The
other day I was in Barnes and Noble reading magazines, I used to just
skim through them to look at the pictures, or just the stuff I thought
was cool, but that was because I used to read really shitty magazines.
Anyway now I actually read articles. So while reading this month's Dazed
and Confused, I met Tinker Hatfield... I think he sorta looks like a
pro golfer or something, and unless you're a sneaker head/big basketball
fan chances are you don't know who he is. I'll tell you now. Mr.
Hatfield designs Jordans, he's currently the Vice President of Design
and Special Projects at Nike. Unfortunately not all of us are... and may
never be lucky enough to work so closely with (debatebly) the greatest
basketball player of all time. But this cool kid gets to... I used this
photo of him cause I think it's sorta funny, like you'd never think oh
this guy's basically the reason your 12 year old brother drags you to
sneaker stores on Saturdays... against your will... or makes you get off
the computer to plot when the next pair will come out so he can
strategically plan when/what tactic he'll use to corner your mom. Anyway
like I was saying they interviewed Mr. Hatfield this month on his takes
on creativity and designing and stuff.
He's
designed 16 of the 23 Air Jordan basketball sneakers, he's been working
at Nike since 1981 but started off as the corporate architect... and
designed office spaces, show rooms and stores. I looked all over the
internet in attempts to find the interview he did with Dazed and
Confused that I read from this month's issue, but I couldn't find an
online version, which sucks cause he said some really motivating shit.
But something cool I learned from reading his interview was that he
actually doesn't create or design during office hours, but finds
inspiration for sneakers on his free time and in various aspects of
life, he believes that the best way to produce good work is when you're
not on the clock. Now this doesn't mean that he just chills at work and
does nothing, but I guess he handles the more business-y side when in
the office. I also think it's cool that at Nike they call their
workplace the "Innovation Kitchen". I take pictures but he really makes
me wish I could draw also, with all the hype that these sneakers get
with every release, you don't think about the fact that someone actually
designed, sketched and worked on them before they even entered the
stores.
"You
have to spend time getting to know an athlete, his motivations, and his
life. Understand his needs and his wants. The real fun comes in the end
when you make observations that have real meaning. That's the mystical
side of designing products. "
So for those of you losers who actually read this blog every once in a
while, you'll remember a recent post I did about Jared Buschang's
photography.... and if you don't remember but you're reading this now, just click here and read it.
i'll wait. ok so FUNNY STORY about that first guy with the dyed hair
who's twitter I mentioned, later that day my best bitch and I went to
this Nike basketball game down in the L.E.S and on our way home we
decided to not get on the subway right away and walk to the next station
stop... so we're walking and shit, then all of a sudden we fucking saw
him in the street and I was like "omggg your name's greasychicken... or
uh chicken_grease!" (aka his instagram and twitter respectively) and
thanks to the power of social networks and stuff I sorta kinda felt so
connected to him already and like a loser started like verbally
expressing the fact that I fucked with his work and was even able to
refer to a photo he'd recently posted on Instagram of an Adidas shoot he
did. 
But
to be even weirder I used my friend's phone to go to my blog and show
him the post... but only because I just thought it was so coincidental
that the same day I posted something not necessarily about him, but
giving him that little twitter shout out, we ended up seeing the guy. He
was with his friend Alex who was also cool, pretty rare that you come
across a guy who can pull off a bucket hat with a drawstring. I knew
Tyler was a model, and when I asked Alex what he did he nonchalantly
responded "everything", that later on translated into him being an
artist who also does the whole fashion and music thing. We talked with
them for a while and they gave us directions to the nearest subway and
different ways to get home at least ten times because I have a shitty
memory and Conasia lives in Mount Vernon (not that there's anything
wrong with that lol.. ) but yeah they were super chill and we fuck with
them. Once again, thanks to the power of social networks, I can share
their shit with you.
