SKOPJE, North Macedonia – From a makeshift studio in a cramped apartment in North Macedonia’s Skopje, Satja Grabuloski has made his mark as one of the top sneaker artists in the world.

With more than 300 celebrities as customers, he has taken orders from famous athletes, actors and musicians – including basketball star LeBron James and singer Dua Lipa.

Using an array of paints, Grabuloski and his team of seven artists turn ordinary shoes into works of art – featuring portraits of celebrities, film characters and sports stars along with splashes of vibrant colours.

“Sometimes, they call us with a specific idea. Sometimes, they say, ‘I have no idea – make me a good design.’ We then do whatever it takes to make the client satisfied,” Grabuloski, 31, says, as he prepares a shipment of customised football cleats for Real Madrid’s winger Vinicius Junior.

A single pair of revamped sneakers painted by his team, Swithadot StudioS, fetches a starting price of about €1,000 (S$1,050).

The growing enterprise started as a hobby for Grabuloski, who remembers using a paint kit his mother bought from Paris to ink patterns on a pair of shoes when he was 12.

More than a decade later, he was putting custom designs on sneakers with a permanent marker. The method proved to be a hit, with his first batch of shoes selling out in 24 hours.

“That showed me there is a potential business idea that I am still building and developing today,” he adds.

Armed with a marketing degree and a smartphone, he relied on word of mouth and networking with social media influencers to help build his brand.

He also honed in on targeting athletes and found initial success with painting shoes for handball clubs and popular footballers.

“I have knocked on 1,000 doors – some of them opened,” he says.

“I used the players who bought shoes from us – one by one – as a starting point to make contacts with their friends, co-players in the club or in the national team.”

All the designs made by his team are unique, with clients given certificates of authenticity and a short note on the ideas behind the artwork.

“Every project includes up to 80 hours of work, but some of the designs – for example, sports shoes that were done for LeBron James – were being prepared for more than 300 hours,” says Grabuloski, adding with a laugh that the massive size of the basketballer’s shoes had led to more work.

For now, he plans to stay and work in North Macedonia, despite longer shipping times due to the limited number of flights in and out of the Balkan country.

But even as he plans to stay in Skopje, he is in the process of opening a showroom in New York, with plans to expand to other major cities soon.

With his business booming, Grabuloski admits he is often stretched between running the daily operations, networking and researching new markets, which leaves little time to dabble in his favourite hobby.

“I do not have time to draw any more,” he says. “I miss it very much.” AFP