De Gripper 03.09

"Bob Ross often talked about ‘Happy accidents’ in his painting classes. He was referring to mistakes that turn out unexpectedly well. The design world is full of such happy accidents. In fact, there are countless products where designers would admit that the original idea completely failed, but in the end, it turned out to be surprisingly successful. As a designer, you constantly run into obstacles. Materials react differently than expected, the right tools are missing, time constraints come into play or production machines simply cannot process your design. And that is just the tip of the iceberg. Why am I telling you this? Because this sneaker also is a happy accident! In the original 2D design, the "teeth" of the sole were evenly distributed, with the same spacing everywhere. But when we made a 3D mould of that drawing, the curvature of the sole suddenly created larger gaps at the front. For a moment we hesitated: should we redo it? But we actually liked it better this way. This wider arrangement gave the sole a sportier and more casual look. That’s why we kept it as it was. And what the heck, in the end, life is one big happy accident."