{"id":398418,"date":"2014-08-12T15:48:41","date_gmt":"2014-08-12T20:48:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.snkrsday.com\/?p=398418"},"modified":"2022-09-16T22:31:30","modified_gmt":"2022-09-17T03:31:30","slug":"pensole-world-sneaker-championship-diaries-day-16","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.snkrsday.com\/pensole-world-sneaker-championship-diaries-day-16\/","title":{"rendered":"PENSOLE World Sneaker Championship Diaries: Day 16"},"content":{"rendered":"
This summer, 30 young students from all the around the world have come together in Portland, Oregon, determined to change the footwear game by embarking in the PENSOLE World Sneaker Championship. Assigned to teams and representing a diverse range of brands, boutiques and major corporations across the industry, they’ve began their journey to design a product that’s ready for retail. These are their stories.<\/em><\/p>\n Roster:<\/strong> Dexter Sulit, Claudia Lopez, Daniel Raes and Marcus Taylor (CMF)<\/p>\n I once heard a quote that said, \u201cYou have to want to succeed as bad as you want to breathe.\u201d You have to work so hard that you forget to eat. You have to set your phone down and let your friends and family know that you\u2019ll get back to them when you have achieved your goals. If you want to be successful you have to be willing to give up sleep because if you go to sleep you might miss the opportunity to be successful. You have to seek the knowledge you need and never stop learning. You have to be willing to quit your job, sell your possessions and fly to Portland for a four-week opportunity at Pensole.<\/p>\n Each classmate of mine has given up something to get here and that\u2019s the easy part. We show up to class early, stay late, eat when we can, and sleep on occasion. We sketch until there is an indent in our fingers and then put our pencils down to pick up markers. We pause shortly to refocus our blurry vision and then work away in front of the illuminated computer screens. We don\u2019t do it for money or even shoes. We do it because it\u2019s what we love to do and who we want to be. You can try and stop us from reaching our goals but we won\u2019t forget where we are headed. If ever our faith wavers an inspiring designer walks into the room and puts our fears to rest. One such designer came in yesterday after our sleepless night and rekindled our fire.<\/p>\n E Scott, a recently retired Nike veteran, came in on a whim yesterday to provide food for thought. The thing about E is that he is one of the most passionate people I\u2019ve ever met. You never know when he\u2019s going to show up but after he leaves you\u2019re almost certainly going to grab a pencil and get back to work with a fresh new perspective. He tells vivid stories of design projects at Nike and is so humble that he says that WE are the inspiration. He is retired now but his passion isn\u2019t gone. He transferred that footwear design spark to new projects and proceeded to tell us about an animated story he is working on. Some other classmates and I listened to him talk for almost an hour about this project and after he left we knew that he was the kind of person we want to be.<\/p>\n If any of you out there want to be a footwear designer, or anything else for that matter, don\u2019t be afraid to get out there and do it. Forget your possessions, tell your friends and family you\u2019ll be back soon, and work until you can do what you love for the rest of your life.<\/p>\n The studio wasn\u2019t pretty after the all-nighter Sunday.\n Here is my final shoe but it is only one amongst 24 extremely well thought out designs by Pensole students.\n Here\u2019s E Scott inspiring students in a way that only he is capable of.\n <\/p>\n Roster:<\/strong> Stefan Cristobal, Sese Izurieta-Herrera, Dale Shepard and Lindsey Johnson (CMF)<\/p>\n The past few days at Pensole has been crazy busy. It feels like finals week on steroids. Everybody is grinding super hard, pulling all-nighters, and while staying positive. Not everyone comes prepared for the long haul, but the Robot Homies are always on point.<\/p>\n An early morning toothbrush session with Sese \u201cEl Principito\u201d. Thanks for the toothpaste.\n Our final designs are getting wrapped up this week. I\u2019m excited to see all the Android work come to life this next week.<\/p>\n The Robot Homie\u2019s (@_dalesc) stealth inspired tape-up is looking fresh!\n Here is a sneak peak of some of the stuff that I have been working on this week.<\/p>\n Ironing out some colorways for my Egyptian Afterlife inspired sneaker.\n Despite all the hard work, we have made time to get out of studio and hit up some local spots for late night food. However, we always have footwear on the mind.<\/p>\n Q, Cookies, El Principito, and I had fun putting our napkin sketches on the Sushi Train.. We derailed it with this last shot.\n Today is Sara\u2019s \u201cColombia\u201d birthday!