.

Kide recalls that in early 2018, someone from the brand approached him on Instagram and expressed an interest in buying some of his paintings to be used as designs for the Vans apparel line. That someone just happened to be in Vans’ global team for apparel based in California, the United States. The rest, as they say, is history.

Kide isn’t sure about the launch plans for this Vans collection in May, especially with the Covid-19 situation in Malaysia. But he remains optimistic that Malaysians will recover from these uncertain times.

During this movement control order (MCO) period, Kide has been keeping himself busy by posting MCO-inspired paintings on his Instagram account, even including time-lapse videos of himself at work.