Welcome to the UnStruktured Podcast.In this episode, my co-host, Bob Smith, and I talk with three young artists shaping music today....Musician and Studio Founder Harun Bonnett, Artist and Performer Lake Kyle, and Producer and Mix Engineer Juan Carlos Hernandez.

From growing up in the underground music scene, to studying at Juilliard, Berklee and the Conservatory of Recording Arts and Sciences, to working with major TV shows like La Voz Mexico, sharing the stage with legends like Stevie Wonder, and touring with the influential ska group The English Beat...... we talk with this next generation of creators about hustling in the modern music industry, the value of networking and community-building, and the importance of simply showing up.

00:00 Introduction to the UnStruktured Podcast

00:59 Meet the Guests: Juan Carlos, Lake, and Harun

01:35 NAMM Experiences and Networking

03:28 Community and Support in the Music Industry

07:14 The Power of Showing Up

08:25 Karen Dunn and the Experiment

26:03 Musical Influences and Backgrounds

31:44 Musical Family Influences

32:13 First Encounter with Drums

33:24 Live Music Experiences

34:43 Church and Early Music Education

36:57 Path to Professional Music

42:41 Classical Training and Beyond

59:09 TV Music Production Journey

01:02:20 Defining Roles in the Music Industry

01:03:04 The Evolution of Music Creation

01:05:32 The Importance of Collaboration

01:06:44 Technology's Impact on Music

01:15:14 Navigating Social Media as an Artist

01:23:57 Challenges and Opportunities in the Music Industry

01:29:24 Future Aspirations and Advice

Harun Bonnett is a versatile and accomplished musician, music director, and multi-instrumentalist whose passion for music began at the age of three when he started playing drums in church. A lifelong dedication to his craft led him to prestigious training programs, including Juilliard’s Music Advancement Program (MAP) and Mannes College, and he graduated from Berklee College of Music in 2019.

Harun’s artistry spans multiple roles, including producer, arranger, programmer, and performer, making him a sought-after collaborator in both the studio and on stage. His credits include working with renowned international artists such as Xin Liu, Karencici, and Tia Ray, where his arranging and programming skills have contributed to globally recognized projects. As a multi-instrumentalist, he is equally comfortable behind the drums, keyboard, and other instruments, showcasing his adaptability and creative vision.

Currently, Harun is a proud member of the New York Giants Drumline, where he delivers high-energy performances as part of Blue Devils Entertainment. He has also toured extensively as a keyboardist with the legendary ska band, The English Beat, performing at iconic venues such as the Hollywood Bowl.

In addition to his performance career, Harun is the founder of Pacobear Studios, a recording studio based in New York City with plans to expand to Los Angeles. Through Pacobear Studios, Harun not only provides a creative space for artists but also serves as a mentor and producer, fostering emerging talent while pursuing his own innovative projects.

Harun’s career reflects his dedication to pushing musical boundaries, his ability to seamlessly navigate different genres, and his commitment to excellence in every project he undertakes. Whether on stage, in the studio, or behind the scenes, Harun Bonnett continues to establish himself as a dynamic force in the music industry.

IG @harunthemastermind

Born and raised between the vibrant energy of Queens and the serene rhythms of Connecticut, Lake Kyle blends hip-hop, soul and electronic elements into a unique sonic experience reflecting his diverse roots.

His journey through music has led him to share stages with icons like Stevie Wonder, DJ Battlekat, and DJ Scratch, have music featured on playlists hosted by Red Bull Music, and land placements featured on major television networks and streaming platforms including Hulu, Netflix, Paramount, CBS Sports, international sports coverage on Ligue 1 Soccer. Fearlessly authentic and constantly evolving Lake Kyle is making his mark as an artist in the modern era.

IG @lakekyle

Juan Carlos Hernandez is a Mexican Producer and Mix Engineer based in Durango, Mexico. He has worked on major projects like La Voz Mexico and La Vecindad de El Chavo dPōrt, collaborating with artists such as Kike Jimenez, Lake Kyle, and Hans Halstead, as well as with companies like Line 6 (Yamaha Guitar Group), KMD Productions, TEC Awards, Casa Mexico Foundation and SHE-Q Audio.

Juan Carlos developed his skills early on, inspired and guided by his father’s and family's influence. He further honed his skills at the Conservatory of Recording Arts & Sciences in Phoenix, Arizona, graduating with a 4.0 GPA and earning multiple certifications. His career has included key roles such as an intern at Westlake Recording Studios, assisting at the National Association of Music Merchants TEC Awards editions 37 and 38 in Anaheim, and Front-of-House engineering for churches in Mexico and the U.S.

In June 2024, he was invited by Casa Mexico Foundation and SHE-Q Audio to lead a workshop on music production, recording, and mixing at the National Music Centre in Calgary, Canada, aimed at supporting and inspiring the Latin community.

Juan Carlos is an expert in both contemporary popular music styles (pop, rock, EDM, etc.) as well as traditional Latin and regional styles, particularly from his home country of Mexico.

IG @jcsound

STRUKTUR SOCIETY

This episode was brought to you by Struktur Society, the community for creators in art, design, and music. For almost a decade Struktur has brought together creatives from across the industrial, apparel, graphic, and sound design industries, building professional relationships, creating a platform for knowledge sharing, and raising the bar of product creation.

From live events and workshops, to publication and podcasting, Struktur continues to evolve to build the strong creator community needed to craft our future. Find us at struktursociety.com and subscribe to our Substack at struktursociety.substack.com.

© StrukturSphere llc 2025. Original music by Greg Brace Music.

Struktur Society is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Welcome to the UnStruktured Podcast!

In this episode my co-host, Bob Smith, and I talk with legendary artist and creative director Scott Clum. First Design Director for Sims Snowboards in the eighties, Co-Founder of Morrow Snowboards in the nineties, and early Design Director at Raygun Publishing.

A pioneer in the early days of snowboarding, Scott went from team rider to graphic designer to building brands, products, and periodicals that defined a culture. Scott's human-crafted style, mixing photography and typography with hand-torn edges and rough details, merges old school zine design with high art.

We talk with Scott about his early days in the world of skate and snow and how that shaped him as an artist. We dig into the lessons of his past, his vision for the future, and his advice for young creatives in this new age of technology and AI.

00:00 Introduction to the UnStruktured Podcast

01:01 Casual Banter and Setting the Scene

01:35 Scott's Early Days and Inspirations

03:54 The Evolution of Snowboarding and Design

06:42 The Art of Graphic Design in Snowboarding

30:08 Transition from Snowboarding to Morrow Snowboards

30:40 Early Days at Morrow Snowboards

31:41 Challenges in Graphic Design

33:56 The Evolution of Graphic Design Techniques

50:31 Magazine Work and Industry Impact

01:00:29 Breaking the Mold in Skateboarding and Graphic Design

01:01:30 Expressing Visceral Energy Through Design

01:04:31 Rebellion and Authenticity in Creative Work

01:11:43 Navigating the Impact of AI on Creativity

01:18:54 Encouraging the Next Generation of Creatives

SCOTT CLUM

Scott Clum is an internationally known Graphic Designer, Type Designer, and Creative Director. Recognized for his work in typographic treatments and graphic design arrangements in action sports and publication design, Scott's combination of classic design instruction and found materials has helped create a deeper pass into what design and graphics can be.

For over 30 years, Scott has had a deep history in action sports as a skateboarder/snowboarder and being one of the most prolific snowboard graphic designers across the industry, continuing to design and develop snowboard graphics still today. Scott spent 7 years at RAYGUN Publishing, co-founding and creative directing 3 separate magazine titles, “Bikini”, “Stick”, and “Nylon” with publisher Marvin Jarrett. With these publications, Scott and Marvin went on to push the boundaries of publication design even further.

Scott’s unique style and aesthetic comes from keeping ideas unfiltered and working outside the computer to create typographic and graphic tensions that challenge the overall design convention. Scott is the creative director at quango where he works on tech and outdoor lifestyle clients, he also continues to freelance projects from his personal design studio ride.

scottclum.com \ @scottclum_design

STRUKTUR SOCIETY

This episode was brought to you by Struktur Society, the community for creators in art, design, and music. For almost a decade Struktur has brought together creatives from across the industrial, apparel, graphic, and sound design industries, building professional relationships, creating a platform for knowledge sharing, and raising the bar of product creation.

From live events and workshops, to publication and podcasting, Struktur continues to evolve to build the strong creator community needed to craft our future. Find us at struktursociety.com and subscribe to our Substack at struktursociety.substack.com.

© StrukturSphere llc 2025. Original music by Greg Brace Music.

Struktur Society is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Welcome to the Unstruktured podcast.

In this episode, I talk with artist, musician, and creative producer Stephanie Lamond. Daughter of the longtime CEO of NAMM, one of the largest and longest-running music product trade shows in the world, Stephanie has grown up surrounded by creative business leaders and mentors.

Initially focused on a career in film music composition, her education shifted to a degree in Psychology and early childhood development, and then travel to Galway, Ireland to study music and culture and learn more about her family's Irish and Chinese roots.

After more than a decade of learning the ropes in creative production and business in the music industry, including writing and recording her own songs under the name Lucky Lamond, Stephanie now embarks on her next adventure...paving a new road running a business of her own called Unpaved Roads Studio (not Unpaved Path Studios, which I state incorrectly in the podcast!).

Stephanie Lamond

Stephanie Lamond is the founder of Unpaved Roads Studio, home of her work as an artist, writer, and creative producer. She currently writes for the Women's International Music Network, and as Lucky Lamond, records original music and contributes to recordings as a songwriter, engineer, and session musician. Podcast producer and composer credits include the One and Dunn podcast and Women of NAMM's ReVoicing the Future, and she has produced music industry gatherings and sessions from mentorship programs to large-scale community builders for companies like KMD Productions, NAMM, and the Recording Academy. The common thread between each Unpaved Roads Studio project is a spark of the authentic human experience, because by telling the stories that make us who we are, we free those who come after us to be all they can be. Learn more about her work at unpavedroads.studio. 

© StrukturSphere llc 2023. Music by Greg Brace Music.

UnStruktured is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Welcome to the UnStruktured Podcast.

In part 2 of this episode I talk with Creative Director and Graphic Artist Allison Ross, Founder and Janitor at Yesterday, about her time at the groundbreaking sustainable brand Nau Clothing, the joys of working for cutting edge design firms with great people, bad reviews and being let go, starting your own thing, and the power of reverse swear jars and breaking backboards.

Allison's passion for good people, social purpose, and creativity with a healthy dose of humor has led her to work with some of top design firms and cutting edge brands in the industry.

We'll dig in to the career path that led her to run her own business, what she learned about remaining true to herself, the importance of going above and beyond the call of duty, and why her motto is “friends don’t let friends create boring meaningless shit”.

00:00 Intro

01:40 Joining Nau, the sustainable clothing brand

13:49 Working for design firms- JDK, BBMG, Superunion

17:44 Bad Reviews

22:16 Taking Risks + Being Let Go

33:04 Starting Yesterday.rip

37:20 Going Beyond + Supporting Others

44:26 Last Words- Keanu + Shaquille

Allison Ross

Allison is a creative director and visual artist with over 15 years of experience helping brands step up and shift culture for good.

Allison spent nine years at JDK Design, starting as a designer and rocketing up to design director. While at JDK, she worked with serious culture shifters like Burton, Nike, lululemon, Seventh Generation, and Planned Parenthood.

After leaving JDK, she spent two years as the Creative Director at Nau—a brand driven by the marriage of style and substance, fashion intertwined with sustainability and soul. Because she was on the leadership and senior management teams at nau, she was able to dive deep into retail, wholesale, e-commerce, supply chain, marketing, and learn from the inside what leading a brand really means. What she learned above all else is leading a brand is no joke, but that’s no excuse to be timid or safe.

She then spent 4 years as the head of creative at BBMG, a branding and social impact studio. While at BBMG, she worked with brands like ASPCA, OceanX, Taco Bell and Estée Lauder to find new and authentic ways to communicate and operate with the health of humanity at its core.

In 2020, Allison launched the branding consultancy Yesterday, a collective of creatives and strategists challenging the old-school approach to branding. Allison’s motto is “friends don’t let friends create boring meaningless shit” which has helped her build strong relationships with the right clients, and has done a great job at keeping the less-right ones out.

© StrukturSphere llc 2023. Music by Greg Brace Music.

UnStruktured is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Welcome to the UnStruktured Podcast.

In this episode I talk with Creative Director and Graphic Artist Allison Ross, Founder and Janitor at Yesterday.

Allison's passion for good people, social purpose, and creativity with a healthy dose of humor has led her to work with some of top design firms and cutting edge brands in the industry.

We'll dig in to the career path that led her to run her own business, what she learned about remaining true to herself, the importance of going above and beyond the call of duty, and why her motto is “friends don’t let friends create boring meaningless shit”.

Allison Ross

Allison is a creative director and visual artist with over 15 years of experience helping brands step up and shift culture for good.

Allison spent nine years at JDK Design, starting as a designer and rocketing up to design director. While at JDK, she worked with serious culture shifters like Burton, Nike, lululemon, Seventh Generation, and Planned Parenthood.

After leaving JDK, she spent two years as the Creative Director at Nau—a brand driven by the marriage of style and substance, fashion intertwined with sustainability and soul. Because she was on the leadership and senior management teams at nau, she was able to dive deep into retail, wholesale, e-commerce, supply chain, marketing, and learn from the inside what leading a brand really means. What she learned above all else is leading a brand is no joke, but that’s no excuse to be timid or safe.

She then spent 4 years as the head of creative at BBMG, a branding and social impact studio. While at BBMG, she worked with brands like ASPCA, OceanX, Taco Bell and Estée Lauder to find new and authentic ways to communicate and operate with the health of humanity at its core.

In 2020, Allison launched the branding consultancy Yesterday, a collective of creatives and strategists challenging the old-school approach to branding. Allison’s motto is “friends don’t let friends create boring meaningless shit” which has helped her build strong relationships with the right clients, and has done a great job at keeping the less-right ones out.

© StrukturSphere llc 2023. Music by Greg Brace Music.

UnStruktured is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

In the second part of this two-part episode, I talk with trend researcher and strategist Tsveti Enlow. After opening the first youth hostel in Bulgaria at the age of 19 a few years after the fall of communism, Tsveti went on to study international business in the United States and became an expert in identifying trends and connections across art, business, and culture.

Tsveti and I talk about her consistent path of creating her own roles, becoming a trend strategist and how that role is changing, and the need for self-care in a career that runs 24/7.

Tsveti Enlow/ Trend Researcher and Strategist

Tsveti is an independent trend researcher and brand strategist who partners with brands, trend, and creative agencies to deliver bespoke solutions. By exploring the intersection of consumer behavior, culture, lifestyle, and design shifts, Tsveti identifies and translates emerging trends into new opportunities to help her international and domestic clients anticipate and plan for the future.

Passionate about people, culture, design, and the active outdoor lifestyle, Tsveti naturally found her way into a career centered around trends and insights in the active market. Tsveti started her trend research and strategy career with the performance merino wool-focused brand Icebreaker because she was drawn to the brand’s purpose and commitment to using natural materials. Tsveti held roles from  International Merchandising to Global Trend + Consumer Insights management, helping the company build both European and global market direction.

With an education in International Business, including a minor in Spanish, Tsveti’s foundation also includes founding and managing the first international hostel, Hostel Sofia, in Bulgaria, from funding to marketing to training staff for the 50-bed facility. As a part-time creative, part-time analyst, and full-time cultural anthropologist, Tsveti travels extensively to conduct in-market and consumer research as well as cover global events and trade shows in design, lifestyle, fashion, and outdoor/active. As a consultant, Tsveti tracks down and reports on trends and translates them into commercially viable insights to help clients stay relevant to evolving consumer needs.

UnStruktured is produced by Struktur Society. Original music and sound editing by Greg Brace Music. © 2023 StrukturSphere llc

UnStruktured is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Hi everyone!

We had to republish this episode due to a glitch in connections across platforms. Such is the way of starting something new…gotta work out the kinks! Anyway, this episode should be available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and TuneIn shortly. Look for Part 2 landing tomorrow as well as the video version on YouTube later this week. Talk to you soon!

