Ilija Nikolic

Ilija Nikolic is a musician and composer whose work is shaped by a lifelong immersion in sound, rhythm, and visual culture. Raised in an artistic family surrounded by music and art, he began studying classical piano at the age of seven. Music and drawing quickly became parallel languages of expression. As a teenager and young adult, he was deeply engaged in performance, playing in funk, jazz-fusion, and drum’n’bass bands throughout the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Ilija pursued formal music education, completing his BA while actively performing and composing. After graduating, he taught music in his hometown in Serbia, continuing to write and perform despite the difficult post-war conditions for independent artists. Seeking broader creative and cultural possibilities, he moved to New York, where he began his master’s studies in composition at CUNY. Immersed in the city’s vibrant music scenes, he performed with multiple bands while refining a personal compositional voice that blends innovation, tradition, and culture.

During this period, Ilija’s parallel interest in design resurfaced, influenced by New York’s urban culture and its close relationship between music, fashion, and identity. While music remained central, this visual exploration gradually evolved into a professional design path that ran alongside his artistic practice.

Over the following years, Ilija built an internationally recognized career as a footwear designer, working with major global brands including Diesel, Salomon, Dolce & Gabbana, Reebok, Rag & Bone, Keen, and Converse. His work includes some of the most commercially successful and culturally influential sneaker designs of the past decade.

Despite the demands of a global design career, Ilija never stepped away from music. In recent years, he returned to composition and recording with renewed focus, collaborating with world-class musicians like David Binney, Jeremy Pelt, including Grammy Award winner Erin Bentlage. During this period, he released his album Projections, along with several singles, all available on major music platforms. His current musical work reflects decades of experience across classical training, composition, live performance, electronic production, and collaborative experimentation.

Today, Ilija continues to balance music and design, approaching both disciplines through the same lens: rhythm, structure, emotion, and personal identity. While his design work remains influential on a global scale, music stands at the core of his creative identity—an ongoing, evolving practice that began at the piano and continues to define his artistic voice.

Gear

Fender Rhodes electric piano, Moog Matriarch synthesizer, Prophet-6 synthesizer

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