My Inspirations

Growing up, I have always been immersed in sport. Cricket, rugby, golf, you name it, I have probably played it. Sport was the one platform for me to be myself, and along the way, I have met countless friends and made connections with people around the country and even overseas. It has been said that sport is a vehicle for social change, allowing kids to forge strong relationships with friends while getting invaluable exercise. This being said, you might be wondering why I'm rambling on about my love affair with sport, but there is a good reason 

Seeing the world through my detail orientated eyes, I often find myself deconstructing every single piece of sporting equipment I use. Largely thanks to the advancements and improvements to sporting equipment, professional sport has completely changed, making gear that athletes rely so heavily on into 'tools of the trade'. Although I hadn't realised it, from the age of 12, I was analysing weights of cricket bats, the placement of sprigs on rugby boots and the grooves on golf clubs. This contributed to my education of design principles, especially in my field of interest. Sport, whether I had realised it or not, was my main design inspiration, fuelling my passion for my current studies at the University of Auckland. 

Starting the first semester of design has kickstarted my brain, making me critically analyse the daily items that surround us. So when I read about the Eliud Kipchoge, a Kenyan distance runner that smashed the marathon world record by over a minute, I naturally asked 'how?' After digging through the social media fanfare, it was said by some that he wore a prototype running shoe made by Nike. I decided to have a look at these so called 'magic' shoes to see if they could influence a runners performance to a world record breaking level. Nikes use of a carbon fibre plate, along with its own 'Zoom X' foam made of polyether block amide, helped them create a revolutionary shoe that increased the amount of energy return exponentially when compared to any of its competitors. In short, the more energy returned through the shoes, the easier running would be for Kipchoge who wanted to break the world record, and this shoe gave him the capability to do something no other man has done before. (Hoogkamer, W. 2018).

I found the technology backing these shoes incredible. For Nike to revolutionise distance running to the extent of breaking records that have stood for more than ten years is nothing short of fascinating. From an inspiration point of view, pieces of equipment like this that can have such a profound effect on the outcome of a sport, keeping me considering the next steps in equipment advancement. It also fuels my dream of one day joining the industry that drew me to design in the first place. This is the compelling partnership between sport and design, helping superhumans reach new heights in the sporting arena. 

#des100 #designinspo

Wouter Hoogkamer (2018). A Comparison of the Energetic Cost of Running in Marathon Shoes. Sports Medicine (48), 1009-1019. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40279-017-0811-2