In this two-part episode, I talk with trend researcher and strategist Tsveti Enlow. After opening the first youth hostel in Bulgaria at the age of 19 a few years after the fall of communism, Tsveti went on to study international business in the United States and became an expert in identifying trends and connections across art, business, and culture.

Tsveti and I talk about her consistent path of creating her own roles, becoming a trend strategist and how that role is changing, and the need for self-care in a career that runs 24/7.

Wanna support what we do here at UnStruktured? LIKE this post and DOWNLOAD this episode. Seriously, these two actions create a huge impact in growing our platform! You can delete the podcast from your device right after if you’re wanting to go all minimalist and clutter-free.

And if you want to do even more, a PAID subscription won’t get you cookies, but it WILL make you feel good for supporting independent creators. Thanks a bunch!

Tsveti Enlow/ Trend Researcher and Strategist

Tsveti is an independent trend researcher and brand strategist who partners with brands, trend, and creative agencies to deliver bespoke solutions. By exploring the intersection of consumer behavior, culture, lifestyle, and design shifts, Tsveti identifies and translates emerging trends into new opportunities to help her international and domestic clients anticipate and plan for the future.

Passionate about people, culture, design, and the active outdoor lifestyle, Tsveti naturally found her way into a career centered around trends and insights in the active market. Tsveti started her trend research and strategy career with the performance merino wool-focused brand Icebreaker because she was drawn to the brand’s purpose and commitment to using natural materials. Tsveti held roles from  International Merchandising to Global Trend + Consumer Insights management, helping the company build both European and global market direction.

With an education in International Business, including a minor in Spanish, Tsveti’s foundation also includes founding and managing the first international hostel, Hostel Sofia, in Bulgaria, from funding to marketing to training staff for the 50-bed facility. As a part-time creative, part-time analyst, and full-time cultural anthropologist, Tsveti travels extensively to conduct in-market and consumer research as well as cover global events and trade shows in design, lifestyle, fashion, and outdoor/active. As a consultant, Tsveti tracks down and reports on trends and translates them into commercially viable insights to help clients stay relevant to evolving consumer needs.

UnStruktured is produced by Struktur Society. Original music and sound editing by Greg Brace Music. © 2023 StrukturSphere llc

UnStruktured is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

In this two-part episode, I talk with trend researcher and strategist Tsveti Enlow. After opening the first youth hostel in Bulgaria at the age of 19 a few years after the fall of communism, Tsveti went on to study international business in the United States and became an expert in identifying trends and connections across art, business, and culture.

Tsveti and I talk about her consistent path of creating her own roles, becoming a trend strategist and how that role is changing, and the need for self-care in a career that runs 24/7.

Wanna support what we do here at UnStruktured? LIKE this post and DOWNLOAD this episode. Seriously, these two actions create a huge impact in growing our platform! You can delete the podcast from your device right after if you’re wanting to go all minimalist and clutter-free.

And if you want to do even more, a PAID subscription won’t get you cookies, but it WILL make you feel good for supporting independent creators. Thanks a bunch!

Tsveti Enlow/ Trend Researcher and Strategist

Tsveti is an independent trend researcher and brand strategist who partners with brands, trend, and creative agencies to deliver bespoke solutions. By exploring the intersection of consumer behavior, culture, lifestyle, and design shifts, Tsveti identifies and translates emerging trends into new opportunities to help her international and domestic clients anticipate and plan for the future.

Passionate about people, culture, design, and the active outdoor lifestyle, Tsveti naturally found her way into a career centered around trends and insights in the active market. Tsveti started her trend research and strategy career with the performance merino wool-focused brand Icebreaker because she was drawn to the brand’s purpose and commitment to using natural materials. Tsveti held roles from  International Merchandising to Global Trend + Consumer Insights management, helping the company build both European and global market direction.

With an education in International Business, including a minor in Spanish, Tsveti’s foundation also includes founding and managing the first international hostel, Hostel Sofia, in Bulgaria, from funding to marketing to training staff for the 50-bed facility. As a part-time creative, part-time analyst, and full-time cultural anthropologist, Tsveti travels extensively to conduct in-market and consumer research as well as cover global events and trade shows in design, lifestyle, fashion, and outdoor/active. As a consultant, Tsveti tracks down and reports on trends and translates them into commercially viable insights to help clients stay relevant to evolving consumer needs.

UnStruktured is produced by Struktur Society. Original music and sound editing by Greg Brace Music. © 2023 StrukturSphere llc

UnStruktured is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Welcome to the UnStruktured podcast.

In the second half of this episode J.J. and go into the stories that shaped his performance apparel design career: from pro-snowboarding to designing the first apparel line for Salomon, to having to make the difficult choice to leave behind a great thing to take on his dream job designing for Ralph Lauren’s RLX…

…from Annecy, France, to New York City where he moved his wife and two young children just post 9/11, back to the mountains of Colorado to take a design leadership role at top skiwear brand Spyder, then westward to become CDO of the high-performance made-in-America brand Triple Aught Design.

With his father’s military background and his mother’s unique flair for fashion, a childhood in the mountains and a fascination with the Porsche 911, J.J.’s inspirations drive him to high-quality active luxury and great design steeped in meaning and storytelling.

J.J Collier/ Founder, Collier Brands

J.J.'s design career began as a top rider on the Pro Snowboard Tour, where he first discovered a love of functional apparel and equipment. During his last two years on tour, he bought a sewing machine and started making garments. That, combined with a lifetime of natural drawing ability and a grand imagination, led to him pursuing design and fashion as a career. 

After two years of building one-off styles by hand for custom clients, J.J. was contacted by Salomon to help them to launch their first skiwear line. He was offered the role of their first apparel designer and his career was launched. In the 20+ years since, he has worked at Salomon HQ in France, led outerwear design for Ralph Lauren’s RLX and Black Label collections, led the Design and Product teams for Spyder, been CDO of Triple Aught Design in San Francisco, and reinvented other top brands along the way. 

Today, J.J. leads brands in apparel design, development, and storytelling through his company collier brands, llc with a focus on make, sustainability, and the future of design and development. J.J. lives to dream up new ideas and carefully craft stories that will engage and inspire consumers. His career has been rooted in seeking the correct ratio of forward design and commercial consideration. He loves to mentor creative people and entrepreneurs in navigating the apparel business and chasing their dreams within it.

J.J. lives in Boulder, Colorado with his family where snowboarding is his favorite sport. He fixes up old Porsches and loves exploring mountain back roads in/on any vehicle, and time with family is always number one.

UnStruktured is produced by Struktur Society. Original music and sound editing by Greg Brace Music. © 2023 StrukturSphere llc

UnStruktured is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Welcome to the UnStruktured podcast!

In this episode, I talk to performance apparel design leader and former pro snowboarder JJ Collier. From snowboard to sewing machine to leading design for brands like Salomon, RLX by Ralph Lauren, Spyder and more, JJ and I talk about what it takes to design high end, high performance gear, and how to channel your passions into designing an authentic life.

Enjoy!

J.J Collier/ Founder, Collier Brands

J.J.'s design career began as a top rider on the Pro Snowboard Tour, where he first discovered a love of functional apparel and equipment. During his last two years on tour, he bought a sewing machine and started making garments. That, combined with a lifetime of natural drawing ability and a grand imagination, led to him pursuing design and fashion as a career. 

After two years of building one-off styles by hand for custom clients, J.J. was contacted by Salomon to help them to launch their first skiwear line. He was offered the role of their first apparel designer and his career was launched. In the 20+ years since, he has worked at Salomon HQ in France, led outerwear design for Ralph Lauren’s RLX and Black Label collections, led the Design and Product teams for Spyder, been CDO of Triple Aught Design in San Francisco, and reinvented other top brands along the way. 

Today, J.J. leads brands in apparel design, development, and storytelling through his company collier brands, llc with a focus on make, sustainability, and the future of design and development. J.J. lives to dream up new ideas and carefully craft stories that will engage and inspire consumers. His career has been rooted in seeking the correct ratio of forward design and commercial consideration. He loves to mentor creative people and entrepreneurs in navigating the apparel business and chasing their dreams within it.

J.J. lives in Boulder, Colorado with his family where snowboarding is his favorite sport. He fixes up old Porsches and loves exploring mountain back roads in/on any vehicle, and time with family is always number one.

UnStruktured is produced by Struktur Society. Original music and sound editing by Greg Brace Music. © 2023 StrukturSphere llc

UnStruktured is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Read The Full Episode Here!

Michelle Rose 0:02

Welcome to the UnStruktured podcast. In this episode, I talk to performance apparel design leader and former pro snowboarder JJ Collier. From snowboard to sewing machine to leading design for brands like Salomon, RLX by Ralph Lauren, Spyder and more, JJ and I talk about what it takes to design high end high performance gear, and how to channel your passions into designing an authentic life.

Michelle Rose 0:34

I'm Michelle Rose and this is UnStruktured.

Michelle Rose 0:49

This episode was brought to you by Struktur Society, the community for creators in art design and music. For almost a decade Struktur has brought together creatives from across the industrial, apparel, graphic, and sound design industries, building professional relationships, creating a platform for knowledge sharing and raising the bar of product creation. From live events and workshops to publication and podcasting Struktur continues to evolve to build the strong creator community needed to craft our future. Find us at S T R U K T U R society.com and subscribe to our substack at struktursociety.substack.com.

Michelle Rose 1:32

I want to start off talking about branding, self branding, and where today we're living in a time like never before, there's never been a time like what we're all experiencing, and where each of us, we really need to look at ourselves like a brand. And this seems to be something that you've always done or have done for a long time. That's just something ever since I've known of you, have you heard of you that you've had a kind of a distinct identity. You have a very strong name. And I want to know who is JJ Collier? What is your elevator pitch?

J.J. Colliier 2:18

Well, that's, that's a fun one. It for me, it's always had to do with like, being real. And I know that's a term we use a lot right now, you know, it's kind of a trending word. But this authenticity thing for me has always been central to what I do. And that was true long before the design stuff came along. I wanted what I did with my life to matter. And that's actually from a very young age. Like, from a very young age, I believed in the dream, like I fell for the dream. I'm a super mega romantic. So whether that was like living vicariously through BMX magazines or seeing snowboarding in a James Bond movie, when when stuff struck me it struck hard. And I didn't just want to daydream about it, I wanted to do it. And so the elevator pitch for me is that I'm, you know, a creative leader, who only does work that is going to matter, and provides real experiences for people. Otherwise, I don't have the time for it.

Michelle Rose 3:19

Yeah, you've talked a lot about that authenticity. And that word has been used a lot in a lot of different ways over the recent years. What does it mean to you, being authentic?

J.J. Colliier 3:35

I mean, it means being a professional, first and foremost, like really understanding my craft. And again, whether that's sports, or motorsports, or certainly design, I want to be the best I possibly can be and I'm fortunate to love what I do, and so learning all the time just validates that... you know, you can't walk around talking about being authentic, and then not be authentic. You know, like, I'm gonna build snowboard stuff, obviously, I can snowboard, I want to test it. If I'm doing motorsports stuff, I'm very fortunate to be able to get in a, you know, a proper track prepared car and go test those things, you know? Or even if it's just to get away, like I still want the experiences to matter, you know, because we know we've it's a blip. We're here for, not to get dark but like, you know, take advantage of the time we have...make it matter.

Michelle Rose 4:29

Yeah, absolutely. Well one of my favorite things to do when talking with another creative or another designer (which I just love spending time talking with fellow designers and artists) is I love to talk about our background and I mean way-back-ground...like where do we come from? And, you know, digging into our childhood and understanding, you know, what is our foundation, what makes us tick, what formed us and what inspires us? You grew up in a small town in North Carolina, called Banner Elk never heard of it until I looked it up. What was it like for you to grow up there? Like, how did it inform you and help form who you are today?

J.J. Colliier 5:18

Well, it was magical. I mean, nothing short of magical for like a little kid to move from an army base where we have this life that I really enjoyed as a, you know, four or five year old. And all of a sudden having, you know, 20 plus acres, and literally nothing to be afraid of except the the stuff I made up was out in those woods, you know, and so it was very much a time of like, exploration and freedom and the ability to just kind of like daydream and explore and really, with almost like, almost in a no fear kind of environment. And my parents were the same way. My folks are amazing, they were so open and excited for us to have this opportunity to have like a low key mountain life. The town happens to be like, if you've ever heard of it, if you know it you love it.. it's kind of one of those little towns, there are ski resorts and amazing golf courses and all that. So it's actually quite a well known destination now some, you know, 50 years later, 45 years later. But, you know, it's where it all is really where it all started for me in terms of like imagining worlds that were bigger than the one I actually had to live in and only say had to live in because, you know, it's hard for a daydreamer in school sitting there squirming, you just can't wait to get back outside again. And so yeah, so it was the beginning of my creative life. Not right away, but as time went on, I was like, oh, wait a minute, like I'd start to imagine, you know, adventures.

Michelle Rose 6:47

That seems to be rarer and rarer, you know, for kids today. I don't know. I mean, I live in Oakland, California, where it's almost non existent to be able to do something like that with with our children. And I don't know if you're able to provide that kind of experience for your kids?

J.J. Colliier 7:05

Yeah, we've certainly tried I mean, Boulder is has got its own, I mean, access to to all of that, but maybe not quite in the same way as having, you know, your own property and a lot fewer things around to eat you and stuff.

Michelle Rose 7:21

Literally. So did you grow up, I mean, were you involved in, you know, outdoor activities as a little, wee little one, when you were...

J.J. Colliier 7:32

Well, if playing army, and you know, getting my kit all together so I can look exactly proper Vietnam era together counts as outdoor activities, then yeah, I mean, that's definitely was our like, our main thing. You know, my dad's former Green Beret and, you know, a retired Army officer and so I was certainly inspired by his life. And we had these woods, and so yeah, for me and my friends running around, there was a lot a lot of that stuff. And it's so funny because, funny to me, you know, military reference is such a big deal in my life now professionally. That being able to go back and reference the stuff that I literally have my dad's like, my old, my original, his original ALICE pack, and his original helmets and web gear and fatigues. I mean, that stuff's still a reference for me. It's just hilarious to be holding the same things in my hands 45 years later.

Michelle Rose 8:23

Yeah, that's why you use the term kit all the time.

J.J. Colliier 8:26

Oh, yeah.

Michelle Rose 8:27

Right. I mean...

J.J. Colliier 8:28

I didn't get it from him. I picked that up elsewhere. But I mean, yeah, just that's, those references are central for me.

Michelle Rose 8:33

Yeah, yeah, yeah, you know, I mean, I know that people do talk about kit. It's just I've heard the most from you, especially as a designer. And that makes sense to me, you know, thinking about that, because that's what you're thinking about... is the whole package, how it all works together. What do you need to do the thing you're trying you're trying to accomplish? What was it like then in, I mean, in... particularly, I want to go into the 80's. What was it like in Banner Elk? What was the kids scene, the teen scene? What was what was going on there? I'm thinking about youth culture.

J.J. Colliier 9:09

Oh, boy. So it's like the Christmas tree capital of the world is Avery County, where I grew up you know, so it's quiet, it's rural. Sweet people, looks super low key. So in the 80's... I always tell the story about how I was you know, kind of looking at like a Sears catalog for probably my seventh grade birthday or something. I'm like, compound bow or BMX bike? I love both still.

Michelle Rose 9:35

What did you choose? What did you choose?

J.J. Colliier 9:36

Well, I happened to choose.... well, there was some, there was a place on my, on our property like up on, where we live where I was like, Oh, that could easily be a BMX jump. So I went into BMX. BMX led to skateboarding, skateboarding led to snowboarding and like... So it was all, and that was also to the beginning like, Michelle, of like the vicarious California like, Okay, I'm in this little town in North Carolina but all this West Coast stuff appeals to me. And so you know, here we are these little nerds running around with our spiky hair and jams and dreaming of, you know, being in, you know, Laguna Beach. And instead we were like, Yeah, in this one stoplight town.

Michelle Rose 10:15

Yeah. Well, where did you hear about it? Like, how did it.. how did all of that California, that sport culture, like, how did it reach you? How did you become... how did you know about it?

