Designs By West Orange High School Student Picked Up By AND1

WEST ORANGE, NJ — The following news release comes courtesy of the West Orange Public School District. Learn more about posting announcements or events to your local Patch site.

The basketball designs of West Orange High School rising junior and Urban Art student Adrien Mere have been selected by AND1 for marketing to the public in the coming year.

Adrian, an autistic student in the mixed program at WOHS, joined the Urban Art class during his sophomore year at the recommendation of teacher Mallory DeMarco, who recognized his talent and felt that Urban Art would be a good place for him to work on his street art designs.

"Once I began working with Adrian, I realized that this student had a real gift and that his type of unique art could be highly marketable to urban street brands," began art teacher Nicole Krulik.

"I began sending some of his designs around to artists I know and a friend who worked for Supreme shared Adrian's designs with the creative director of AND1," she continued.

AND! is an American sporting goods company that focuses on basketball apparel, sneakers and accessories. The company sponsors NBA athletes as well as AAU teams in the US.

"The creative director was so impressed with Adrian's talent he offered to print basketballs with Adrian's design to be sold. During the upcoming school year, Adrian will begin working on the package design for his basketballs and begin marketing them to the public. I am so proud of Adrian and how hard he worked during his sophomore year," said Krulik.

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