<\/p>\n Sort of sums up our relationship with her at times\n This time at WSC has been unlike any other experience that I have had (or probably will have again). Over 30 days and nights, I\u2019ve spent more working with and getting to know the students here than I would over the course of an entire school year. It is crazy to think that our time here is almost over. This time next week, we\u2019ll be in Vegas!<\/p>\n .@eh_stefan <\/p>\n Roster:<\/strong> Elizabeth Steenwyk, Maher Jemili, Guy Perez and Tuan Nguyen (CMF)<\/p>\n It\u2019s always kind of weird being awake at the exact moment your breath turns to morning breath. Since final boards were due, most of us were still in the exact place D\u2019Wayne left us last night when he walked in this morning, still hunched over our renderings.<\/p>\n Despite not having slept, we still ate up the words of our varied guests. At Pensole, you never know when a thirty-year footwear design veteran will walk in next to the current Adidas design recruiter. The time people have been pouring out to see us achieve our dreams is unbelievable. It really does take a village, be thankful for the people building you up.<\/p>\n Celebrated the sun coming through the studio windows with some hand rendering this morning.\n Another guest got us hooked on the making paper shoes. E. Scott has been making the little models for several years and found that the miniature shoes help him think through his entire design before it\u2019s on paper.\n My first attempt at a paper shoe. Can\u2019t wait to start implementing it into my own process.\n Last week! Talk soon!<\/p>\n -Beth Steenwyk<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Roster:<\/strong> Sara Jaramillo, Quetzal Ramos, Victoria Adesanmi and Tuan Nguyen (CMF)<\/p>\n What a day! Or days actually. We were working since Sunday to put our boards together and pretty much everyone has been awake for more than 24 hours; sketching, making renders, printing, waiting for your turn to scan and print, celebrating birthdays (Maher and Jared), and talking with Suzette about the perfect material for every particular project. Is it crazy? Yes it is, but the work needs to be done. After this extreme work, guess what? We had a lot more to do. If you want to see more, please don’t forget to watch our presentation this Friday.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Roster:<\/strong> Danny Chambers, Ruben Eriksson, Marcus Thomas and Thalia Meraz (CMF)<\/p>\n Yesterday was a bit of a whirlwind, filled with highs and lows. Our final render was due at 9 AM, along with three additional colorways. As you can imagine, the stakes were at an all-time high, it is the World Sneaker Championship after all. The room was abuzz with feverish determination and anticipation as everyone rendered long into the night. On the opposite end of the emotional spectrum was dread, as we feared not finishing on time and doing our best work. The studio atmosphere changed several times, from playing rap tunes to pick up the energy or humbling oneself to ask for advice if someone had better rendering skills.<\/p>\n D\u2019Wayne posted an encouraging message to remind us that we have been given the tools necessary to do the work. When in a frantic state we (human race) all have a tendency to forget our fundamentals and change our mental approach. The key is to make quick, well thought out, decisions with similar logical steps. Things change in the heat of the battle and your actions must still make sense, but there\u2019s still an end goal in mind. Can you find your center, even when you feel yourself wavering in and out, in the most important circumstances?<\/p>\n Be your best when everything is on the line\u2026.<\/p>\n Being here is preparing us for the next step. It feels like the bridge connecting school to work, providing the knowledge needed to accelerate one\u2019s learning and career trajectory. J<\/p>\n Just what the doctor ordered.<\/p>\n Celebrating the August birthdays\u2026. Cake for Everybody!\n My Pensole video testimonial…\n <\/p>\n Roster:<\/strong> Guilherme Lemes, Jesus Garate, Jared Fiorovich and Shaun Kosoy (CMF)<\/p>\n Monday was the second part of Sunday. Most of the class stayed Sunday night at studio to finish their renders and presentation boards and we did not stop working Monday morning. We kept working, no sleeping, no rest, just work. Some people think that design is a crazy place, that we give too much for it and we don\u2019t get paid enough, but sometimes I see design as a sport. A sport where designers, the players, who love the game stay up late nights working because they love the game, because they want to be the best. That\u2019s what I saw during Sunday and Monday, players training and working hard so they get a place on the first team, no one wants to stay on the bench. During this past all-nighter I was able to see different render styles and techniques among my peers. It was amazing to see the variety of skills on each of my classmates. The best part of this kind of moments is to share tips and techniques with each other. The worst part was trying to