J.J. Colliier 10:26

I mean, literally, we just started like, I always do, I just started digging into it. You know, like, when I got my BMX bike, it's like, okay, I didn't know where we were getting magazines at the time, but BMX action magazine was the initial unlock. That was the first thing you know, and BMX was on fire, it was coming up '83, '82... it had been up happening before, but right around there '82, '83, boom! I caught it right as it was happening. In fact, the same was true for for snowboarding, too, you know, later.

Michelle Rose 10:55

Yeah, yeah, I wanted to dig into that too, as well. But, one of the things I love about digging into our youth culture, because we're similar age, and same type of thing, but I grew up in California and so, yeah, BMX bikes were the thing... all the boys had them, so... some of the girls wanted them. Rollerskating, skateboarding, any of that stuff. What didn't come up for us, obviously, was a lot of snowboarding, unless you live North, because we were Bay Area and Southern Cal and so it was very street sports. But I love to hear about how other people across the country heard about it, you know, the magazines, the TV shows, the music, maybe not so much when we're young. But all the different ways that people became aware of those types of culture. You know, how was it in your.. did you have other friends and other people at in Banner elk that we're getting into that as well, that you could hang out with?

J.J. Colliier 11:55

No, no. In fact, it's so funny, it's like.... back to the, you know, when I told you I'm in the woods, and it was early dreaming? Later on, nothing shaped my life more than James Bond movies. Like nothing, nothing.

Michelle Rose 12:08

I can see. I can see that in your work. Absolutely.

J.J. Colliier 12:12

Well so, I mean, it's in the work. It's in the cars. It's in the mountains and destinations and like, oh my god, like nothing triggered me more than Bond. I was like, Oh, that looks pretty good. And so it was a View To A Kill. I should know the year, I think it's probably '82 or something. The opening scene bonds being chased by some bad guys, the snowmobile blows up and the skid lands in the snow next to him, and he puts it on his feet and takes off. And I never, I mean, even as much as I loved BMX and all my other little passions, nothing has triggered me like that scene, where I was like, Oh, my God. I mean, it just crashed my hard drive. I was.. I will do that. And I think I'll be good. Yeah, so, like...so awesome!

Michelle Rose 12:55

Oh, man. So you have to answer then, okay...probably, of course... Who's your favorite Bond actor?

J.J. Colliier 13:02

Oh, God. That's... yeah. I mean, it's.... I'm sorry, but it's Daniel Craig. I mean, he's just... he just.... he reinvented the genre in such an amazing way. But the fact is, I loved them all. Ask me, you know... well, I don't know if I love them all. I certainly... the Bond era for me was more of a Roger Moore thing. It was late 70's, early 80's. So that's when I was really like, you know, getting deeply influenced. And I think they were what happened to be on cable at the time, too. We didn't, you know, you didn't get to see the Sean Connery stuff because it wasn't, you know, HBO wasn't playing it.

Michelle Rose 13:34

Yeah. You had to dig back into that one.

J.J. Colliier 13:36

Yeah. Yeah.

J.J. Colliier 13:37

So... but it was just so... it was so influential. And then, right around that time, Burton was... while snowboarding was starting to get covered a little bit in Transworld Skateboarding. And then I think before that era Burton might have even run some early ads in the BMX magazines, which of course was genius. And then, so yeah, so it just started to land.

Michelle Rose 13:58

Then from that point, when did you first get on a board?

J.J. Colliier 14:04

We had, I mean, I think certainly Bond was the first introduction to it. And then a TV show did a quick thing on it, but that was a few years later. But then there were snurfers. So before there was snowboards, there were snurfers and so we were able to get some, like, knock-off snurfers from a local hardware store. I still have mine. Made bindings out of cut up BMX tubes because standing on them was just a death wish. So I had to secure my feet you know, and that was the first time we had anything strapped to our feet. And then it was November '86 that I... my brother Dave and I got our first boards and went riding at Beech mountain and then it just very shortly thereafter we were like, Okay, we're.. we know how to do this.

J.J. Colliier 14:45

It's amazing

Michelle Rose 14:47

How... you were hooked, right? No?

J.J. Colliier 14:49

100%. Even with snowblowers and ice and and moguls and all of the stuff to contend with and East Coast skiing. I am so grateful to Beech Mountain I can't even tell you... because if they hadn't allowed it, I mean, if they hadn't allowed it, I would have been toast. It would have been all backcountry. The other mountains didn't allow it. Beech was like totally open to it. They embraced us...and it was totally awesome.

Michelle Rose 14:50

I remember that, because I didn't grow up doing snow sports, but I knew about it. And I knew about the snurfers and they were in some of my magazines and whatnot. But I knew that there was a lot of the fight going on, wanting to keep them out. And you know, and I've interviewed.. part of the Struktur community... Trent Bush, who was one of the Twist founders and you know, Scott Clum, who was with Sims and whatnot, some of those guys. Yeah. And, you know...

J.J. Colliier 15:39

And Scott...sorry, real quick, Michelle. Scott's in the magazine. Okay, like my friend brought me some magazines back from Myrtle Beach. You know, she's so sweet. Melanie. I always I'm like, Melanie, you'll never know what those magazines meant to me. And I found them at home recently and I saw Scott in there and I tore out his ad and sent it to him. Because it was... I never forgot what a rad shot it was, you know? So.. here I am daydreaming.

Michelle Rose 16:04

Yeah. And it's great. And it's just... the people I mean, for me to, like, to see that culture happen, and then grow and evolve... and the art and culture and creativity and design that has come out of that, you know, over the last 30-40 years is amazing. And I think it needs ...it will, it'll get more of its due but I do think more of that history needs to be documented.

J.J. Colliier 16:31

They're starting to. They're starting to do a pretty great job. Yeah. The recent Ride documentary and all that was a nice... nice retrospective. Yeah, it's cool.

Michelle Rose 16:39

Great. Yeah, I just think it has so much to do with, like, it's a very important piece of our cultural history. And it's a very strong piece of Gen X, you know, which we are not particularly good at tooting our own horn, and putting it out there. And so that's starting to happen a bit more. We celebrate, we keep things kind of to ourselves and to our, tribes and our people. And so I love to pull that out and share that a lot more. So, yeah, I mean, I was looking at another interview that you had done, and some of the things that I didn't know yet about you, but...you then, you'd been snowboarding for a while and you got your father to take you to Vermont for the US Open. And you competed and won.

J.J. Colliier 17:38

Yeah, I won. I won the junior moguls. In 1988. Yeah.

Michelle Rose 17:41

So, how did you get your dad to take you there? And....

J.J. Colliier 17:46

Oh, I don't know, we just... it was just such a stroke of genius. We have family in the northeast, it was like, you know, we really, really, I didn't know what... I don't remember Dave and I like working on our parents too hard about this. But yeah, but we got him to drive 17 hours to Vermont. In March.... and we competed and both did quite well. But yeah, but I wound up winning the junior moguls. And I think I might have had one of the highest... I think I might have had the highest score for the pros, too. I don't want to... I was... it was an unbelievable experience where I'm this 135 pound 16 year old. And I've learned how to... what did it was like it spin I could do a 360. And I don't know if anyone was doing... how many people really spinning, like really spinning. And the fact that I could spin this heavy giant board that was too big for me, I don't know. But that's what cinched it

Michelle Rose 18:38

Opportunities of the early days, you know, when you're just doing your thing, you know, at home in your own backyard or whatnot. And then you go out, and you do what you do, and you find out that you're doing pretty good.

J.J. Colliier 18:50

Well, and to be a little bit more open about it for a moment, it was like I could draw, and I could daydream. And that was sort of like, you know... I was an active kid. But I was too small to really be a BMX racer. I wasn't a natural skateboarder. I loved it, like, you know, dropping on a vert ramp and whatever later on. But like snowboarding was the first thing where I was like... wasn't like the last pick for, you know, kickball, like or whatever it had been my whole life. Whereas I was just too small to be like, you know. So when you find something like this, whether it's snowboarding or now like design work, and you're good at it and you love it, it's like nothing was going to... like... I was set. I was just going to be as good as I possibly could be because it was the first thing that had ever really unlocked my like persona for me in a way that I, where I really felt genuinely good about myself. Not that I felt bad about myself, but you know, preteen teenager you're like looking for identity and to find it snowboarding Holy moly. Thank you.

Michelle Rose 19:52

It's rough, yeah. We were talking about that, about the kind of the last pic thing. Was that something that you struggled with a little bit? I mean, I think we all struggle with it to a degree and we don't talk about it. Or we all have that fear that we're going to be that. Yeah.

J.J. Colliier 20:11

Yeah, it was real. I mean, I think it was... it's not something I dwelled on too much. In fact, I noticed it more later when I was like, Oh, yeah, wait a minute, I was kind of like... It never bothered me too much because I had my own little group of friends and we were doing our thing and that was great. But it's SO FUNNY In retrospect how acutely aware you are of even, like, elementary school social hierarchies. And so and it's something I've been cognizant of as a parent, too. Towards like, okay, just pay attention to what's going on, you know, so that you're aware of how people feel. But I don't remember it really bothering me very much. I just noticed it later. I guess I noticed it when I found that thing that sort of made me feel like I was set apart from the crowd in a way that was nice. Like, you know, I didn't have to, no one had to be put down for me to feel better. I just knew that I had something that was a little bit special. And it felt, you know, it felt good.

Michelle Rose 21:02

Yeah, it feels nice when you can find that thing. I mean, so many of us creative artists, creatives, musicians, right? You know, we all feel some sort of way of, I don't know... for some people, there's an outcast feeling, I didn't necessarily feel like an outcast. But I always felt a little... I was always the artist, myself personally, and and I always felt a little odd, little different, like I was trying to... and we moved a lot, so I always had to try to kind of re-fit in. And I always had friends but it became apparent to me, you know, over time that I often felt out of place. And that was the very thing that made me creative, and artistic. And that is the thing that I'm seeing with every artist I ever talked to, is that piece that made them feel a little bit left out or different or odd, is the thing that also really helped them be that unique piece. A finding that unique talent or that that thing that you bond to is part of that important life path. And maybe... I think about parents like driving 17 hours in March to bring their kids to something like this, they must have seen something or had some positive feeling of like, Yeah, let's do this. There's a reason.

J.J. Colliier 22:26

I mean, there was no hockey game every Thursday night or whatever, to see if the kid had it or not. Dave and I talked my dad into taking us. I don't know if he'd been to the mountain to see us ride. But like, you know, because it's kind of hard to observe snowboarding in any meaningful way. But like, yeah, he was, you know, he couldn't be more thrilled with the outcome. We both, Dave and I both had a good weekend. I came away with that first place. But he, you know, it opened doors for us and unlock things for my brother and I in a way that he couldn't have possibly anticipated driving us up there.

Michelle Rose 22:58

Yeah. Now. So how did that lead into going pro?

J.J. Colliier 23:04

Well, it just, I mean, try to imagine this... like before Stratton I'm reading the magazines and dreaming of living, you know, at writing at Donner ski ranch or, you know, wherever.... the magical places out west. Come back from the US Open, sponsored by Burton and with Oakley on the side. Like, give me a break. I didn't bring any Kleenex in here. I usually joke about this because I'm like welling up thinking about the impossibility of it compared to my dreams at the time. Like, I thought I might go up there and do pretty well. I didn't think I was gonna get offered Burton sponsorship while I was there. And that's, that's what happened. So I came back with my trophy, I'm sponsored going into my senior year of high school, you know, I've got my mullet. It just looks epic. Everything was clicking. But so it was like this. It was just an impossible dream. It was like, I can't believe this is happening. And then it continued to happen because I moved out west and still, you know, still really could ride against everybody. it was cool.

Michelle Rose 24:09

Yeah, And you were saying, I mean, I've heard you talk about that you were in that second wave of sponsored riders because, you know, as any new sport like this, and we don't see a lot of new sports come out so this is a big deal. snowboarding was a huge deal. And when it first comes out, it's a renegade kind of like, no one wants to take it seriously, want to kick everybody off the mountain. But then you start having these events and sponsorships and the first wave is always kind of the, you know, going through the machete carving a path. The second wave has another experience and you get plenty of other waves after that. Talk about your wave.

J.J. Colliier 24:50

Well, the first wave was like the guys who were in the magazines, you know. Like this was Terry Kidwell, really OG Tahoe rider legend, lay down the initial tracks like that were just unreal, like, and then, you know, similar timeline, Craig Kelly, Shaun Palmer, like these early names who were just legend, you know, legends... still legends. And then there was this, you know, from '88, '89 forward, the 16, 17 year old guys were starting to come up... me and Jeff Brushie and Todd Richards and like, you know, a bunch of these other names that are like, really, you know, had good careers in it. And were really part of what I guess I would consider the second wave. So we were competing against Shaun and Craig Kelly and like, those guys were all in the same contest, but they were just old enough that I feel like they were the ones who really laid it down the first time. And I can, I mean, I'm sorry, I could list 40 other names, but you get the gist. We were like, the just the second round of young guys coming up.

Michelle Rose 25:48

But what was that like for you guys? In terms of like, well, the grand scheme of things. I'm thinking about people listening now, and some people are going to know this history, some people are going to be younger. And they want to know a little bit about, you know, like, what were you, I mean, what was it like to be sponsored? How often were you? What were you doing, who was sponsoring you?

J.J. Colliier 26:10

We were just coming up, you know? I graduated from high school, moved to Breckenridge, I was just doing the amateur tour, you know. There was the, the the pro riders and then the amateur riders, and we would, you know, sometimes Burton team, like Noah Brandon and Jason Ford and the guys would like Jimmy Scott would like, you know, conveniently show up in Breckenridge. And of course, we were like, Dude, you can stay as long as you want. You know, we're getting to ride with the pro team, you know. And so.. and from that epic coaching, and friendships and all that, but so it was just the, it was my amateur years. II was trying to win contests and so I won contests when I could, you know, and racing and halfpipe. Like had a couple of great amateur seasons in a row. Won it overall '90 and '91. This is ancient history, but turned pro and '92 to see if I could you know, hang with the big boys and managed to do pretty well.

Michelle Rose 26:59

Yeah. And then you were working with, like, the brands on not just sponsorship, but on gear.

J.J. Colliier 27:06

Later, not until much later.

Michelle Rose 27:08

Really? That didn't come in til....

J.J. Colliier 27:10

Oh no, that really changed. I mean, there was certainly rider feedback, of course. But to the extent that it seems to happen now it was just getting started. Like, you know. Craig was a master board shaper working with Paul at Burton and doing like, incredible stuff. And I'm gonna leave names out. I don't mean to but it's like, but certainly there was there was rider feedback. But on apparel, I don't know if it was as much as it was on hard goods, where it was like, you know, they were learning things every day about bindings and boards and flex and side cut and all the stuff. But on apparel that was kind of like very much... no one had time for clothing at the time. I mean, it was, initially it was like how do we make the boards as good as they can be? And you know, there were certainly people doing cool emerging clothing brands, you know, like Twist. But that happened just a little bit later. Late 80's I really feel like the main focus was on getting hard goods figured out. And then soft goods came on really strong, you know, a little later.

Michelle Rose 28:09

It's the development of a sport, and then an industry that follows the sport. You know? So... when you were starting to ride pro then, because you know, the focus is probably so much more on the gear, but you're still being filmed, photographed. You know, what was your... I'm not gonna get into hard goods, I'm gonna go into apparel, because that's your history, your pathway. You know, what was your choice of gear? When did you start to really pay attention to the apparel that you were wearing? And what were your thoughts about, you know, what you were using at that time in the 90's?

J.J. Colliier 28:53

Well, as a young broke kid, you know, it was like, I was getting my stuff that was issued to me. You know, I'd pick colorways and stuff from Burton, but I was taking my Burton stuff. And then later on, I was partnered up with the the team at Spyder that was like most brands in the early 90's trying to figure out snowboarding. It's really hard when you're ski brand. And so it wasn't until I was sort of a little bit more on the inside. Because Spyder was in Boulder, I could come off the hill and meet with the team and like, provide feedback. But it was in that era where I would sit down and, you know, I basically would draw my jacket and pants and provide feedback. And I think it was appreciated. But at the time, it was like We've got designers for that. And I've actually been told that. We've got designers for that. And I was like, oh, boy, this is interesting. So that's where the.... it's not that I didn't appreciate the feedback but it was like when I started wanting to design in my later, late in my career, that's when we really sort of got the We've got designers for that. But it's the early days of like Spyder and Strike they were pretty receptive to at least functional feedback. And then I wasn't trying to move design lines around or provide new solutions for features. It was more just direct feedback on stuff that were issued, you know.

