Just imagine it. Just do it.

Marten Kuipers.
Senior Designer & Art Director at DEPT®

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My love for sneakers started at a young age. When I was still at school I had a side job at a basic footwear store. As a teenager I didn’t have the money to buy lots of sneakers, but my interest in the footwear culture was very high. Since that moment there always was one brand I admired the most; Nike.

My first pairs were white Nike AF 1’s in high and low. And there it started. For me it wasn’t only the look or fit, but also the brand itself. It felt like they did things differently. Their visual brand communication and campaigns were always next level and on point, I loved NikeID (now Nike by You), the SNKRS app, the interactive store windows and installations, their mind blowing collaborations and ofcourse one of the most beautiful logos ever created. For already 12 years I’m only wearing Nike. Mostly AM 1’s and AF 1’s, but lately also Jordan’s and Nike x Off White models.

When I was a kid I also was drawing sneakers all the time. The fact I could create my own sneaker the way I liked was fun to play with. Later I turned these drawings into Adobe Illustrator, which made it even more fun to work on.

Visualising imagination

Nowadays I’m working in the creative industry as a designer and art director. Visualising my imagination is my job so with all this background information you can imagine I got pretty excited when I heard about the benefits and possibilities of generative AI for the first time. (thanks Tim Dekens)

Back in 2022 the first tool I experimented with was MidJourney, one of the best platforms out there for image generation. Because Midjourney just started, it wasn’t that qualitative, comprehensive and refined as it is now. Creating a sneaker with a simple prompt was already a huge challenge in the beginning. And then we haven’t even talked about getting the Nike swoosh right.

In the early stages of Midjourney I was playing with lots of objects and subjects in my prompts but sneakers were my absolute favourite. I started posting them on my socials and because generative AI wasn’t that mainstream as it is now, my generations got a lot of attention. They even went a little viral on various social platforms and I got interviewed by a bunch of sneaker and AI blogs.

Sneaker Freaker

Sneakersquad

Made by AI

But not everyone was that positive. I got some critics here and there about the fact we shouldn’t underestimate the real crafted people out there, who are actually designing and creating sneakers for a living. And as a designer myself, I obviously couldn’t agree more to that.

When the legendary footwear artist Daniel G. from Mache commented this below the Instagram post by Sneaker Freaker International about my first set of AI generated sneakers in the style of chocolate and icecream, I heard about the work of ShoeBakery for the first time. I felt a bit offended when I red this comment… Dan, ShoeBakery and probably others as well would maybe have thought I stole the idea from ShoeBakery. But I didn’t.

Instead of feeling sad I decided to contact Chris Campbell from ShoeBakery. Not only I liked his work a lot, he actually also did like my work. After a few conversations we agreed on starting a collaboration. We both were curious if we actually could create world’s first AI generated shoe for real.

Behind the scenes

“As an artist who hand designs shoes inspired by the delightful world of desserts, I constantly seek new ways to blend creativity with innovation” says Chris. “When I met Marten who is an AI artist, he created a set of  AI-generated images, this sparked my curiosity and imagination, offering a fresh perspective on my artistic process.

“As an artist who hand designs shoes inspired by the delightful world of desserts, I constantly seek new ways to blend creativity with innovation.” – Chris Campbell

The intricate patterns and vibrant colours produced by AI presented an exciting challenge and opportunity to push the boundaries of my designs. This project allowed me to merge my passion for dessert-themed artistry with cutting-edge technology, creating a unique and captivating shoe that celebrates the fusion of tradition and modernity.”

“The AI-generated image depicted a whimsical dessert-themed sneaker adorned with colourful sprinkles, wafer textures, and playful confectionery elements. This visual inspiration was the perfect catalyst for my creative process, allowing me to transform a digital concept into a tangible piece of wearable art.”

GOT ‘EM!

A few months back I finally had the pleasure to actually wear this piece of art myself; GOT ‘EM! It’s a child’s dream to wear a pair of sneakers I ‘created’. And yes, I’m aware it’s not really created by me but with AI, by Midjourney. But without my imagination and prompt, I never would have get this outcome. Let’s say that human imagination and creativity are still needed to create something unique and qualitative with generative AI.

Would I feel more proud if my drawings from my teenager years turned into real shoes? Yes, definitely. But let’s enjoy the little things and let’s look at it from another perspective. We created a shoe with AI. I say we, but ofcourse all the credits are going to the talented people from ShoeBakery. They did an absolutely amazing job and I really enjoyed the collaboration. We both did, so we’re also working on some high heels and AF 1’s for the future.

“AI won’t replace us, people who are using AI will.” – Marten Kuipers

In my opinion this process is the future of (generative) AI in a nutshell. We use human craft, creativity, experience, emotion, imagination and ideas as the foundation for our artificial output to reach the level of quality and personality we need. Our focus, work, role and jobs will change, our craft will stay. AI won’t replace us, people who are using AI will.

Follow the ShoeBakery on Instagram

Just imagine it. Just do it.

Photos by Harmen Nanninga & Chris Campbell.