ORIGINALS BY QUBIC. THE SHOES.
It’s about high time to unveil the five completed shoes from our “Originals By Qubic” feature, which was revealed on Friday night in our big Qubic Celebrates Originals event, alongside the opening reception of Kazuki’s FW09 O By O adidas collection. On the night itself all five of us were also given the chance to explain our design in person to the crowd in a group interview session hosted by adidas, where we all learnt new things and insights about each other’s designs and inspirations behind our finished shoes.
I hope you’ll enjoy what the five Originals have come up with below, and that you will take the time to read each individual’s inspirations, watch their videos, and vote for your favourite design.
ORIGINALS BY QUBIC - FRANK LIEW
/// ADIDAS GAZELLE
Founder, Qubic Store, quarters boutique
Being that this is my personal blog, I thought I’d best kick it off by explaining and elaborating a little on my own design for this project.
Initially when I looked at the program I really wanted to do a Superstar 80’s, or just a Superstar 1, since, as you may recall from my video interview, it was my first pair of adidas sneakers that I purchased from a local sports store some time in the mid 90’s. Unfortunately, only the Superstar II was available and in the end, I chose the Gazelle - more for the classic thin adidas tongue than anything else - something that I personally feel is one of the most iconic features of a true adidas “Originals” shoe.
Nowadays, as I’m sure with most that have been doing this a while, I’m finding myself wearing more muted and simple designs when it comes to footwear. All well and good, but at the same time I thought it would be rather silly to just present everybody a simple two colour shoe, given that half of the industry also seems to be heading down this minimalistic design path. Yet at the same time I wanted this design to be something that I would want to wear personally everyday, so I decided to come to a compromise.
Instead of choosing a variety of colours, I opted to apply different textures and materials to segment the panels - a soft nubuck for the sides and the stripes, whilst selecting premium leather for the toe cap, lace holes, and heel tab. I also blacked out the heel tab and trefoil logo - just to add a subtle touch for the adidas branding on the shoe itself. Although not immediately obvious to the eye, I thought the subtle change in texture created a nice segmentation between the major panels of the shoe, and is more noticeable when you hold the shoes in your hands. I wanted people to have the ability to get up and close with the shoe to really appreciate it for the smaller details.
The final touch - I wanted to place something on the shoe that would create a little impact, but not so much that it would be glaringly obvious. The idea came as I was sitting in my chair looking at the underside of my shoes, so the ‘pop’ in the design ended up being the fuschia outsole, which I thought worked well against the cool grey nubuck/leather upper. In the end, the shoe is meant to look quite muted and understated once you are standing in them, or sitting with your feet on the ground. However, as you’re walking, people can get a quick glimpse of the brighter outsole to break up the simple dual tone upper colour scheme.
ORIGINALS BY QUBIC - CHRIS LEWIS
Art Director, TBWA\WHYBIN
/// ADIDAS ZX700
The design scheme behind Chris Lewis’ shoe originates from his 10 year background as a graphic designer. A tribute to the CMYK process colour model, Chris chose this theme due to the medium that most of his work appears in – in printed media - posters, advertisments, billboards, logos, flyers and the like. With CMYK such a backbone of the colour printing industry, Chris placed the four colours on a white/white ZX700, creating a wild looking yet very structured colour scheme. The shoe also features various materials, including mesh toe caps and side vents, along with suede accents on the lace holes and heel tab. The “|||” embroidered onto the side of the shoe also represents the three adidas stripes, with the original stripes camouflaged amongst the side panel.
ORIGINALS BY QUBIC - SEAN AICKIN
/// ADIDAS ZX700
Photographer, Wellington
Although the Superstar I was his favourite shoe, Sean decided to choose the ZX700 as his platform due to the amount of customisation available to the model in the program. The design was in homage to his other passion - photography, and his favourite film of choice – 35mm black and white. With only grayscale colours (black, white, grey), Sean put together his submission with the addition of the “desert pattern” – a pattern that closely resembles an effect in film printing, where the developer heats the film up to a certain temperature to create a crackled effect. The underlying message – if you heat the film too much it burns, but if done exactly right and in balance, it creates the correct effect, much like the colours and patterns applied to his shoe. Not too much, and not too little.
ORIGINALS BY QUBIC - KEVIN DOWNIE
/// ADIDAS FORUM
Business Owner, Dunedin
Kevin Downie’s creation is a mix of classic colourways, local support, and nostalgia from his childhood as a youth growing up in the UK. A member of the “casuals” football and fashion movement of the 80’s, the Forum mid was the perfect opportunity for him to relive one of his many fond memories involving adidas, which was the only shoe to be worn at the time. Having bought his first Forum Mid over a decade over in New York, he managed to break necks all over his home town when he returned with them on his feet, as they hadn’t been released in the UK at that time. As an independent business owner himself, Kevin is a staunch supporter of local business, so the colour scheme is dedicated to a local independently owned beer brand, one of his favourite brews as a beer enthusiast.
ORIGINALS BY QUBIC - WOODY
/// ADIDAS ZX700
Editor, Sneaker Freaker Magazine (Australia)
Going into this project, Woody maintained Sneaker Freaker’s collaboration record by continuing on with yet another old running model, the ZX700. Some of Woody’s favourite adidas creations have been silhouettes in their running range, so it was no surprise when we unveiled his design on the night. After seeing hundreds of shoes every month, Woody wanted to create something a little simple but not too plain, so in the end opted for a solid monotone pale blue upper to match one of his favourite Maharishi jackets, with a bright white contrasting midsole and lace combination to break it up a little. A bright yet solid combination of colours.