Michelle Rose 30:00

Yeah, and on a side note that, you know, outside of my focus here is thinking about, you know, I came into designing for the outdoor industry in about 2001. And I did not... I came out of fashion school and not from being a big snow sports user. I started working with Columbia Sportswear and started working on their snow sports. And by then it was already, I really remember people talking about, especially when I went to The North Face few years later, being a user, you know...They're not a user, you know, or They're just a designer, they're not a user. And it kind of feels a little bit, the opposite of what you're talking about is okay, I'm a user, I have some ideas. And they're saying, we have designers for that.

J.J. Colliier 30:50

Well, there was one.. I've just, I'm referencing one example for what it's worth, like, certainly all the brands came at it differently. And in my career with highly valued, you know, athlete feedback, years of working with Chris Davenport, and these other athletes, you know, that we're providing real world feedback that was really, really interesting. If you work at Spyder, you know, or Solomon, you're very often you're a user. Not everyone's a user, a lot of the design team are. So we had our own thoughts on things. But you know, if you're doing a custom collection for somebody, and they they've got ideas and whether they're aesthetic or functional, it's amazing to have that resource.

Michelle Rose 31:26

Yeah. Well, you being a user from the get go, already informs that knowledge for you of how valuable that is.

J.J. Colliier 31:33

Yeah, that's true. I do respect it maybe differently than someone who isn't an end user at this level.

Michelle Rose 31:38

You come to the table with that. So I want to talk about that next piece. Okay, so how long were you pro? Do you remember?

J.J. Colliier 31:45

I rode, yeah, I rode the pro tour until '98. Yeah.

Michelle Rose 31:49

So...and then... what started to happen for you, then?

J.J. Colliier 31:54

Well, I was like, I didn't want to be the old guy at the club. You know, I always say this. Like, I knew that something was going to have to change. By '96, '97..... I went back in because the Olympics were coming. I tried to stop earlier, and got back in for the Olympics and wound up having a couple of epic seasons. And that was awesome. But in the first of those last two seasons is when I bought my sewing machine and started recognizing that I had this splinter in my mind, as as Morpheus would say, that just wouldn't...like I kept sitting down and drawing. I was always drawing. And when I was drawing, I was always drawing the clothes. And when I was drawing the clothes, the clothes were on a character and the character was in a scene. And it was like, Okay, what's going on here? And in fact, I even started curating tear sheets before I even knew what a tear sheet was. I'm like, why am I doing this? Why am I tearing images out of magazines and setting them aside just because I like them? I had no idea what I was doing. I was just doing ,I was just curating. And then, and then it, it hit me. I'm like, Oh, this is so obvious. I'm supposed to be an apparel designer, you know.

Michelle Rose 33:06

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Michelle Rose 33:55

I mean, I'm really intrigued by that, you know, like, and that transition of knowing, because this is a place where, you know, as I talked about this...part of the focus of our episode here is having to change careers, right? Career changing...and we have to reinvent ourselves many times through our lifetime. We don't necessarily know that when we're younger. We start to see it when we're older, and we see the pathways that we've made. But to know, when a career is starting to kind of wind down or that you want to shift, you know, that you want something different. It's more than that. And want to know that when you're that young as well is not necessarily something a lot of people can do. But I guess you're also in a young sport, right? Like a youthful sport, like you said, you're seeing the younger people coming up. You're getting older and you're not necessarily seeing that you're going to continue? I'm kind of wanting to dig into that. You notice that you're making tear sheets and you're drawing, and you clearly have an affinity towards a look and a sketch and ideas. How does that bridge over into buying a sewing machine when you don't even know how to sew? And sewing for guys isn't a big thing, right? Obviously you're not hung up on that, but it, it wasn't back then. So how does that happen? I want to dig in a little bit more. Like what do you think for you?

J.J. Colliier 35:35

Well, nothing's gonna happen if I don't do something. Like I mean, it's the most basic thing, right? But like, I can sit around thinking about it, or I can, or I can go buy a sewing machine, you know. Like I was drawing, I didn't know anything about pattern making. I'm a pro snowboarder. It's all I've ever done. You know, I mean, you know, I've done some work with brands like in between the two snowboarding eras, I have some time off and was a sales rep, which actually really mattered later, when I was looking at a roomful of sales reps, but we can talk about that later. But like it was during that period of like, okay, I like this, but I don't want to do this forever... sales rep thing where I was like... that's where I started to really think about what was going to matter to me. What was going to be authentic to me and what I what I cared about. Sidenote, I'd already met Shannon, my wife and like, I was like, Okay, I don't want to be away from her all the time. I want to be... and then want to do something meaningful. And at the time, I was probably a little bit hung up on being visible and being like the next Ralph Lauren or something. But that happened a little bit later. It was more just that I felt this and I wanted to act on it. And just like snowboarding, like I felt like I could I could do it. So I just started doing it.

Michelle Rose 36:49

Yeah, and I think there's a thing about when you have a positive experience doing something, you tend to then build on that without not realizing it maybe and creating other positive experiences. So you had a positive experience in falling in love with snowboarding, trying it, doing it having some success going pro, like, it creates a pattern within us, you know, and probably within you to Okay, sure, try something new, let's take some chances. And because you already have a belief that taking those chances can work out, and they can work out pretty good.

J.J. Colliier 37:29

Yeah, that's true. And that's definitely... I'm wired up that way. It's a little, I don't know, I was gonna say it's easier when you're younger. I don't know if it is I think there are things about it that are extremely hard when you're young, you know. When, you know, when you're trying to manage what little money you have, and what little time you have, you know, for me, it was a big period of change and certainly scary and certainly with some stress. But, you know, here I was, I didn't really party very much. I wasn't a gamer. You know, you ride the halfpipe for four hours and come home and it's like, okay, what now. So I had this, I had the benefit of having a job.. snowboarding...and a bunch of free time. And so that's when I was initially starting to sew and it was great. My buddies, roommates were really supportive.

Michelle Rose 38:17

I'm like, alright, I want to ask you...

J.J. Colliier 38:19

Nice sewing machine.

Michelle Rose 38:21

...I was gonna ask you, what type did you buy?

J.J. Colliier 38:23

No, we still have a good laugh about it to this day, because, you know, my oldest friends from that era, like, Holy moly, man, you really made this work. And like, Yeah, it seems to be working. I bought a Janome in Charleston, West Virginia. My wife, Shannon was getting her Master's at WVU and I found a sewing machine shop, and I bought it and I showed up in her dorm and I was like, What do you think? So...and then I proceeded to leave for Colorado for a few months. So yeah, so it was a it was really a period of like, this, a bit like snowboarding where it's like, Okay, if I'm, if this is my little world where I can be successful, then I need to make it work. I need to work hard. And so it was the same thing with the sewing machine. It's like, I didn't know anything, but I was going to learn, you know. I had to make it.... I had to make it matter.

Michelle Rose 39:09

Yeah. What did she think about that?

J.J. Colliier 39:11

Well, she thought a little crazy, but she knew...she knew that I loved this topic, you know, and then I was really taken by the fashion. And this was fashion at the time and I really wanted to do I didn't really particularly want to go back into ski. I was trying to get out of ski and snowboard, because quite frankly, I felt... I wasn't in ski, sorry, I was only in snowboard... and in snowboard, because of some of my maybe buttoned up tendencies, I was maybe a little bit of a...not an outcast, but I always felt a little bit on the outside of snowboarding. too. I didn't do it the way a lot of other people did it and I've got my, I've got highs and lows on that for what it's worth. But so I was feeling like, Okay, not only am I aging out of this, but it's maybe not again, not my most natural thing. I haven't been good at it but, culturally, am I one of the insiders? No. And so it was like, Okay, what's, what's the next thing? Like, it's been great to me forever and ever. Thank you. But like, what now? And so now I had to make the design thing work.

Michelle Rose 40:15

And so in that design phase, how much at that point in time did you already know about fashion, Ralph Lauren, any of the brands? What, what was your exposure?

J.J. Colliier 40:27

Well, it's occurring to me now that I should be forever grateful to print. Because, you know, I didn't go to school in England or Italy for this, so right back to the BMX magazines, all I had was, you know, a stop at Barnes and Noble when I was on the road as a tech rep. So you know, the various high level $20 fashion mags that showed all the collections way before the internet? Like that was my intro. So I was looking closely at Jil, sander and Armani certainly, and...but Ralph, you know, we can talk about Ralph all day. He was the master of the dream more than, really, in a way that was different than the other brands. Some of those other brands had masterful adherence to design language. These were not words I was using '97. But, so I understood if you asked me describe our money, in five words, I could do it. But Ralph had really mastered, as far as I'm concerned, the dream, of the portrayal of the dream in a way that the other brands just didn't have quite as much texture, you know,

Michelle Rose 41:32

The storytelling. You know, they were masters.

J.J. Colliier 41:35

They had me hook, line and sinker, you know?

Michelle Rose 41:37

Yeah. Yeah. He's always been a master storyteller. I mean, you'd walk into any of his shops at any point in time. And you know exactly where you are.

J.J. Colliier 41:46

You know where you are. Yeah, no one has to tell you when you're in a Ralph Lauren store.

Michelle Rose 41:50

Yeah, I think there's elements of his work that still...he wasn't one of my absolute favorite designers. I was more of a modern... I loved Jil Sander. back in the 90's. I was going super modern, super futuristic. And, but, you know, and he'd been around a long time, I've been very into fashion since the early 80's As a young girl, and so I was always very aware of him. But whenever, as soon as I started designing and doing more lifestyle work, I started to really come to love his work and appreciate the materials. You know, like, for me, I think a lot of like, the natural leathers, the wood, the gray wool, the, you know, the just that kind of look, you can still see it in my life and in my home. Because he was so masterful with apparel, with home with lifestyle with everything, the horses, you know, every, every little piece, you can just feel all the textures. And they're very luxurious and very nurturing. I think of him as a nurturing, nurturing brand, in that sense.

J.J. Colliier 42:53

Yeah, that's true. It was. And my more modern tendencies had always been there because of childhood references that I didn't know were references yet. But you know, like, my whole life, nothing has informed my life more than a late 70's Porsche 911. But I didn't know how much it impacted me until much later in life.

Michelle Rose 43:17

That's what I wanted to kind of... before we dig into the design aspect of it.... because a lot of us as designers, we find that we're really passionate about certain things in our lives and we don't know why. But we find out later it's because they were really well designed inside and out. And you're really into, you know, clothing, and fashion, but you're really into cars. And then maybe more than that, I don't know if you're into bikes and stuff as well,

J.J. Colliier 43:51

A little bit but the cars have been, you know, for 40 years as... well for 20 years is a dream and then the next 20 years as an owner Yeah, so it's been, I've just been fortunate to have those opportunities to know what I wanted and to buy them and keep, you know, sort of flipping and trading and all that stuff. So..

Michelle Rose 44:10

How did that start? That started when you were young...

J.J. Colliier 44:13

iIt started again back to print in Banner Elk, and there was like this, you know, big being a resort town there was one person in town who we knew had a Porsche but I hadn't really noticed it until I saw it in, like, a road and track magazine and really started to understand that the 911, you know, the classic sort of round, frog-eyed Porsche, it was something that mattered to me. Like, a red Ferrari did not do it for me. A, you know, a black or silver or white 911 was my, that was the thing that that struck a chord for me. It was just, that's what... when then finally there was one sitting there and Banner Elk, a black one, with a tail with a whale tail that I got to just actually walk around and stare at. And it was just like, you know, you could hear these tings in my head going Ting, ting, ting!, like just hammering in lifelong love, you know, just no going back. It's just great,

Michelle Rose 45:07

Like, this is a time when none of us have phones and... there's no such like digital cameras to take pictures or anything. So it's what you, it's what you remember, or experience. And you see it in...

J.J. Colliier 45:19

Yeah, in magazines I couldn't take home, like I, you know, they were at the library at the local college. My mom and a legendary stroke must have sent away, you know, by mail, I had to get the 19 I guess it was 80 911 SC catalog from Porsche and I still have this mint 911 catalog. So whenever I wanted to see when I could see one, you know. It was great,

J.J. Colliier 45:20

Great parents.

J.J. Colliier 45:23

Yeah, masterstroke. I don't know.

Michelle Rose 45:49

That means everything. So what else? What else with that, like when you would talk about like, because these things that you know, the things that you've worked on, which we'll dig into a little bit more in the cars, the racing, there's a nice blend of beauty in the design and functionality, performance, you know, and luxury. What, what else? Would you package in there as something.....another....Is there any other passions that kind of sit in there with those for you?

J.J. Colliier 46:28

I mean, those I think you've nailed them. I mean, and just... not to belabor the 911 point, but think about it, this was a... a) it was European. So it was exotic to me, like, you know, European thing. It wins races. So the capability there you mentioned functionality, the capability is there. It's you know, there's this beauty to it, that was like, happen to strike a chord for me other people like a, you know, a flat Italian Ferrari or Lamborghini. I like the 911. And then yeah, there's, like ,back to that sort of stuff. It wasn't luxury in the classical sense. It wasn't a Rolls Royce, but it was beautifully designed and finished. And yeah, you felt like you could show up at a, you know, a hotel in St. Moritz, or run it down to the grocery store. Like it just had this versatility about it, that it and again, I wasn't thinking this way as a 10 year old. But this stuff was it, like, Porsche got me, like, they got their hooks in me as a brand because of all those things. And and it's just...and I pay close attention to things like that now in my work, because it's, like, why did they get me? Well, how did Oakley get me as a as a 13 year old, you know. I didn't have, whatever they were, $75 for sunglasses in 1985. But I scraped up and found a way to buy Oakleys, you know? And I liked their grips better than anybody else. These brands just found a way to get into my head and stay there. And I'm really taken by that.

Michelle Rose 47:57

And they come back forever and inform the work you do.

J.J. Colliier 48:01

Yeah, they do... forever.

Michelle Rose 48:02

I mean, I can see it in the work that you've done. I know, your work from spider, I know your work from Triple Aught Design. And it's, for all of us, that that's where we come from. That's what makes us tick and that's where our creativity kind of.... how it comes out. Do you have any specific things when it comes to... especially like the 911 and the colors that you love and the details that you know, have really infiltrated into, you know, the the ski wear and the outdoor gear that you have built?

J.J. Colliier 48:38

Well, it's a little... there's an inherent sort of taste level as I would say, which sounds like terribly pompous kind of like thing, but it's, it's really what I'm talking about. Like, people have different taste levels, designers do customers do. So I have kind of a fundamental baseline of, like, wanting the things I am associated with to meet the criteria that... most of the criteria that I just outlined for the 911, you know? But when I'm working with different brands, like, I feel like I learned so much at Ralph, you know, at Polo. I didn't go to school. I went to school at Ralph Lauren for six years, you know, and that's... people say that he has said that it's a fact. And so that design language, even though I was doing RLX, you know, where it wasn't all the things you outlined so eloquently earlier, you know? We did gray flannel, we did leather, but really, that was punctuation for a runway.RLXS was all about, you know, building authentic technical product and coming from Salomon, they hired me because they knew I knew technical product. But I still, you know, so we were referencing Ralph's car collection. If we did a yellow and black collections because of his yellow and black, you know, Ferrari 360. So it was that design language was... I knew what it was going in. And we had tremendous fun for years doing it. Spyder, shifting gears a little bit, that was a different world. I had grown up aspiring to have Spyder, I couldn't afford it growing up, I found a way to get a few pieces here and there, and then rode for them later.So I kind of knew it. But coming in now, 10 years later, as the head of product, you know, it's... all of a sudden, it's really my baby. And so the pressure now having been on like a friend of the family, all of a sudden it's my baby, that was gnarly. But I respected the heritage, you know, and we had an opportunity to really reinvent it. And those, you know, the race car references, the color and the color blocking, it's, you know, it's not for everybody, but I knew who it was for, and I knew how to level it up. And I had an amazing team. And we we, we had an amazing run at it. And even though the 911 stuff, for example, doesn't play back into Spyder the way it might play back into Polo, the proportion and the finishing and the details and the experience with touch points and all that. Absolutely, absolutely applied.

