Bormuth "Estate"

The bear of 2023 regulatory risk in blockchain heavily influenced how we crafted the experience and technology of Joii, and ultimately why we stopped building. I remain inspired by our vision and work. Key initiatives: a marketplace for access to creator content, a tradable user joiistick, and a cascading interface for creation blocks. Anyone holding a Player token unlocked access to the Beta, and each work was named using non-repeated BIP39 seed phrase words, like “PRISM ZEPHYR SOUL.” Here, here, and here. These evoked the beauty of a world embracing AI, blockchain, and a meta-human vision. Yet, a feeling they would be pigeonholed into the hyper-speculative NFT flippage culture led to scrapping them. Shout out Yanis and Yash.

Global Creative Director, Nike.

SNKRS Nike App Nike Web, Shanghai Digital Studio, and more. Invented new experiences; built, directed, managed global teams.

Epilogue

A zealous executive deployment into the glowing salt mines of a global Nike. I learned and worked with some of the best of the best. Nike for me was a rebirth into the craft and culture of design after years of mastering the Silicon skills of using design for data. Looking back, living in deck upon deck to drive product and brand wasn't cool, but I did like evolving and ripping the seams of their global design and identity. Nike was striving to adapt to an emerging direct-to-consumer world. When they reached out, it was an ideal moment of my career to say, yes. “Swoosh.”

Advisor, Chroma, Enkasa,
and others.

Product, design, and creative stategy; how to build and nourish early to mature design teams, and how to find your go-to-market soul.

Advisor, Chroma, Enkasa, others.

Product, design, and creative stategy; how to build and nourish early to mature design teams, and how to find your go-to-market soul.

I like working with founders and teams trying to figure it all out. Resonant experiences and brands take time. Often, founders don't know what it is re: “design” that they need to focus on. Or they want a thorough product/strategy gut-punch, a check against business objectives ... or they need help establishing creative reviews and growing teams, or just want to vent. The wild west of entrepreneurial risk has fascinating blind spots and monsters. Required reading.

Design and creative, Pinterest.

Launched many experiences, built and directed lots of design teams; jumpstarted Pinterest international Japan.

Design and
creative, Pinterest.

Launched many experiences, built and directed lots of design teams; jumpstarted Pinterest Japan.

Epilogue

When I left Pinterest, I felt like I was closing a very meaningful chapter. The cultural evolution and politics of a startup as it transforms into a public business is something endured only in the field, and how design and creative is tied to it all is a tricky riddle. I was very into the new effects from online grids of images and text, a new expression of life through the screen, ephemera smushed together daily into personal currency. My outlook on the free production and curation of content on social networks changed. Altogether, the core vision of Pinterest did a good job helping one uphold self-dignity by focusing on the nuance of personal interests, less on social connection.

Head of Design for NFT exchange, MakersPlace.

Revamped product, design, branding, and built the design team; Launched many experiences at the height of the collectible wildfire.

Epilogue

The startup, MakersPlace, was the first time I dove head-first into a small (~10) team and its proof-of-concept product iteration. It was cathartic after running constant cross-enterprise alignment for years at Nike. I was and still am very interested in how blockchain will commingle with the creative capacity of culture: design, art, writing, music. A few sputtering starts have occurred within the industry, and the 2021 NFT market sits comfortably within the second attempt to give life to this technology.