Why a Sneaker Designer Started Making Knives | Rick Maderis

Rick Maderis has spent more than twenty years inside adidas, Nike, Jordan Brand and Curry Brand, working on the graphics, color and storytelling that rarely get a name attached. Now he runs Burnside Knives in Portland, and you can see the sneaker brain in every piece. Rick and I played phone tag for close to a year before this happened, and it was worth the wait. We talk about the fire drills that end up producing better work, tilting the adidas trefoil fifteen degrees and hearing about it, why retros carry more pressure than new shoes, the Doernbecher Air Jordan 15, and asking whether you're the right person for a project before you say yes. Then it's knives: how a sneaker graphic designer ended up with KNIVES on his license plate, why the handle is a magma grip and not elephant print, and the Lost Lake Easter egg hidden in the Cabrillo 2. CHAPTERS 00:00 Coming up: the Doernbecher kid, and the other side of the river 00:30 Why this conversation took a year 01:57 The conversation starts 03:39 A coloring book and a grandfather 03:57 Art school to adidas, Jordan and Curry Brand 06:27 Is getting moved around good or bad for creatives? 10:46 Big brands vs small teams: who actually does the work 12:35 Fire drills and better work 17:41 Redrawing a grail Jordan pattern from scratch 20:26 Jason Mayden: make them feel something 22:11 Tilting the trefoil 15 degrees 25:13 Sharpening every single edge 26:24 Breaking the Jordan formula 30:26 Why kids