Michelle Rose 51:09

And you're getting to, with all of these, you're getting to design to high price points. I mean, you know, when I was coming in, in the early 2000s, doing skiwear it's like, that was how I was learning about skiwear. I was looking at Spyder, I was looking at RLX, all through that period of time. Of course wanting to do that at that level, and the brands that I was working for did not work skiwear and, you know, at that level, and so we were pulling inspiration, you know, from that. But it's also the... when you were talking about, you know, a taste level, and there is absolutely something about... it's not pompous, I mean, some people might think about, you know, we buy a brand, because we want a certain kind of ...what is it ?...identity. We want to be identified with that brand.

J.J. Colliier 51:13

Right. Yes,

Michelle Rose 51:16

It's different when you're coming in, like I didn't grow up with a lot of that and so I had to become exposed to it to see what was really nice, you know, be exposed to nice materials, be exposed to great design. And the more you're exposed to it, and you see how beautiful and wonderful, and the craftsmanship or the, you know, sure some things are just higher price points, but their materials are nicer, the details are nicer. You fall in love with that. And you once you get exposed, it's just like being exposed to really nice wine or really good cheese, or just really nice food or anything in life. It's hard to go back to where, maybe, you came from. And so your taste level changes because you get exposed to the possibilities that are out there. And then as a creative, you want to make the coolest possible shit that you can, right, you know? And so you're like, Well, of course I want to work with, you know, this wool and this really high level three layer fabric and I want to build these amazing... we had, you know, I was working on trying to relaunch the old brand, Raffe, which cambia had bought. And we were going to relaunch it as a women's fashion ski wear brand it did not go through, that never happened. But we worked on it and worked on it in conjunction with Nordstrom. But I was looking at, you know, really nice silver pulls with bamboo inlay and that type of thing, like the dreams that you know, you push your levels up. And so when you work with brands like that, you get exposed to higher levels. And then you get to bring that to the next place you go. So I can see that, you know, your experience of working with Salomon, and at that time, Ralph Lauren's RLX line, you know, trying to be really relevant as a sport line, they need the technical. And going to Spyder you get to bring also the technical and the fashion side. You know, and so you bring that piece to both of those companies over time.

J.J. Colliier 54:08

Yeah, that was...they were amazing experiences. And like most things, you know, Ralph does a bunch of runway but the ,you know, a lot of the businesses in entry price point stuff, which is great, because like, I don't, you know, it's not about exclusion, like, you know what I mean, like, getting to work with brands and have kind of carte blanche like we did at Polo was fine. It was certainly fun for a designer, but it also matters to me more than ever that the we build not just the stuff we wanted to make, but stuff that that people are drawn to and that they actually then buy and that they then keep for a long time. Because we know about the challenges with with our business. And so for me, it wasn't about building the most expensive or the most of anything, it was building things that people would like cherish and that's what I feel most, easily the most fortunate about my work.

Michelle Rose 55:03

Yeah. And to me the most sustainable business model, or at least it starts there.

J.J. Colliier 55:08

It should, it should start with quality. I mean, that was the running joke with Spyder was that we were like, you know, we'd see these guys on the mountain, like, That jackets from 1992. You know, it's 2012 and we would see these thing, we're like, How do we get that guy into a new jacket? But his, you know, his jacket was made 40 years ago with Japanese materials that Dave Jacobs paid, you know, to invest in his product because he wanted to make the best stuff...and the stuff was, there it is, 40 years later, and that person still loved it. I mean....

Michelle Rose 55:37

In that cycle, 40 years is cool again.

J.J. Colliier 55:40

Well, yeah, we did start to reference some of the big eagle you know, USA stuff at one point. But it's just the fact is, you know, if you... my Schoeller Salomon stuff, those, some of those prototypes, my dad was wearing one the other day from 2000. And that Schoeller, those Schoeller goods look as good as they did the day that product, you know, hit the market. And, you know, Harris Tweed, too, were sort of where it all started for me, really, if I look, you know, tick back again, my dad is kind of, had kind of a sad upbringing in Boston and goes through ROTC in high school and shows up... gets recruited to Bowdoin College to swim. And he shows up there with like his crappy state issued blazer and he's looking around, going, Yeah, I need a new blazer and he goes and buys his Harris Tweed jacket with probably every cent he had. And so for me for 40 years, the first time, I'm 52, the first time I heard that story, I've thought, Okay, file that away. Harris Tweed is good. And now, you know, now here I am, like, Harris Tweed is still my one of my favorite mills, you know, all time. That's a shocker. Big profound statement. Anyone who knows Harris Tweed is like, wow, cool. Congratulations, you and everybody. But it's like, oh, my God, and those materials look as good, the odd moth hole aside, his Harris Tweed stuff looks outstanding today. I mean, and so that's not luxury or hype. That's just quality and, okay, it's not, maybe not everyone can always have it. But like, if you're gonna do something, that's the way I want to do it. I don't really do... I'm kind of repelled by, by things that are overpriced because of hype. And I understand it, and maybe I'm being a tight ass, but like, I feel like you should build things that are representative of their price tag. Or vice versa, maybe it's vice versa. Yeah.

Michelle Rose 57:42

Quality and craftsmanship, I think, you know, the age that we grew up in with industrialization, just, you know, things got very, very cheap so there could be a lot of them. And we're finally starting to move away from that because we've seen what it's done to our environment, to our lives and whatnot. And I'm thankful for that, you know, that that the idea of fewer better things... that we spend a little bit more for the things that we really love that we're going to keep, you know? It's why I have more Pendleton wool blankets on my bed than any any polyester...

J.J. Colliier 58:15

Yeah, Target ones. Yeah. I know what you mean. And it's and it's hard, right? Because we know that not everyone can make that choice. But I also, I do believe, too, that a lot of people don't know that that is a choice. Education is massively lacking in terms of like, you know, helping share that some of those, you know, they're... they came long before Yvon, but that idea of buying fewer things better, I think is just not being broadcast adequately.

Michelle Rose 58:43

Yeah, it's the exposure, you know, and getting more of that out there.

J.J. Colliier 58:47

Yeah.

Michelle Rose 58:47

And luckily, I think we're seeing more, we've been seeing more of that through more design choices, like you know, better design at places like Target and whatnot have helped. It's not necessarily the best, you know, the best, always the best stuff. But as soon as you start making things a little bit nicer, and people start wanting nicer things, and we just need to make them last.

J.J. Colliier 59:10

Welll, and I don't mean to interrupt you. but I mentioned Target, I didn't mean to dig on Target on the blanket a minute ago. Target's actually one of the... is doing, your right, in women's wear, for example, really some really great looking stuff. And that T shirt will last 20 years if you want it to, but if you take care of it, the punch line is if someone's telling you that T shirt isn't cool anymore. That's really the problem. Like if you got rid of it long before it's the end of its serviceable life because somebody said it wasn't a cool t shirt, that's where we open up a whole fashion Pandora's box here that you know, as a hired Design Director, I should probably be careful being too hard on... but we know why the landfill looks the way it looks. Let's be honest.

Michelle Rose 59:54

Yeah, absolutely. It's the remarketing of new stuff and encouraging people to keep buying cheap new things. Also the awareness, I think, of where things are made, who's making them how much they're, you know, costing to make. If I'm gonna buy a $2.99 tank, tank top...

J.J. Colliier 1:00:12

I know, I know.

Michelle Rose 1:00:14

Nobody was paid well enough to make that thing happen. So...

J.J. Colliier 1:00:18

That is true. And like I said, this is a huge topic because, like, how do you make sure that people who need clothes, firsthand clothes, you know, that ...where they want to live their life like the rest of us, have access to things that are affordable and nice. Nice enough to portray themselves in the world the way they want to and dream to? I mean, I'm close to this because I grew up very modestly, you know, I've become a bit of a snob but I wasn't born one. So I'm like, so I'm acutely aware... acutely aware of seeing things that I wanted and couldn't have. And I think that's another thing where I'm like, I just know I'm not as cool as these other kids because you know, I'm first generation Nike, too. Think about it... like you, you and me both, like 8 years old and I'm like, Wait a minute, it's obvious that those sneakers are cooler than mine and I'm feeling a little bit less than because of it. And that's the first time I started to realize, it's like, Oh, this matters, you know? Little 8 year old punk with my shoes from the PX, the Postal Exchange on base, you know. Nothing wrong with my sneakers. But as soon as I realized there was something better out there, it really hurt.

Michelle Rose 1:01:28

Yeah, yeah. And that's that other awareness... you become aware of what you don't... and that comparison.

J.J. Colliier 1:01:33

Yeah, it... and that, if we want to dig in, I mean, if you don't think that impacted my desire to like, be... somehow do something cooler. It certainly, it certainly did.

Michelle Rose 1:01:49

You have been listening to UnStructured, the podcast from Struktur Society. If you enjoyed this episode, please DOWNLLOAD, SHARE, LLIKE, SUBSCRIBE, and add your thoughts and suggestions in the comments. Also, please consider a substack PAID SUBSCRIPTION to help us bring even more meaningful content and connection points to you and our Creator Community. Here you will find articles and news as well as the podcast and additional content. We cannot grow without YOU. Thanks for listening and talk to you soon.

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In 2017, Struktur Event held it's largest 3-day creative conference to date. The event was located at the Left Bank Annex in Portland, Oregon, and hosted an impressive array of speakers across the industries in outdoor and performance design, research, sustainability, business, technology, team building and more.

This is the first time the audio-only recordings of the speaker sessions have been released. This amazing talk is with NASA space suit engineer, Amy Ross.

https://www.nasa.gov/audience/foreduc...

Amy Ross is a Space Suit Engineer at NASA's Johnson Space Center. Currently, she is the team lead for the Advanced Space Suit Pressure Garment Technology Department group, consisting of civil servants, engineers, and technicians.

She is responsible for all EVA pressure garment technology development for the agency. Her projects include the new Z-2 suit, designed for surface missions such as the moon or Mars. She's worked on a variety of engineered systems for NASA, including the Constellation Space Suit System pressure garment subsystem, Shuttle space suit gloves subsystem, and the Space Launch initiative crew escape suit.

Photos: Chelsea Parrett

© StrukturSphere llc, 2022

In 2017, Struktur Event held it's largest 3-day creative conference to date. The event was located at the Left Bank Annex in Portland, Oregon, and hosted an impressive array of speakers across the industries in outdoor and performance design, research, sustainability, business, technology, team building and more. This is the first time the audio-only recordings of the speaker sessions have been released.

This panel discussion is led by Karuna Scheinfeld, then VP of Design at Woolrich, and Amanda Goad, founder of BoldBrew. Panelists include Jainee Dial of Wylder Goods, Gale Straub of SheExplores, Michelle M Rose of Struktur Society, Liana Delucca Johnson of DeluccaJ Design, and Jeanine Pesce of RANGE.

Karuna Scheinfeld received a BFA in Fashion Design from Parsons School of Design, graduating with honors as well as both Gold and Silver thimble awards. She found her ideal combination of classic American design with quality product at Woolrich, John Rick & Bros. in Bologna, Italy in 2008 where she was hired to head the mens collection and eventually become global concept director. She returned to New York in 2012 to join the American side of Woolrich, Inc where she has been VP of Design since. She currently lives in Brooklyn, NY with her husband and two wild children. (2017)

Amanda Goad is a co-founder at BoldBrew, a public relations and content creative shop based Colorado's San Juans, dedicated to innovative partnerships and real storytelling. When not geeking out over the evolution of communications, Amanda can usually be found exploring the Four Corners region of the Rockies, skiing, mountain biking, hiking, off-roading... all things outside. (2017)

© StrukturSphere llc, 2022

Welcome to the UnStruktured Podcast.

I'm Michelle Rose... musician, martial artist, and design leader shaping some of the largest brands in the outdoor industry from The North Face to Columbia Sportswear, former espresso slinger and barista trainer at Starbucks and stylishly badass girl.

In this episode I introduce you to my new co-host, the one and only Bob Smith... fellow musician, graphic designer, and creative leader defining iconic brands such as Nike, New Balance, and Pendleton, former band poster maker and slacker at Kinkos and still-ever-curious kid.

In this series, Bob and I connect with the creators behind the scenes of brands and bands across modern fashion and music. We'll bring you deep conversations and insights from the people behind the things you use, wear, and listen to every day.

00:00 Introduction to the Unstruktured Podcast

00:20 Meet the Co-Host: Bob Smith

01:00 Early Memories of Music

03:47 The Impact of MTV

04:45 The Evolution of Music Tastes

12:03 Discovering Jazz and Musical Journey

16:12 The Intersection of Music and Design

18:48 The Birth of Struktur

40:28 Challenges in the Design Industry

43:26 Creating the Event You Want to Attend

44:10 Sponsorship Challenges and Support

45:12 Networking and Outreach Efforts

47:06 Reflecting on the Golden Era

48:11 Interactive Events and Community Building

51:10 The Importance of Relevant Speakers

53:17 Personal Growth and Overcoming Challenges

01:01:35 Martial Arts Journey and Life Lessons

01:10:41 Portland in the 90s: A Magical Time

01:19:03 Intentions for the Podcast

01:25:44 Concluding Thoughts and Future Plans

BOB SMITH

Bob is an LA-born, Portland-based entrepreneur, brand, and apparel creative with 25 years of experience building and enhancing brands at venerable companies like Nike, Pendleton Woolen Mills, and New Balance, to name a few.

After spending his early years as a drummer in the burgeoning Portland music scene, he got his first real grownup job as a walk-on at Nike, armed with a handful of design-school credit hours and a portfolio full of band posters. While at what he fondly refers to as “The University of Nike,” he birthed the Nike Sportswear “re-issue” collection, which tapped into the company’s soul and history.

In 2017, he took the plunge to found Ore-Cal Sportswear, a loving mash-note to the West Coast culture of his youth. He now serves as Chief Creative Officer at Open Source Election Technology Institute and its public outreach, Trust The Vote. Bob also consults for brands global and unheard of with his partner Adrienne Mercante at BAD Idea.

MICHELLE M ROSE

Michelle is an American fashion designer, martial artist, musician, podcaster, writer, mother, and connector of creative minds who has spent over 30 years leading, training, and mentoring artists to find their path.

Starting down a rough road, Michelle turned to the martial arts and eastern philosophy to focus her future, earning a fifth degree black belt and putting herself through college studying design and international business. She became one of the highest-selling designers for top outdoor companies such as Columbia Sportswear and The North Face, eventually founding the first design conference for the outdoor, active and urban industries called Struktur Event.

Michelle co-founded Struktur Event and the original Struktur Podcast with Sam Ward in 2013 and 2015 respectively as a creative resource of professional development, community, and connection for professional designers in the active, outdoor, and urban space. In 2021 Michelle relaunched Struktur Society from her belief that artists, designers, musicians, and writers are the visionaries who shape our future, and from her understanding for what it means and takes to live in this world as a creative.

STRUKTUR SOCIETY

This episode was brought to you by Struktur Society, the community for creators in art, design, and music. For almost a decade Struktur has brought together creatives from across the industrial, apparel, graphic, and sound design industries, building professional relationships, creating a platform for knowledge sharing, and raising the bar of product creation. From live events and workshops, to publication and podcasting, Struktur continues to evolve to build the strong creator community needed to craft our future.

Find us at struktursociety.com and subscribe to our Substack at struktursociety.substack.com.

© StrukturSphere llc 2025. Original music by Greg Brace Music.

In 2017, Struktur Event held it's largest 3-day creative conference to date. The event was located at the Left Bank Annex in Portland, Oregon, and hosted an impressive array of speakers across the industries in outdoor and performance design, research, sustainability, business, technology, team building and more. This is the first time the audio-only recordings of the speaker sessions have been released.

