We talked to the Search N Design's team

Search N Design is not a dream sneaker supermarket - even if its creations have already made us dream in the past.
For those who do not know it, Search N Design is a full-service design studio, made up of designers and product managers specialized in creating and developing cutting-edge footwear and accessories design projects. A powerful attention to detail and a meticulous search for the best materials, make the creations of Search N Design unique pieces of high innovative value, defined by the uniqueness and the high quality of the product.

Mastermind Japan x Search N Design "Ghost Sox"

Mastermind Japan x Search N Design "Ghost Sox"

Mastermind Japan x Search N Design "Ghost Sox"

Mastermind Japan x Search N Design "Ghost Sox"

Mastermind Japan x Search N Design "Ghost Sox"

Mastermind Japan x Search N Design "Ghost Sox"

Mastermind Japan x Search N Design "Ghost Sox"

Mastermind Japan x Search N Design "Ghost Sox"

Mastermind Japan x Search N Design "Ghost Sox"

Mastermind Japan x Search N Design "Ghost Sox"

Mastermind Japan x Search N Design "Ghost Sox"

Mastermind Japan x Search N Design "Ghost Sox"

Mastermind Japan x Search N Design "Ghost Sox"

An additional feature of the collective is the anonymity that reigns on the team members, who for over forty years has contributed to giving an aura of mystery on the Italian study of underground design.

#1 What is Search N Design? What is your story? When is it born and why?

Our project was born in 2016 as a spin-off of Emu Design; we are a full-service design studio specialized in the study and development of footwear & accessories design projects. Our different experiences are made up of each other, through different paths that go from art to product design, from strategic marketing to merchandising. All this allows us to offer a wide range of integrated services, able to meet the needs of art-directors, designers, companies and brands.

#2 Several times you have been defined as an "anonymous designer collective". Why is anonymity so important to you? Why this choice?

We have always been inspired by art and especially by street art and we believe that we can agree that Banksy is among the most influential artists of our time. There is a quote from Banksy which has been much more than a source of inspiration for us and goes like this:

"I do not know why people are so keen to put the details of their private life in public".

In the same way, we have decided to become invisible and let our ideas and innovations that we produce to speak on our behalf. We believe that the real goal of our work is to create excellent and meaningful projects rather than expose ourselves.

#3 Your projects, your creations, are the result of a careful research and hard work but above all respect for the customer. What do you think you can guarantee as a plus? What is your strong suit?

We believe that the fundamental condition for making the best of our work is to fully marry the cause of a brand or a designer of which we become active partners. This means embracing the brand's imagination with enthusiasm, trying to make it part of us.
We believe that this dedication is, after all, our strong point: what drives us to always reach the best solution, both in the design phase and in the production phase, is maniacally taking care of every step, to get to the feet of every person a product of authentic value, a product taken care of in the smallest details.

#4 How borns the connection with the customer? How do you manage to develop a product: starting from a sketch on a white sheet or from a simple and lightning idea?

We believe in the value of listening. This is basically what allows us to enter into a deep relationship with our customers. Once this connection has been created, this starting point fixed, whether it is a sketch on a white sheet or a simple idea, is nothing else for us than the first trigger of a chain reaction made of a constant exchange of creative ideas, finally arriving at the desired result.

#5 The sneaker world is constantly moving and mutating. Having embraced this reality, like your most recent collaboration with Mastermind Japan for example, how do you manage to stay up to date?

We are active members of sneaker and street culture since the beginning of our activity. For us, it is much more than a job, but a real cultural imaginary to which we feel we belong profoundly; something that permeates us to the bottom of our souls. Everything that comes from the street, from the underground and that happens day after day in the artistic or the creative context, is something that completely involves us.
This allows us to keep ourselves always active and connected with what surrounds us, making ours the needs and desires of the people who will have to wear what we design and design.

#6 What is the biggest difficulty in doing this job?

Being a collective of individuals with a strong creative spirit. This is, at the same time, our strength but also our constant challenge: to find, project after project, the perfect synthesis between the visions of each member of the collective, to merge them into an even more effective and excellent idea.

#7 With more than 40 years in the business, what do you think there is in the future of Search N Design?

We believe that the future of a collective like ours is built, especially in a market scenario as volatile as the contemporary one, by trying to create projects that from a conceptual point of view can resist the wear and tear of time. This is what has always inspired us and is what we believe should continue to guide our action: to offer the best we can do both to our partners and the market.

#8 Is there another product sector in which you would like to apply your concept?

Like all creatives, we love experimenting and there are countless projects we are working on. Already we have tried several times with other accessories such as bags and clothing, on which we are working both in partnership and as Search N Design, but the frontier to which we would like to push our expertise and our approach is that of urban everyday carry.