stay awake while rendering with markers! <\/p>\n Roster:<\/strong> Zia Ahmad, Clifford Charles, Andrew Parks and Lindsey Johnson (CMF)<\/p>\n This weekend, a few of us had the chance to visit the Nike campus which was a very big deal. According to Maher, that Nike trip was a part of his dream that he accomplished. Right after that, D’Wyane had a birthday party for five us in the class, it was great times and we all ate cake. We stayed in class finishing our final direction for our design as we were getting feedback from D’Wayne. Later on, Suzette went over some material properties that we was going to use on our shoes. This weekend, Andy, the Adidas recruiter, came in to give us some tips and pointers on how to get a job, how to get ahead in the footwear industry and how to set ourselves apart from other applicants. Most of us did not go to sleep the night before, so it was kind of an intense day. Now we’re focusing on our final board presentation and looking forward to a couple more sleepless nights to come.<\/p>\n When working with Undefeated high end materials are a must.\n There are five people in the class with birthdays this month so D\u2019Wayne got them a cake.\n <\/p>\n Roster:<\/strong> Satoshi Sutoh, Jonathan Guisbert, Ako Xiang and Seth Peterson (CMF)<\/p>\n For the past month, Sundays have been the day to relax, maybe even take a day away from the studio and go explore Portland. But not this Sunday. By tomorrow, the footwear designers need to have their shoe hand rendered and in D’Wayne’s mailbox. The last three weeks have been leading to this moment, and you can really feel the energy, or stress, in the air. As the color and material designer for the Under Armour Basketball team, I’ve seen the evolution that each footwear designer has taken with their ideas, and it’s a big responsibility to create a color and material palette to stand beside their great designs. Creating a story as deep as their designs has been a rewarding challenge.<\/p>\n This photo: Satoshi Sutoh working on his marker rendering\n We still have a long way to go to finish our final presentations, but a big milestone is about to pass. We’ve all come to our core design ethos for this project. Whether it’s from a performance aspect or a story. That’s where the excitement is coming from. We spent the last three weeks digging through our minds, chasing this and refining it. And now, in one more week we’ll be presenting it to the industry that we have followed for so long. It’s our turn to impress the people who got us stoked on sneakers to begin with. I’m looking forward to sharing it with you on Friday. \u2013 Seth Peterson<\/p>\n This photo: Ako Xiang working on his marker rendering\n Working on my design has been a great experience. I have been able to develop the functionality and then think about the aesthetic before marker rendering. The process has been really helpful to visualize how my final product could look. Can\u2019t wait for Friday to present! \u2013Ako Xiang<\/p>\n Color was a big part of my story because it plays a role in the emotion of the product. It\u2019s an elusive notion; the fact that a product has a \u201cfeel\u201d to it, but it\u2019s something subtle that really affects buying decisions. So, before hand-rendering, I had to think about what kind of feel I\u2019d get from certain colors and in order to do that. I did a bunch of quick thumbnails and explored the different blockings. It was a good learning exercise in use of tools as well because there are so many things I can do digitally, but when you have to render by hand, the options are limited to the markers you can find in store. \u2013 Jonathan Guisbert<\/p>\nTEAM ADIDAS<\/h2>\n
TEAM ANDROID HOMME<\/h2>\n
\n.Portland
\n.Philippines
\n.Android Homme<\/p>\nTEAM JORDAN<\/h2>\n
TEAM NIKE<\/h2>\n
\nTake a look.<\/p>\n Guilherme’s -Team Target- final render.\n Jes\u00fas Garate (Team Target) working on his final render.\n This is an awesome folded paper shoe that E. Scott Morris did for us.\n Ako’s renders\n Sese and Stef\u00e1n final renders.\nTEAM PONY<\/h2>\n
TEAM TARGET<\/h2>\n
\nWith this Monday we start our last week in Portland, our last week at the Pensole studio. The past three weeks felt like hours, but at the same time they feel like months. They feel like months because of all the stuff I learned, but they feel like hours because I\u2019m doing something that I love, designing shoes– and when you do what you love, time flies.<\/p>\n
\nNow we are getting closer and closer to the final presentation, I would love to win in my category, but at the same time, I feel like I already won. The whole Pensole experience is my medal, but I still have a week, and I\u2019m going to try to make the best out of it.<\/p>\n Using a desk lamp under a glass table as a light table for my sketches. You don\u2019t need fancy stuff to get the job done.\n Working on my final render and extra views. I would love to own a pair of this design. I\u2019m happy with the results.\nTEAM UNDFTD<\/h2>\n
TEAM UNDER ARMOUR<\/h2>\n