Letter from the Editor
I’m finally doing it. I’m writing a book. I just finished the first draft of my book about founding CoDesign Collaborative. The writing — my pandemic project — has me reminiscing and reflecting on 13 years of launching and building the museum. From the beginning, we wanted to help people make the connection between the products, spaces, and experiences that we see and use every day, with the designers and design work that brought them to life. We started our exhibition program with subject matter that we knew resonated with everyone: the design of parks, streets, transportation, and footwear. We featured the design lifecycle of a typical sneaker in one of our first exhibitions. We figured everyone wears shoes, but do folks know the design story behind what they put on their feet every day?
When we expanded the museum to include both Boston and Portland, it was clear we were basing our distrusted museum in the two footwear design capitals of the world. There’s so much design history and innovation to learn from in these two cities alone, and all over the world shoe design is nothing less than iconic. They’re part of our self-expression, they’re collectible, and, as you’ll read, now they’re even digital. Shoes are such a great subject to uncover and demystify design — they have utility and technology, style and energy. In this issue, you’ll hear from footwear designers about their design process and craft. Footwear design consultants like Susan Ryder and Ann Williams and Dean Schwartz, designer Chris Dixon from Timberland, and entrepreneur Erik Hernandez share their unique design stories. We’ll look back on the history of various footwear typologies thanks to Stephen Opie, and look to the future with Cheresse Thornhill-Goldson and Jessica Smith at adidas’s program to educate the next generation of footwear designers, and with Stephanie Howard and Bennet Collen and their new venture, Endstate, combining innovative shoes with digital NFTs.
So grab your favorite pair and enjoy this issue of Design Museum Magazine!
Sam Aquillano
Executive and Creative Director
CoDesign Collaborative
