Client Stories | Nike | Behind the Scenes on the Space Hippie Documentary

In November 2019 I was commissioned by US Production Company Godfrey Dadich Partners and their client Nike for a stills project to capture the making of the Space Hippie sneaker during a documentary that Godfrey Dadich Partners were producing about the design team and the science behind Nike’s lowest carbon footprint shoe ever.

The Godfrey Dadich Partners production team led by director Scott Dadich had been invited by Nike Innovation to document the creation process of the Space Hippie from the raw concept to the finished product and I joined the crew during their 3 days of unprecedented permission to shoot within the Nike partner factories in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

The Space Hippie is a line of sneakers made out of trash and every part of the shoe is made from as much recycled material as possible and during 3 days of shooting we travelled around to three facilities following Nike Sustainability Design lead Noah Murphy-Reinhertz and co designers Haley Toelle and James Zormeir as they witnessed their design come to life in the lead up to the Space Hippie launch.

Haley, James and Noah have some fun at one of the Nike partner factories.

James, Haley and Noah amongst the scraps of material that are used to make the Space Hippie.

Noah, Haley, James and “Sneakerologist” Bryan Farris walk the production line as the shoes come to life at the factory.

Throughout the shoot I worked closely with Nike Global Director of Brand Innovation Michael Orenstein. We met the day before the shoot and at that stage he wasn’t really sure what sort of access we were going to be granted as this was the first time ever that both a production crew and a photographer had been allowed into the Nike partner factories. The teams at the factories ended up being very welcoming and helpful though and we were able to move through the factories and capture all the stages of the production process.

It was a great experience to work alongside the crew but there were times when if was really challenging to shoot stills and to stay out of frame while they were shooting and I found myself dropping to the ground and hiding constantly as cinematographer Graham Willoughby rotated unexpectedly around the designers pointing the camera in my direction.

To learn more about the Space Hippie please take a look at the documentary that was produced by Godfrey Dadich Partners team for the campaign as well.