This session is with Carl Moriarty, Drummond Lawson, and Ian Yolles of Arc'teryx.

https://arcteryx.com/us/en/

New Zealand-born Industrial Designer Carl Moriarty is the Design Director for Apparel for Arc'teryx. For the past seven years, he has led the brand's talented, in-house design team, which continues to set industry standards in design and Innovation. Today Carl has more than fourteen years working at the forefront of apparel and equipment design. As an avid skier, biker, and distance runner, he uses his time in the mountains and on the trials to help validation and refinement of the extensive Arc'teryx product line.

Drummond Lawson the the sustainability director at Arc'teryx. In his three-plus years at the brand, he launched and now leads its social and environmental impact programs. An environmental chemist by background, Drummond previously directed sustainability efforts at Method Products in San Francisco and worked as a materials science and cradle-to-cradle product design researcher at EPEA in Hamburg.

Ian Yolles blends the discipline and strategic acumen of large global brands, the agility of entrepreneurial start-ups and the purpose of non-profits. He has extensive executive level experience managing brand-building and marketing activities for some of the worlds most influential consumer product companies including Nike, Patagonia, and Nau, all of whom defined themselves based on their string commitment to innovation and sustainability.

© StrukturSphere llc, 2022

In 2017, Struktur Event held it's largest 3-day creative conference to date. The event was located at the Left Bank Annex in Portland, Oregon, and hosted an impressive array of speakers across the industries in outdoor and performance design, research, sustainability, business, technology, team building and more. This is the first time the audio-only recordings of the speaker sessions have been released.

This panel discussion is led by design and innovation leader, Julianne Gauron. Panelists include Elizabeth LeMay of Studio 317, Emily Walzer of Textile Insight, and Stephen Kerns, President of Schoeller Textil USA.

Julianne is a creative problem solver who views technology as a means of connecting us to and accessing our bodies more deeply.She currently consults with fashion, technology, and sports apparel clients on novel body designs, and has contributed to design and technology work over the past two years at Manufacture New York, and holds a position as Creative Advisor of Descience.

© StrukturSphere llc, 2022

In 2017, Struktur Event held it's largest 3-day creative conference to date. The event was located at the Left Bank Annex in Portland, Oregon, and hosted an impressive array of speakers across the industries in outdoor and performance design, research, sustainability, business, technology, team building and more. This is the first time the audio-only recordings of the speaker sessions have been released.

This talk is with Jonathan Cedar, co-founder of BioLite.

Jonathan Cedar is CEO and co founder of BioLite, a social enterprise that designs clean, affordable energy systems for off-grid communities around the world. The company's first products are wood-burning stoves which reduce toxic smoke emissions by 90% while generating electricity to charge cell phones and LED lights. BioLite follows a model of Parallel Innovation in which it funds the one-time market establishment costs for its emerging markets by reinvesting revenue from product sales in the US and European recreation markets.

© StrukturSphere llc, 2022

In 2017, Struktur Event held it's largest 3-day creative conference to date. The event was located at the Left Bank Annex in Portland, Oregon, and hosted an impressive array of speakers across the industries in outdoor and performance design, research, sustainability, business, technology, team building and more. This is the first time the audio-only recordings of the speaker sessions have been released.

This talk is with Alex Valdman, then Creative Director at Rapha, currently Global Head of Creative at Allbirds.

Based in London, Alex Valdman has been in the garment game since he was a kid, learning the art of tailoring from his grandfather and the craft of sewing from his mother.Alex learned the ropes of small business before moving on to larger roles, consulting on denim programs for Supreme, and Levi's as a Global Menswear Designer.

As his career has evolved, so have his contributions to intelligent design. At the time of this recording Alex was heading up innovative projects as the Creative Director of Rapha, eventually moving up to become Chief Creative Officer and moving on to take on the role of Global Head of Creative at Allbirds.

© StrukturSphere llc, 2022

In 2017, Struktur Event held it's largest 3-day creative conference to date. The event was located at the Left Bank Annex in Portland, Oregon, and hosted an impressive array of speakers across the industries in outdoor and performance design, research, sustainability, business, technology, team building and more.

This is the first time the audio-only recordings of the speaker sessions have been released. This talk is with industrial design leader Michael DiTullo.

https://www.michaelditullo.com/

Formerly Chief Design Officer for Sound United, Michael DiTullo is a passionate advocate as well as experienced practitioner of design. His responsibilities included ethnographic research, product definition, design strategy, brand positioning, industrial design, and marketing creative for the Definitive, Polk, and BOOM brands.

In addition to his work at Sound United, he is a contributor for the well-known design resource, core77.com where he writes about the effect, value, and how-to's of design.

Prior to Sound United Michael was Creative Director at the legendary frog design where he led teams that worked with Google, Motorola, Honda, Braun, Brooks, Harman Kardon, and Intel.

Before frog, DiTullo spent nearly a decade developing several product collections at Nike Inc for the Converse, Jordan, and Nike brands, from concept to production.

MORE ON MICHAEL DITULLO

Michael was a recent guest on StarTalk with Neil DeGrasse Tyson. A hilarious and incredibly informative discussion about what links diabetes, amputations, and sneaker design. Make sure to check it out to see Michael’s current work:

© StrukturSphere llc, 2022

In 2017, Struktur Event held it's largest 3-day creative conference to date. The event was located at the Left Bank Annex in Portland, Oregon, and hosted an impressive array of speakers across the industries in outdoor and performance design, research, sustainability, business, technology, team building and more. This is the first time the audio-only recordings of the speaker sessions have been released. This talk is with Anton Willis, founder of the first origami kayak, Oru Kayak.

https://www.orukayak.com/

Anton Willis grew up in the woods of Norther California, canoeing and kayaking the area's lovely rivers, lakes, and coast. He took up urban kayaking in the Bay while studying architecture at UC Berkeley. When a move to a small apartment forced his kayak into storage, he started thinking about folding kayaks..and happened to read an article about origami, thus setting the Oru Kayak in motion. He keeps up his love for architecture by very slowly remodeling his house, which he hopes to get into Dwell Magazine someday.

© StrukturSphere llc, 2022

In 2017, Struktur Event held it's largest 3-day creative conference to date. The event was located at the Left Bank Annex in Portland, Oregon, and hosted an impressive array of speakers across the industries in outdoor and performance design, research, sustainability, business, technology, team building and more. This is the first time the audio-only recordings of the speaker sessions have been released. This talk is with former NIKE innovation leader and founder of Studio 317, Elizabeth LeMay.

Studio 317: http://www.studio-317.com/

Elizabeth LeMay is a high-achieving product creation and innovation professional with over 25 years experience in advanced innovation, development, sourcing, strategic planning and team building at Fortune 500 companies. Elizabeth retired from Nike Inc after 17 years in apparel product creation and innovation leadership and executive roles, and opened Studio 317, an advanced apparel innovation and prototype studio located in Portland, OR. The studio is her vision for the future of apparel innovation.

© StrukturSphere llc, 2022

In 2017, Struktur Event held its largest three-day creative conference to date. The event was located at the Left Bank Annex in Portland, Oregon, and hosted an impressive array of speakers across the industries in outdoor and performance design, research, sustainability, business, technology, team building and more. This is the first time the audio-only recordings of the speaker sessions have been released. Session three is with Jeff Nash and Tabea Soriano of Futuremade.

As an outdoor industry executive Jeff Nash believes in using responsible business practices as a primary lens for innovation and growth. Throughout the majority of his career he has thrived in the unique intersection of product creation and supply chain management. Jeff is a technical trailblazer continually in search of new opportunities to embed quality and sustainability into all professional activities. Jeff built his expertise during periods of rapid growth and change at The North Face and Black Diamond Equipment.

Tabea Soriano is a kaleidoscopic product person. She has an extensive background in traditional fashion design management, product development and supply chain systems, coupled with an innate desire to continuously improve upon the status quo. Her approach to teasing out the most desirable product couples thoughtful design with sustainability and business innovation considerations. And she knows how to bridge the gap on storytelling and brand communications.

© StrukturSphere llc, 2022

In 2017, Struktur Event held its largest three-day creative conference to date. The event was located at the Left Bank Annex in Portland, Oregon, and hosted an impressive array of speakers across the industries in outdoor and performance design, research, sustainability, business, technology, team building and more. This is the first time the audio-only recordings of the speaker sessions have been released. This session is with David and Mary Sherwin of Ask The Sherwins, a husband and wife consulting and training firm for design leadership.

https://www.askthesherwins.com/

David and Mary Sherwin are co-founders of Ask The Sherwins, LLC, a consulting and training firm dedicated to helping leaders create design-driven teams and individuals gain the skills they need to solve complex challenges. They have recently coached product design teams and advised on innovation training practices for organizations such as MailChimp, Tipping Point Community, Designlab, and Playworks. They are on the visiting faculty at Copenhagen Institute of Interaction Design and California College of the Arts.

© StrukturSphere llc, 2022

In 2017, Struktur Event held its largest three-day creative conference to date. The event was located at the Left Bank Annex in Portland, Oregon, and hosted an impressive array of speakers across the industries in outdoor and performance design, research, sustainability, business, technology, team building and more. This is the first time the audio-only recordings of the speaker sessions have been released. Our first is the opening keynote with designer/researcher Jan Chipchase.

From Jan's website, http://janchipchase.com/about/:

I’m the founder and director of Studio D Radiodurans, a research, design and innovation consultancy. I specialise in identifying nuanced patterns of human behaviour. The insight it generates informs and inspires design, strategy, brand and public policy. The studio has a discreet roster of clients that have a global presence and outlook.

I spend up to half of each year on the road, and in the skies and turned what I learned about life on the road, into ultra-light luggage brand SDR Traveller.

Earlier in my career I was Executive Creative Director of Global Insights at frog, a global design and innovation consultancy, where I headed up the global research practice. Prior to that I was Principal Scientist at Nokia where I specialised in entry level products. I’ve worked on products that have collectively sold over a billion units.

I used to do a lot of media. Field work is easier when you keep a lower profile.

My first book Hidden in Plain Sight was published in English, Japanese, Chinese, Korean and Russian. It became a best-seller in South Korea, of all places. The follow-up Today’s Office was published in South Korea. I also wrote The Field Study Handbook.

At various times I’ve been based out of London, Shanghai, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Berlin and a decade in Tokyo.

I’ve got a thing about mountains and off-season travel to remote destinations.

© StrukturSphere llc, 2022

Welcome to the UnStruktured Podcast!

In this episode, I talk with design leader Hadrien Monloup, cofounder of the premium brand Bellroy and the ultimate community for carry called Carryology.

From his early years growing up in Paris with a family of artists, to moving across the globe to build his design career with Rip Curl in Australia, Hadrien has spent his life making leaps and taking risks to keep growing as a creative. Coining the term 'carry' and starting Bellroy with the idea of 'slimming down the wallet', Hadrien has been an integral part of creating a new way to view how we move freely in our day-to-day lives.

Hadrien and I talk about our shared passions for design and martial arts, his experience starting new companies, what's broken in corporate design, and his plans for the future running his agency, Monloup Creative.

HADRIEN MONLOUP

CREATIVITY IS AT THE VERY CORE OF MY LIFE

Growing up in a family of creatives in Paris, I fell in love with the power of creating meaningful things.

The day I walked into a new design school that had just opened in my street, I found my calling. Totally inspired, I dedicated my life to creating great products.

With a desire to expand my creativity and see more of the world, I moved to Australia where I designed bags and accessories for the renowned surf brand, Rip Curl.

It was there I embraced the challenges, and impact, of designing for global markets - working across multiple products ranges, teams and suppliers. I also saw how frustrating big-brand constraints can be. I couldn’t help but think there must be a better way.

THE BIRTH OF BELLROY

So, a friend and I took the leap to create our own brand. Bellroy and Carryology were born. My days were immersed in every aspect of design, business, and brand-building. We came up with new ways to think about design, creativity, and process. Better, faster results followed. In a few short years, Bellroy grew from just 4 people to over 100 staff, first selling in 1 country, to being in over 150.

This time taught me how to see the business as a whole. To ask the right questions and drill down to the parts that really matter. We focused on building stronger objectives, aligning the entire leadership and creative on them, and executing well and fast.

From Bellroy, I became passionate about sharing my knowledge, ways of thinking about design, creative processes and collaborative work with other brands.

I want to help others in their journey to success. So, I created Monloup Creative.

Now, here we are.

STRUKTUR SOCIETY

This episode was brought to you by Struktur Society, the community for creators in art, design, and music. For almost a decade Struktur has brought together creatives from across the industrial, apparel, graphic, and sound design industries, building professional relationships, creating a platform for knowledge sharing, and raising the bar of product creation.

From live events and workshops, to publication and podcasting, Struktur continues to evolve to build the strong creator community needed to craft our future. Find us at struktursociety.com and subscribe to our Substack at struktursociety.substack.com.

© StrukturSphere llc 2024. Original music by Greg Brace Music.

Struktur Society is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Join us as we revisit the unearthed first episodes of the Struktur podcast, remembering the pre-pandemic world of active outdoor design with words of wisdom from the professionals who drive the industry. In this episode we talked with Sue Bal, Business Development Manager for the Athletic and Outdoor Industry at Prosper Portland (formerly the Portland Development Commission).

Portland is ground zero of the outdoor industry. But did you ever wonder how that happened? The PDC, Portland’s economic development agency plays a vital role in nurturing athletic and outdoor brands. Sue Bal works with their A&O program to support the more than 800 companies that call PDX home. Sue tells us how the PDC’s programs work, and what their vision is for a thriving outdoor industry.

Portland Athletic and Outdoor

Music: We Are; by a ninja slob drew me

Join us as we revisit the unearthed first episodes of the Struktur podcast, remembering the pre-pandemic world of active outdoor design with words of wisdom from the professionals who drive the industry. In this episode we talked with Trent Bush, longtime design leader and culture creator in the skate + snow space. From Twist, Burton and Analog, Fenix Outdoor, Mountain Hardwear, to Black Diamond and more, Trent has now poured his decades of passion and expertise into founding Artilect Studio.

Trent Bush has created a design practice out of a lifelong obsession. As a child of the 70s and 80s in Boulder, Colorado., he grew up skateboarding and snowboarding. Inspired by the early DIY culture, Trent and a small crew founded Twist, a snowboarding brand that gave them room to experiment and cut their teeth while building their brand. After growing it to #2 in their category, the brand collapsed after their investor and distributor pulled out in the wake of the financial crisis in Japan.

Trent headed east to join Burton, and has since gone on to design with the most recognized brands in the business.

His experience and knowledge transcends what we can fit into one episode, so stay tuned for more from Trent in a later episode!

Artilect Studio

Music: We Are; by a ninja slob drew me

Join us as we revisit the unearthed first episodes of the Struktur podcast, remembering the pre-pandemic world of active outdoor design with words of wisdom from the professionals who drive the industry. In this episode we talked with Liana Delucca Johnson, industrial designer and co founder of Agency Aspect.

An industrial design degree from Art Center and a strong sense of self-confidence gave Liana Delucca-Johnson the hard and soft skills she needed to build a successful career as a soft-goods designer. We talk with her about being one of the few women in a traditionally male-dominated field, her experiences at Camelbak and The North Face, and where she’s going next.

Delucca J Design

Music: We Are; by a ninja slob drew me

Join us as we revisit the unearthed first episodes of the Struktur podcast, remembering the pre-pandemic world of active outdoor design with words of wisdom from the professionals who drive the industry. In this episode we talked with Douglas Davidson, founder of The Brown Buffalo.

Douglas Davidson is an industrial designer with a thriving career creating bags and accessories for many of the world’s leading brands. He’s worked with Burton, The North Face, Nike, Adidas, Quicksilver, Vans, and many more, both within the company, and as a highly sought after freelancer.

We talk with Douglas about how early mentorship, his innate curiosity, and a strong drive led to a fruitful career. He tells us about how his extensive travelling with his family helped him develop a point-of-view about design. His insights on design education, being a successful collaborator, and what it takes to stand out as a great designer are essential listening.

