One Block Down x Zanotta “Chromatic Stream”.

In its latest collaboration, One Block Down has partnered with Zanotta, the iconic Italian furniture brand founded in 1954 in Nova Milanese. Zanotta stands as a pillar in the Italian design panorama, renowned for its revolutionary contributions and for defining the aesthetics of modern living, championing innovative design and craftsmanship that has not only shaped but also elevated Italian design to the global stage.Through collaborations with legendary designers and architects, Zanotta has produced pieces that are more than just furniture; they are symbols of cultural transformation and timeless elegance.

Car culture and hip-hop have been inherently entwined since the birth of the genre when hip-hop originators DJ Kool Herc, Afrika Bambaataa, and the Sugarhill Gang flexed their aspirations for automobiles. DJ Kool Herc famously rolled through the Bronx in the 70s in a convertible Lincoln Town Car with the monster speakers in the back, while Big Bank Hank waxed lyrical about his rides of choice in Rappers Delight: “I got bodyguards, I got two big cars, that definitely ain't the whack/I got a Lincoln Continental and a sunroof Cadillac.”

Just as hip-hop evolved in style and sound as it spread across America, so too did the variations of car culture. From coast to coast, state to state, rap automobiles have come to define specific regions, with each area championing a distinct appetite for shape, size and brand. If you drove a Lincoln Continental you were probably an old-school rapper from the East Coast. A ’64 Impala meant you were tied into the low-rider scene. And a Lexus? Well, you were probably from the East or West, but you were definitely about 20 years old in 1995.

To celebrate the release of the Air Jordan 4 “Industrial Blue,” One Block Down has partnered with Jordan to present an inside look at the cultural Parisian scene, highlighting the work, journey, and vision of some of the city's most interesting figures.

This includes the culinary works and explorations of @freddyskitchen and @sweetcook.wtf, the musical journey of @tsunamy___, and the creations of designer @josiassitti and artist @leokpodzro.

This collaboration pays homage to the work of iconic designer Liisi Beckmann, born in the Karelia region in Finland in 1923 who moved to Milan in 1957, starting her work as an object and furniture designer. Her work is characterised by different themes and approaches, from the innovation and experimentation of new or non traditional materials, to the continuous research of new shapes and functional solutions and of course the shapes, with her work many times being around organic and fluid shapes, which went in the opposite direction of many of her contemporaries, more focused on geometric shapes.

Like most movements in hip-hop, many of these automotive scenes are rooted in an era that pre-dates hip-hop. Houston’s Slab scene for example is a product of the 1970s pimp culture and Blaxploitation films. Fuelled by the Texas oil boom and the explosive arrival of crack cocaine on the streets of Houston, successful hustlers of the era gravitated toward Cadillac’s elaborately styled 1980s Eldorados. “Those ’83s and ’84s were the ur-slab, and their revered trinity of Cadillac badge, elbows-out wire wheels, and Continental kit went on to define the trend for the next 10 years,” notes Hagerty writers Jack Baruth and Sajeev Mehta.

This special collaboration features a unique edition characterised by "eco-leather" in a metallic colour, one of the symbolic elements of the dialogue and stylistic progress of One Block Down, with an embossed logo on the back and special branded label.

To honour the collaboration, One Block Down has developed an in-store installation in Milan. It can be visited for the duration of Milan Design Week, from 16th to 21st of April, 11am to 8pm.The limited edition will be available online at oneblockdown.it on 26th April.