In the last few years alone, brands ranging from Mailchimp to Hello Kitty and Barbie have been given museum shows. Yet possibly the most famous brand in the world – one with a serious design pedigree – hasn’t stepped into a museum, until now. Nike: Form Follows Motion comes to Vitra Design Museum in Germany this month, officially opening up the brand’s backstory and archives to museum audiences for the first time in its history.

Launched as Blue Ribbon Sports 60 years ago, the Nike we know today was founded in the early 1970s. “After half a century of innovation, it seems like an appropriate time to take stock of Nike’s history, especially the role of design in shaping its identity,” explains Glenn Adamson, the museum’s curator at large, who worked on the show alongside assistant curator Marcella Hanika. “We felt this year would be a good time to stage the show, following the Olympics and the Euros, as Nike and sport have been in the news so much. It is a great opportunity to give people an in-depth view of how the footwear and garments they see on screen were actually created.”

While some brands entering a museum environment can feel like unwanted guests, there’s a clear sense that Nike is one that can hold its own in this space. “I think it’s important to make a distinction between design museums and art museums; if you think about it, almost all design has some relationship to companies,” Adamson says. “In this sense, doing a show about Nike, explaining its processes of creativity and manufacturing, is right at the centre of Vitra Design Museum’s mission. Having said this, Nike is not just any brand, it’s an enormous multinational with one of the most recognisable logos in existence: The Swoosh.”