Douglas talks about his extensive design library, and how it informs his practice. We hear about his approach to building and leading teams, and how he uses it to create a shared vision around product.

thebrownbuffalo.com

Music: We Are; by a ninja slob drew me

Join us as we revisit the unearthed first episodes of the Struktur podcast, remembering the pre-pandemic world of active outdoor design with words of wisdom from the professionals who drive the industry. In this episode we talked with technical apparel design leader Jessica Hemmer, currently Baby Care Global Innovation & Materials Design Manager at Procter & Gamble.

Jessica Hemmer, Founder and Creative Director at Hemmer Design, has built a career designing for companies including Woolrich, Under Armour, and Bemis. Her experience in advanced construction techniques such as sew-free and bonding have put her on the cutting edge of modern technical apparel. We talk with her about her path from a new designer to collaborating with some of the largest brands in the industry to help them realize their vision.

Hemmer Design

Music: We Are; by a ninja slob drew me

Join us as we revisit the unearthed first episodes of the Struktur podcast, remembering the pre-pandemic world of active outdoor design with words of wisdom from the professionals who drive the industry. In this episode we talked with Anton Willis, Founder and Chief Design Officer of Oru Kayak.

The Japanese art of origami inspired Anton Willis to create the Oru Kayak, a folding kayak designed for urban dwellers. In this episode, we talk with Anton about his design process, working in the context of a maker space, and taking on the title of Chief Design Officer.

Oru Kayak

Music: We Are; by a ninja slob drew me

Join us as we revisit the unearthed first episodes of the Struktur podcast, remembering the pre-pandemic world of active outdoor design with words of wisdom from the professionals who drive the industry. In this episode we talked with Martina Brimmer, now the CEO Swift Industries.

With a background in small-scale agriculture and a drive to create, Martina Brimmer guides a small dedicated team making bicycle bags in Seattle, WA. She explains her evolution from maker to designer, and how that identity affects the products that Swift makes, and the community they’ve grown. A strong punk-rock culture gives Martina and Swift Industries a unique place in the soft-goods industry, and the guts to launch her company during the height of the past recession.

Swift Industries

Music: We Are; by a ninja slob drew me

Join us as we revisit the unearthed first episodes of the Struktur podcast, remembering the pre-pandemic world of active outdoor design with words of wisdom from the professionals who drive the industry. We kick off with Alex Valdman, now Head of Creative for the sustainable footwear brand, Allbirds, from March 10th, 2016. Written, recorded, edited, and produced by Struktur founders Sam Ward and Michelle Rose.

From fabric shopping with Kanye, to cycling in Tuscany, Alex Valdman knows where design happens – and it’s not in front of a computer. We talk with Alex, design director of Rapha, about the changing role of the designer, the nature of creativity, and knowing when to rebel against the system.

Music: We Are; by a ninja slob drew me

Welcome to the UnStruktured Podcast!

In this episode I talk with sustainable design leader Andrew Morgan. Starting out in the Ready-To-Wear and high-end fashion world of New York in the 1980s, creating collections for luxury department stores such as Bergdorf Goodman, Barneys, Saks Fifth Avenue, Bloomingdales, and Neiman Marcus, Andrew eventually made a shift to focus on sustainable textiles for the home, spa, and hospitality industries.

Designing for top brands like Hyatt, Hilton, Marriott, Ritz Carlton, Mandarin Oriental, Fred Segal, Crate+Barrel, and many more, Andrew led the industry in producing luxury textile accessories that were modern, durable, and ethical.

Now, with a focus on clean and green, fashion-forward, and technologically innovative materials, Andrew is guiding the textile world into the future with his new company called KNYTLAB by Andrew Thomas Morgan.

ANDREW MORGAN

Andrew exploded into the home decor market in 2000, designing knitted textile decorative accessories using his tailored, cutting-edge, and modern aesthetic honed over the twelve years he spent creating exclusive apparel lines as ready-to-wear Design Director. His signature fashion-forward style attracted clients including Bergdorf Goodman, Neiman Marcus, Barneys, Saks Fifth Avenue, Burberry, and hundreds of specialty stores. 

In 2006, Andrew launched a hospitality and spa collection that received an immediate embrace. His hotel clients included Four Seasons, Ritz Carlton, Kimpton Hotels, Omni Hotels, Waldorf Astoria, Miraval Hotel and Spa, Mandarin Oriental LV, among many others. He has always anticipated and addressed the ever-changing needs of his discerning clientele. As a textile innovator who designs products to solve aesthetic and housekeeping issues, he introduced antimicrobial and environmentally conscious yarns over twenty years ago. 

Currently, Andrew is the founder of the KNYTLAB, a collection of technical knits and performance wovens inspired by international travel and a fashion-forward aesthetic. The KNYTLAB collection is based on the "Circular Economy" concept, enabling the end user to design, redesign, repurpose, or embellish, creating a new aesthetic with practical solutions and easy care.

EPISODE SPONSORS

Struktur Society

This episode was brought to you by Struktur Society, the community for creators in art, design, and music. For almost a decade Struktur has brought together creatives from across the industrial, apparel, graphic, and sound design industries, building professional relationships, creating a platform for knowledge sharing, and raising the bar of product creation.

From live events and workshops to publication and podcasting, Struktur continues to evolve to build the strong creator community needed to craft our future. Find us at struktursociety.com and subscribe to our Substack at struktursociety.substack.com.

© StrukturSphere llc 2024. Original music by Greg Brace Music.

Struktur Society is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Welcome to the UnStruktured podcast!

In this episode I talk with Performance Designer turned Regenerative Farmer Star Miklashek Hoerauf. Pulling from an active and creative childhood, Star has woven her love of animals, holistic patterns, and clothing into a mindful way of life.

Carving out her early career creating award-winning performance apparel for cutting-edge brands like Arc'teryx, The North Face, and Patagonia, Star then channeled her art, knowledge, and drive to do the right thing for people and planet into becoming a true regenerative farmer.

A passionate mother with a clear mind and strong will, Star now runs her own farm in British Columbia called MorningStar Woollen.

STAR MIKLASHEK HOERAUF

Three key elements are woven through Star’s life: a love of animals, holistic patterns, and clothing.

Inspired by an intelligent, go-getter mum in early adulthood, the allure and excitement of the city, and a fear of farming being out of reach, Star decided to obtain a degree in Fashion. 

Lack of authenticity drove Star from fashion to feed her analytical brain and seek employment designing outdoor apparel and soft goods. She landed her first design job at Arc’teryx in 1998, later working as lead designer for The North Face and Patagonia building cutting-edge product. 

Once Married with kids, Star chose to complete her Waldorf teacher training and eventually buy a small farm. Now she is passionately striving to raise carbon-beneficial wool, design clothing, and teach folks how to grow and dye textiles, while also growing regenerative flowers for weddings and beyond ….all with a focus on soil health and environmental harmony.

Featured in Trailblazher Magazine, Spring 2024 https://shop.trailblazherco.com/products/issue-14-spring-2024

EPISODE SPONSORS

Schoeller

This episode of UnStruktured is brought to you by Schoeller, the global textile company headquartered in Switzerland, specializing in the development and manufacturing of high-performance fabrics and textile technologies for athletic, outdoor, fashion and workwear categories.  

Founded more than 150 years ago, Schoeller calls upon its vast history of experience working with the most advanced equipment in compliance with the world’s toughest environmental systems. Quality and sustainability have always served as the brand’s core principles, with the entire production chain – from raw materials to the finished product – intensely scrutinized.  

For more information, visit www.schoeller-textiles.com.

Struktur Society

This episode was brought to you by Struktur Society, the community for creators in art, design, and music. For almost a decade Struktur has brought together creatives from across the industrial, apparel, graphic, and sound design industries, building professional relationships, creating a platform for knowledge sharing, and raising the bar of product creation.

From live events and workshops, to publication and podcasting, Struktur continues to evolve to build the strong creator community needed to craft our future. Find us at struktursociety.com and subscribe to our Substack at struktursociety.substack.com.

© StrukturSphere llc 2024. Original music by Greg Brace Music.

Struktur Society is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Welcome to the UnStruktured podcast!

In this episode I talk with producer and audio engineer Stanley Soares. Born in Brazil and based in the US, Stanley has dedicated his career to the art of sound engineering.

From traveling the world to serve as the Front Of House engineer for Megadeth, Motorhead, Sepultura, Devin Townsend, and many more, to earning several Latin Grammy nominations for Best Rock Song and Best Rock Album, Stanley's passion for music and experience in helping high-powered artists achieve their sonic vision has helped him become a trusted expert in the field.

Stanley I dig into his early path to music in Brazil, becoming a live and studio engineer working with legends like Lemmy and Ronnie James Dio, and what it takes to keep growing and stay balanced in the dynamic and fast-paced world of rock and metal.

STANLEY SOARES

Stanley Soares is a producer, live and studio engineer born in Brazil currently based in the US who has dedicated his career to the art of sound engineering. Starting as as self-taught musician, Stanley’s almost accidental introduction to a recording studio sparked his passion for audio engineering, Since then, he has relentlessly pursued knowledge and honed his skills, becoming a trusted expert in the field, working with diverse range from heavy metal to Latin music, Stanley`s dedication and expertise help artists achieve their sonic vision.

Stanley has travel the world, serving as a front of house engineer for renowned artists including Megadeth, Motorhead, Sepultura, Meshuggah, Juanes, Devin Townsend. In studio, his work has earned several Latin Grammys nominations for Best Rock Song and Best Rock Album with the Latin American metal supergroup De La Tierra, Best Brazilian Rock Album with Andreas Kisser solo album Hubris and Best Sertaneja Music Album with Brazilian artist Paula Fernandes album Meus Encantos.

Struktur Society

This episode was brought to you by Struktur Society, the community for creators in art, design, and music. For almost a decade Struktur has brought together creatives from across the industrial, apparel, graphic, and sound design industries, building professional relationships, creating a platform for knowledge sharing, and raising the bar of product creation.

From live events and workshops, to publication and podcasting, Struktur continues to evolve to build the strong creator community needed to craft our future. Find us at struktursociety.com and subscribe to our Substack at struktursociety.substack.com.

© StrukturSphere llc 2024. Original music by Greg Brace Music.

Struktur Society is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Welcome to the UnStruktured podcast!

In this episode, I talk with Dan Trapp, C-Suite and Senior Leadership Headhunter for the Sports and Outdoor Industry. With thirty years of leadership experience working with companies like Salomon, Hoka and Columbia Sportswear, Dan now uses his expertise and network to help brands build high-caliber leadership teams.

Dan and I connect on our early years working together at Columbia, his journey through the industry, and his choice to become a recruiter and mentor through founding Trapp Executive Search and his new YouTube Channel and Podcast called Sports+Outdoor Mentors.

DAN TRAPP

With thirty years of leadership experience in the Sports and Outdoor industry, with brands including Salomon, Hoka, and Columbia Sports, Dan now uses his expertise and network to help his clients build their best leadership team ever. 

Having lived and worked in the UK, Switzerland, France, and Finland for North American, European, and Asian-owned businesses, Dan has a global perspective uniquely positioning him to understand the requirements and challenges in building effective international leadership teams. 

Dan is also the Founder of Sports+Outdoor Mentors, a YouTube Channel and Podcast that gives him access to senior leaders throughout the industry, encouraging them to share their biggest triumphs, failures, and most valuable lessons to help others on their career path in the Sports & Outdoor industry.

EO Executives

Sports+Outdoor Mentors : Youtube | Apple Podcasts | Spotify

EPISODE SPONSORS

Schoeller

This episode of UnStruktured is brought to you by Schoeller, the global textile company headquartered in Switzerland, specializing in the development and manufacturing of high-performance fabrics and textile technologies for athletic, outdoor, fashion and workwear categories.  

Founded more than 150 years ago, Schoeller calls upon its vast history of experience working with the most advanced equipment in compliance with the world’s toughest environmental systems. Quality and sustainability have always served as the brand’s core principles, with the entire production chain – from raw materials to the finished product – intensely scrutinized.  

For more information, visit www.schoeller-textiles.com.

Struktur Society

This episode was brought to you by Struktur Society, the community for creators in art, design, and music. For almost a decade Struktur has brought together creatives from across the industrial, apparel, graphic, and sound design industries, building professional relationships, creating a platform for knowledge sharing, and raising the bar of product creation.

From live events and workshops, to publication and podcasting, Struktur continues to evolve to build the strong creator community needed to craft our future. Find us at struktursociety.com and subscribe to our Substack at struktursociety.substack.com.

© StrukturSphere llc 2023. Original music by Greg Brace Music.

Struktur Society is a reader/listener-supported publication and podcast. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Welcome to the UnStruktured Podcast!

In this episode, I talk with Pro Audio Engineer Lenise Bent. A hidden legend in her own right, Lenise is known for her work on huge rock classics such as Steely Dan's Aja and Supertramp's Breakfast In America, as well as for being the first female recording engineer to be recognized with a platinum album for Blondie's Autoamerican.

Lenise and I talk about her experience working with Debbie Harry, Chris Stein and the multitudes of artists who contributed to Autoamerican, and we dig into each song to discover the process and creative intent behind this unique genre-melding album.

I am so excited and honored to bring you this conversation with Lenise Bent. This episode holds special meaning for me since Blondie's Autoamerican was one of the very first albums I bought and owned as a young girl in the 80’s...ever.

Growing up in the California Bay Area with a dad who played in local area rock bands, I had a "record collection" of my own by the time I was ten. One my very first albums was the new 1981 release of Autoamerican sitting right alongside Pat Benatar's Crimes Of Passion.

Debbie Harry and Pat Benetar were so inspirational to me as a young girl and contributed massively to my earliest sense of what it meant to be a strong, independent, and powerful woman.

I didn't know that Autoamerican was recorded by a woman, or that she would be the first female recording engineer recognized for a platinum record. Nor did I have any idea that I would ever meet this woman and become friends.

I have to say that Lenise is one of the most incredible people I've ever met. She is so caring, so generous, so passionate about music, her work and supporting others. She shows up where and when it matters and she shows up fully.

A huge thank you to Lenise for being so giving of her time talking about this album. Her excitement for this work is palpable and it was such a joy for me to listen to and break down each individual song with her. I mean, what a treat for me to geek out over one of my favorite albums of all time with the woman who recorded it. My own questions don't do it justice by a long shot but we do uncover some interesting and unexpected details and I hope you find some joy in it as well.

Blondie's Autoamercian is part of rock-n-roll history and I hope you uncover a new appreciation for the amazing work and the creative process behind it. At the very least, you'll find joy in the storytelling of Lenise Bent.

LENISE BENT

Lenise Bent has enjoyed a long career as an audio engineer and producer, honing her skills on many iconic records including “Aja” by Steely Dan and “Breakfast in America” by Supertramp. She is the first female engineer to receive a platinum album for Blondie’s “AutoAmerican” album which includes the very first hit rap song with music, “Rapture”.

Lenise is also a post-production audio professional, specializing in recording and editing foley sound effects for many films and animated series and has traveled the world for Dreamworks supervising the foreign dialogue recording and producing the vocals for such animated features as “Shrek”, “Spirit: Stallion of the Cimmaron” and “Shrek 2”. She also archives and repairs audio, instructs, consults and holds workshops for audio students and singer/songwriters.

Lenise is a long-standing member of the Audio Engineering Society, the Producers & Engineers Wing of the Recording Academy and a voting member of NARAS. She is also a proud member of SoundGirls, Women’s Audio Mission (WAM), Women in Music, the prestigious Hollywood Sapphire Group, The Blues Foundation, IASA (International Association of Sound Archivists) and ARSC (Assoc. of Recorded Sound Collectors) and on the board of directors for music nonprofit Worldwide Musicians United.

Though mostly working in digital recording formats, Lenise recently produced and engineered an all analog recording with blues/rock/Indy band Primal Kings, recording to 2” tape, mixing to 1⁄2” and cut to vinyl from tape. A “triple A” legacy quality production, recorded and mixed completely out of the box.

To know more about Lenise, visit lenisebent.com.

Struktur Society

This episode was brought to you by Struktur Society, the community for creators in art, design, and music. For almost a decade Struktur has brought together creatives from across the industrial, apparel, graphic, and sound design industries, building professional relationships, creating a platform for knowledge sharing, and raising the bar of product creation.

From live events and workshops, to publication and podcasting, Struktur continues to evolve to build the strong creator community needed to craft our future. Find us at struktursociety.com and subscribe to our Substack at struktursociety.substack.com.

