Story Behind the Choking Sign: Basketball, Food, and Design with Pitu Sanchez

How did this famed moment in New York basketball culture become embedded in a restaurant safety sign? In the second episode of Cultural Fingerprints, designer and art director Pitu Sanchez shares how he intersected his love for basketball, food, design, and New York in this legendary passion project: creating a restaurant safety sign that repurposes NBA star Reggie Miller’s iconic trash-talk “choke” gesture, famously directed at renowned filmmaker and New York Knicks superfan Spike Lee as he sat courtside, as a visual demonstration of a choking emergency. We dive into Pitu’s design philosophy as shaped by his upbringing in the diverse borough of Queens, his door-to-door giveaway efforts to make this sign the go-to choking poster for sports bars in New York, and the community of food and basketball lovers the work has brought together.

Pitu Sanchez: pitu.nyc 

For more information: rheakapur.info and culturalfingerprints.com