Always speaking up about the positive benefits of movement for both body and mind, ASICS derives its namesake from the Latin phrase ‘Anima Sana In Corpore Sano’, or ‘Sound Mind in a Sound Body’ in English. More than 70 years on, that same unflinching belief remains the core essence of the brand, who still design and develop footwear with the sole aim to make people feel better to this very day.
Delving deeper into the Japanese label’s mantra, we invited Eva Jonas – visual artist and educator based in London – to host a handmade zine workshop at our size? Carnaby Street store for World Mental Health Day, where she encouraged store staff and members of the size? community to explore how creativity, movement and connection with our surroundings can promote positive wellbeing.
Eva’s first book, Let’s Sketch the Lay of the Land, was published by September Books in 2020. Currently, she is co-facilitating Peer Matters, an artist development programme supported by Photoworks. Her body of work moves between collecting, restaging and intervention, often working with sculptural forms and research materials.
Kicking the workshop off, Eva explained how she’d been collecting books based on movement for a few years now, the first of which she picked up at a fair in Berlin. Instructing the group to mimic a gesture they’d performed at some point in their week, she then encouraged us to recreate this movement and use it as the foundation for our zine, ‘activating’ the imagery, in her own words.
Using drawing, photography, collage, craft materials and digital techniques, the project came to life through a tapestry of creative mediums, blending traditional techniques with modern tools. Taking physical ideas from instructional images found in archival kayaking, rock climbing, dance, endurance running and martial arts books, workshoppers were tasked with isolating some of these movements away from their original context and repurposing them into their own unique, fluid visual stories.
From the precise workmanship behind high-profile footwear collaborations to the raw lens of street photography, creativity acts as a bridge between movement and mindfulness. In other words, this is the ASICS philosophy in action, showing that by turning energy into artistic form you are actively nurturing your mental wellbeing. This can even be something as simple as doodling with a pen on paper for five minutes, which has been scientifically linked to lowering stress hormones and improving brain chemistry.
Reflecting the group’s focus and creativity, the finished zines became versatile, expressive keepsakes each brimming with their own identities, breathing new life into a 70-year-old brand ethos. Paying homage to everything ASICS stands for, Eva’s workshop masterfully demonstrated how collective movement uplifts mental wellbeing, honouring their mantra through and through. We’d like to personally thank Eva and everyone else who dropped by for her in-store workshop on World Mental Health Day ‘26.
Your mental health is just as important as your physical health. If you’re ever struggling or need more information, visit Mind, a mental health charity ASICS has worked with since 2021.