Music by Greg Brace Music. Story edit by Unpaved Roads Studio.

© StrukturSphere llc 2023.

Welcome to the UnStruktured podcast!

This week I talk with fellow performance design leader, Elizabeth McGarry. Based in Boston, Elizabeth has spent the past two decades creating collections for iconic brands like Nike and Reebok and has led design for some of the most talked about startups in the performance and outdoor industry.

From her early experience with coveted design labels in Antwerp, Belgium, to adopting her first son to become a single working mother at the age of 23, Elizabeth has built a professional creative life rooted in the mantra "family first" ... naming her design studio MCGARRY&Sons.

ELIZABETH MCGARRY

A leader, builder, collaborator, instigator, problem-solver; Elizabeth McGarry is the co-founder and creative director of one of the most sought-after product design studios in the sportswear industry. Her design career began in the early aughts, when she turned a botched internship in Spain into a dream job in Antwerp, Belgium. Immersed in the avant-garde world of fashion as an assistant designer to some of the most coveted cult labels of the era, Elizabeth honed her skills in conceptual design, luxury craftsmanship, and innovative brand activation.

Upon returning to the US, Elizabeth cultivated her love of heritage brands with innovative design, first as a designer for Nike Sportswear, then the director for Reebok Classics & Collaborations, eventually becoming the go-to “it” designer for Iconic reissues & brand-driving campaigns. For over a decade, Elizabeth has led creative & design for some of the most talked about brands in the performance and outdoor industry. Her commitment to building long lasting, meaningful products and culture-shifting brands, has elevated her projects to future Icon status.

MCGARRY&Sons

Episode 5 Sponsors

Schoeller

This episode of UnStruktured is brought to you by Schoeller, the global textile company headquartered in Switzerland, specializing in the development and manufacturing of high-performance fabrics and textile technologies for athletic, outdoor, fashion and workwear categories.  

Founded more than 150 years ago, Schoeller calls upon its vast history of experience working with the most advanced equipment in compliance with the world’s toughest environmental systems. Quality and sustainability have always served as the brand’s core principles, with the entire production chain – from raw materials to the finished product – intensely scrutinized.  

For more information, visit www.schoeller-textiles.com.

Functional Fabric Fair Powered by Performance Days

This episode was brought to you by the Functional Fabric Fair Powered by Performance Days, the premiere trade show for performance fabrics and materials. Since 2018 the Functional Fabric Fair has been providing a unique highly-curated trade show experience in the performance material space, aimed at providing customers with the very best options to create the highest-level products in the market. Having a strong focus on education and sustainability, the Functional Fabric Fair is committed to tackling the biggest issues we face today in regards to product manufacturing and our environment.

With five shows throughout the year, from Portland, to New York City, to Munich, you're sure to find what you need at the Functional Fabric Fair and Performance Days.

Struktur Society

This episode was brought to you by Struktur Society, the community for creators in art, design, and music. For almost a decade Struktur has brought together creatives from across the industrial, apparel, graphic, and sound design industries, building professional relationships, creating a platform for knowledge sharing, and raising the bar of product creation.

From live events and workshops, to publication and podcasting, Struktur continues to evolve to build the strong creator community needed to craft our future. Find us at struktursociety.com and subscribe to our Substack at struktursociety.substack.com.

© StrukturSphere llc 2023. Music by Greg Brace Music.

UnStruktured is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Welcome to the UnStruktured Podcast.

In this episode my co-host, Bob Smith, and I sit down with creative apparel designer Adrienne Mercante.

Adrienne has led design at some of the most innovative brands in the performance apparel space—including Outlier, Betabrand, Western Rise, Nathan Sports, and Skechers. Moving fluidly between concept and execution, her work blends aesthetic vision with hands-on problem-solving across startups and scaling companies.

We talk about the early sparks of her creativity, the subcultures that shaped her, and what it takes to keep evolving in an industry that often tries to pigeon-hole. From freelancing to leadership, menswear to 3D prototyping, Adrienne’s story is one of risk, reinvention, and the resilience built by forging your own path.

00:00 Introduction to the UnStruktured Podcast

00:05 Meet Adrienne Mercante: A Journey in Creative Apparel Design

02:02 Early Influences and Childhood Memories

05:16 Discovering a Passion for Sewing and Creativity

08:24 High School Subcultures: Goth and Raver Fashion

13:49 College Years: Balancing Columbia and FIT

17:01 Navigating the Post-College Job Market

25:26 Freelance Bookkeeping and the Mysterious Woman with an Eye Patch

37:04 Joining Outlier: Revolutionizing Performance Apparel

43:43 In-House Production and Pattern Making at Outlier

46:54 Meeting and Career Beginnings

47:03 Betabrand Experience

47:32 Challenges at Betabrand

50:31 Transition to Freelance

51:28 Niche Career Path

51:57 Industry Challenges and Pigeonholing

52:39 Leadership and Creativity

58:34 Men’s Wear Design Rules

01:20:10 AI and 3D Technology in Fashion

01:28:42 Risk Taking and Resilience

ADRIENNE MERCANTE

Adrienne Mercante is a creative apparel designer with both aesthetic and business credentials. She holds degrees in fashion, pattern making and art history, as well as an M.B.A.

Her background and capabilities in concept and color, technical design and product development, make her a preferred choice for a start-up apparel business or an apparel business entering a growth phase.

She has worked at many such businesses, including Betabrand, Outlier, Western Rise, Nathan Sports, and Skechers. She is always on the hunt for new technologies or skills to apply to her craft and is currently engaged with 3D prototyping.

When she isn’t in full on design mode, you may spot her and her partner, the one and only Bob Smith, out in the world cracking jokes and talking shop.

STRUKTUR SOCIETY

This episode was brought to you by Struktur Society, the community for creators in art, design, and music. For almost a decade Struktur has brought together creatives from across the industrial, apparel, graphic, and sound design industries, building professional relationships, creating a platform for knowledge sharing, and raising the bar of product creation.

From live events and workshops, to publication and podcasting, Struktur continues to evolve to build the strong creator community needed to craft our future. Find us at struktursociety.com and subscribe to our Substack at struktursociety.substack.com.

© StrukturSphere llc 2025. Original music by Greg Brace Music.

Struktur Society is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Welcome to the UnStruktured Podcast.

In this episode, Bob Smith and I sit down with Damien E-LOVE Matthias, award-winning producer, entrepreneur, and a powerful force in the early formation of hip hop.

We begin at the intersection of music, design, and cultural resistance with the story of how E-LOVE himself became immortalized as the figure in the iconic Public Enemy logo. From that lasting image, we trace his journey… from growing up in the Caribbean, South Bronx, and Queens, to shaping the early sound and message of hip hop alongside legends like LL Cool J, Chuck D, and Rick Rubin.

In this conversation, we open a window into how creativity moves culture, how identity is shaped across geographies, and how E-LOVE turned vision into venture, never losing sight of purpose or people.

00:00 Introduction to the UnStruktured Podcast

01:00 Hip Hop's Early Days and Influences with Bob and Michelle

04:32 E-LOVE joins in: Technical Difficulties and Personal Stories

08:29 E LOVE's Iconic Public Enemy Logo

11:34 E LOVE's Early Life and Influences

20:12 Meeting LL Cool J, Rick Rubin, and the Rise of Def Jam

25:40 The Evolution of Hip Hop

28:03 The B-Boy Stance and Breakdancing

31:43 Creating a Culture and Marketing Strategies

36:34 Hip Hop Movies and 'Krush Groove'

39:26 Taking Chances in the Creative Industry

41:14 The Political Evolution of Hip Hop

42:02 The Impact of 'Do the Right Thing'

43:08 A Life-Changing Incident in 1989

44:01 Transition to Politics and Bill Clinton's Campaign

01:00:03 The Role of Technology in the Future

01:03:09 Tokyo Comic-Con and Stan Lee

01:10:52 Final Thoughts and Inspirational Messages

AN E-LOVE STORY

E-LOVE is a multi-platinum award-winning writer, producer, director, and a Federally Registered Lobbyist who sold more than 40 million records as an Artist/Producer and marketing Guru since 1984. He was an integral player in the ascension of Hip Hop, where brand references became shorthand for aspiration and status with nothing more than references in a song or shots in a video.

E-LOVE is best known for co-producing and performing with LL Cool J, among Def Jam Records’ first artists, and was instrumental in launching the careers of Tupac and John Forte. E-LOVE was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on October 30, 2021, and is literally the symbol of hip hop, the Public Enemy Logo, the # 1 hip hop logo of all time. He is the silhouette of the man in a hat, standing, arms folded, with a crosshair positioned over the top.

E-LOVE was born in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, the middle of eight children of Caribbean immigrants. He grew up in South Bronx and Queens, New York. At age eight, E-LOVE recognized the incredible power of the media after winning a prize on the nation’s number one kids’ show, Wonderama, earning instant fame that lasted a week, a feeling he would never forget. From dean’s office to favorite student, to a producer earning a Grammy and multiple MTV and Soul Train, to co-founder of VR Innovator, in 2014, a pioneering hardware and software/content creator for all media, gaming, television, film, VR, and AI.

By March 1984, while NYU students Rick Rubin and Russell Simmons were co-founding the independent, fledgling Def Jam Label, E-LOVE was in junior high school in Queens, creating demos in his parents’ garage. In his neighborhood, all the kids were into rap. Run D.M.C. from Queens just broke, about to drop their record, and on the radio with Kurtis Blow, the first rapper to sign a major record deal. All the kids were making demos to emulate Kurtis Blow and Run D.M.C. So E- LOVE purchased $3500 worth of recording equipment with money he won in a snow shoveling contest.

Around that time, E-LOVE and LL Cool J met as teenagers in Queens when the hip-hop scene was first “blowing up”. They teamed up, produced a single, “I Need A Beat” and “Dangerous” on the B side, and submitted their demo to numerous record companies with no response. E-LOVE and LL Cool J ultimately sent their demo to Rick Rubin. Rubin liked the single and invited them to a meeting in New York. E-LOVE and LL Cool J, with $5 between them for pizza, jumped the turnstile at the train station in Queens, rode to New York, met Rubin, and signed a record deal.

In 1984, Def Jam released LL Cool J’s debut single, “I Need A Beat”. This debut single sold over 500,000 copies due in large part to Def Jam’s cutting-edge innovative marketing strategies developed by E-LOVE based on the birth of the “Street Team” for Peter Gatien, known as the “King of New York City Nightlife” in the eighties and nineties. The “Street Team” brought out all the “A” listers who ran New York, from the sports, entertainment, and Wall Street, to Gatien’s clubs, including the Limelight, the gothic club for the Marilyn Manson followers; the Palladium, the pop club, the Madonna audience from Studio 54; and The Tunnel, the hip hop mecca – everybody from Run D.M.C., LL to the Notorious B.I.G. All were regulars and all performed at Peter’s clubs making him the “King of New York City Nightlife”.

In 1985, LL Cool J, DJ Cut Creator, E-LOVE, and the Fat Boys appeared as themselves in the feature film, Krush Groove, a fictionalized version of the early days of Def Jam produced by Jackson/McHenry Productions and distributed by Warner Bros, starring Kurtis Blow, Sheila E., Run D.M.C., the Fat Boys, and introducing TV Star, Blair Underwood, to film. This was one of the first hip-hop movies to go mainstream. LL Cool J performed the single Radio in Krush Groove that sold over one million copies.

E-LOVE developed a global fan base touring and performing internationally with icons and legends LL, Run DMC, the Beastie Boys, and other rising stars. His keen eye for recognizing, developing, and marketing untapped talent was instrumental in launching the careers of Tupac Shakur and John Forte.

In 1989, E-LOVE was shot 8 times during an attempted robbery and carjacking and rushed to the ER. After several days, he woke up in the middle of Last Rites being administered as he lay barely conscious, strapped to a hospital bed, tubes everywhere, nearly flat line vitals. E-LOVE was one of the first patients to be administered a treatment that consisted of an IV drip of CBD and THC. His recovery progressed over three years, with multiple surgeries and rehabilitation. E-LOVE miraculously beat all odds, his life transformed, Last Rites never forgotten.

In the late 90s and early 2000s, E-LOVE enrolled at the American Conservatory of Music (ACT) in San Francisco, California, majoring in directing, screenwriting, and producing. This life-changing decision was made after a deep conversation with music mogul, Lyor Cohen, former president of Def Jam, former Warner Bros. executive, and current global head of Music at YouTube, that E-LOVE return to school… he followed Cohen’s sage advice.

@eloveglobal

STRUKTUR SOCIETY

This episode was brought to you by Struktur Society, the community for creators in art, design, and music. For almost a decade Struktur has brought together creatives from across the industrial, apparel, graphic, and sound design industries, building professional relationships, creating a platform for knowledge sharing, and raising the bar of product creation.

From live events and workshops, to publication and podcasting, Struktur continues to evolve to build the strong creator community needed to craft our future. Find us at struktursociety.com and subscribe to our Substack at struktursociety.substack.com.

© StrukturSphere llc 2025. Original music by Greg Brace Music.

Struktur Society is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Welcome to the UnStruktured Podcast.In this episode my co-host, Bob Smith, and I dive into the world of Artificial Intelligence with creative director Allison Ross.

We explore the evolving landscape of AI in the creative industry, discussing its implications for designers, musicians, and artists of today and tomorrow. Allison shares her insight on AI's potential and the importance of maintaining human agency and leadership. We also address the fears and challenges AI presents, and look for balance at the intersection of technological advancement and human values.

Join us as we navigate the dawn of AI, its impact on different generations, and strategies for creatives to stay ahead in this rapidly changing field.

00:00 Introduction to the UnStruktured Podcast

00:58 Welcoming Allison Ross

01:41 The AI Landscape and Its Impact

02:24 Allison's Background and Creative Journey

05:08 Setting Intentions for the AI Discussion

10:57 Diving into AI: First Impressions and Experiences

15:02 The Evolution of AI in Creative Work

20:05 Exploring AI Tools and Platforms

33:55 The Dark Side of AI: Fears and Challenges

44:47 The Threat of AI in Apparel Design

46:50 Shared Reality and AI's Impact

49:21 Generational Perspectives on AI

51:00 AI in Education and Design

57:46 The Role of Agents in AI

01:07:09 Human Creativity vs. AI

01:14:40 Embracing AI: A Balanced View

ALLISON ROSS

Allison is a creative director and visual artist with almost 20 years of experience helping brands step up and shift culture for good.

Allison spent nine years at JDK Design, starting as a designer and rocketing up to design director. While at JDK, she worked with serious culture shifters like Burton, Nike, lululemon, Seventh Generation, and Planned Parenthood.

After leaving JDK, she spent two years as the Creative Director at Nau—a brand driven by the marriage of style and substance, fashion intertwined with sustainability and soul. Because she was on the leadership and senior management teams at nau, she was able to dive deep into retail, wholesale, e-commerce, supply chain, marketing, and learn from the inside what leading a brand really means. What she learned above all else is leading a brand is no joke, but that’s no excuse to be timid or safe.

She then spent 4 years as the head of creative at BBMG, a branding and social impact studio. While at BBMG, she worked with brands like ASPCA, OceanX, Taco Bell and Estée Lauder to find new and authentic ways to communicate and operate with the health of humanity at its core.

In 2020, Allison launched the branding consultancy Yesterday, a collective of creatives and strategists challenging the old-school approach to branding. Allison’s motto is “friends don’t let friends create boring meaningless shit” which has helped her build strong relationships with the right clients, and has done a great job at keeping the less-right ones out.

https://yesterday.rip/

STRUKTUR SOCIETY

This episode was brought to you by Struktur Society, the community for creators in art, design, and music. For almost a decade Struktur has brought together creatives from across the industrial, apparel, graphic, and sound design industries, building professional relationships, creating a platform for knowledge sharing, and raising the bar of product creation.

From live events and workshops, to publication and podcasting, Struktur continues to evolve to build the strong creator community needed to craft our future. Find us at struktursociety.com and subscribe to our Substack at struktursociety.substack.com.

© StrukturSphere llc 2025. Original music by Greg Brace Music.

Struktur Society is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.