ADIDAS X DEADHYPE ZX 8000 GTX: deadHYPE & NEWFORMAT’s Interdisciplinary Exchange

Case in point is deadHYPE’s latest collaboration with longstanding partner adidas, where the collective has worked alongside UrlfreezeShops and the three stripes in bringing NEWFORMAT on board — a berlin-based collective who share the same passion for the cutting-edge — to create custom artwork that supports the launch of the adidas x deadHYPE ZX 8000 GTX.  

UrlfreezeShops sat down with deadHYPE founder Bernard Koomson and two of NEWFORMAT’s founders, Florian Siegmann and Steffen Bewer, to discuss how their relationship began, the importance of interdisciplinary exchange and the role community plays in their creative output.  

deadHYPE: We’re a mixed-discipline collective based in Berlin — a group of artists, DJs and consultants. The collection is formed by a lot of people in different countries: Nigeria, Ghana, London, to name a few, with our primary base being in Berlin.

NEWFORMAT (Florian): We’re a digital creative studio also based in Berlin, with a speciality in CGI, digital fashion and artificial intelligence. Our experience lies mainly in fashion, music and art. Four of us founded the label following time spent as freelancers, after we realised that uniting our skillsets would make us much stronger.

deadHYPE: I knew of Steffen and Florian, having been introduced to their work through a friend. We then met at an event and the conversation was seamless — we instantly realised we were on the same page. From there we started trying to find the right project for us to work together on.  

NEWFORMAT (Florian): We met at one event and the conversation just came around naturally. We got to know each other. Had good conversation. It wasn’t a case of talking about projects right away — the relationship just grew organically.

NEWFORMAT (Florian): It’s a core element of what we do. We’re all trained in different disciplines, but we have never felt like there are boundaries in place. There is always exchange and communication between us and different people. It makes work way more interesting — in interdisciplinarity, that’s where new things happen.

NEWFORMAT (Steffen): The boundaries are fluid with what we do — we would never say we only do one thing. We live in a time where technology evolves, allowing us to recontextualise existing things. I feel everything belongs together in this way — it opens greater possibilities for exchange between disciplines.

NEWFORMAT (Florian): I think progress in design just comes from a thought. The medium in the end is just a natural thing — it’s maybe a choice, or something you really want to do for a project.

deadHYPE: I completely agree. I tend to think about it in terms of a lot of traditional formats: film, for example, or television — when you watch the credits there are so many different types of people working together. In the creative industry, when you’re doing things digitally, you forget how much people need to work together to accomplish goals. It’s not just one skill at play, but a combined skillset that helps bring things to the next level. That constant dialogue is something that’s very important. If you don’t talk to these people that bring different things to projects, you’re limiting your potential of what you can do.

NEWFORMAT (Florian): I think this is very much linked with interdisciplinary exchange. What makes a project interesting for us is when we explore something new in the process, something which we perhaps wouldn’t have expected in the beginning. Maybe it’s just the result of a conversation, with different approaches being linked together. Experimentation is the driver of creativity — it leads us to the final product. I really love when something new jumps out in the creative process.

NEWFORMAT (Steffen): I feel like as creators we are always on the hunt to explore new ways of expression in media. Once the client has given us their brief, we look to find something that wasn’t there in that constellation already. For me personally, it’s exciting to see something created that feels new and special.

deadHYPE: For me, it’s all about putting these tokens or checkpoints out there, so when you look back at the lineage of what you’ve worked on, you can understand the culture or the place of where things come from. Things may seem niche in the wider context of a sneaker release, or with reference to a big brand, but a lot of these things we are referencing are where we are coming from: the people around us, the conversations we have.

NEWFORMAT (Florian): Talking about niches: niche is a word that’s pretty loose. Something that’s niche for somebody else is our daily life and whole ecosystem. It really depends on what angle you look at things from. Niches are something that can, through technology, digitisation and communication, become exposed to a much wider audience and become global culture.

deadHYPE: I used to work with a lot of big clients, whether that be in the music industry or large fashion companies, and I didn’t really enjoy the work I was doing. We were talking a lot about being disruptive, but in reality, we weren’t really doing that. When we started to work away from this as a collective, we really focused on working with projects that we loved, without compromise. There was a whole process of learning how to communicate that came out of this. By taking this approach for ourselves, we became more disruptive — we stopped trying to intake and focused more on output.

NEWFORMAT (Florian): For me, being able to work without compromise allows you to follow your vision. The biggest inspiration is starting something and having a goal you want to reach. Often times, inspiration is connected to the potential output you see in front of you. You aim for something and you create along the way. Having freedom to express yourself is also a great motivation — to grow as an artist and grow as a studio through doing what you love. Being independent is something that really motivates us as artists.

deadHYPE: I agree, seeing other people being independent is motivation for us to stay on course and recognise we are doing the right thing. It’s creating an infrastructure of this network of whatever projects we are doing: a movement where we all discuss and work together to create this wave of doing things our own way.

NEWFORMAT (Florian): I think it’s important to understand you can’t do anything alone. If you don’t have colleagues or friends you can work with, you will not achieve anything.

NEWFORMAT (Steffen): Before I worked in the field of design, I was doing a lot of small jobs that didn’t interest me. As I became more involved in the field of design, my interests in culture, art and expression grew — I was now working on projects that I was proud of. It inspired me to create things that were unique, special and that I wanted to share with those around me.  

deadHYPE: We organise events where we don’t focus solely on work, but rather on having fun. I also like the feeling and the momentum that when an opportunity comes to me or deadHYPE that I can share it with the community and Berlin — in an honest way, too, not just to get something back, but to be a part of someone else’s story as much as they are a part of mine. The cake is big enough for everyone.  

NEWFORMAT (Florian): We try to avoid doing things we don’t want to do. The more established we get, the more opportunities we have to say no to things we feel don’t align with us. Different people come to us for work and we think, “Okay, do we feel it? Do we have the capacity to do something unique that represents us in an authentic way?”. The balance just comes naturally. It’s also just where we all come from, we bring our own identity with every project. It doesn’t matter if it’s for an Italian luxury house or for ourselves.

deadHYPE: Personally, I wouldn’t do it without the community. If it doesn’t resonate with the community around us, then it doesn’t make sense. With NEWFORMAT, everything is 100% on the same page between us: the projects they’re working on, the approach, the mix of styles, the hunger, the passion. Even if they spoke to a different person or community, everything resonates with what we do and the fans of our work. This like-mindedness is so important.

NEWFORMAT (Florian): I totally agree with Bernie. Doing something with the approach to do it for everybody is like doing it for nobody. That’s why it’s good that we’re a group — we can bounce ideas off each other and see whether we like them or not, and it gives us an idea of how the work will be received in the community.

NEWFORMAT (Steffen): There are different communities. There’s a technical community, a design community. Of course, interaction with my friends and community in those fields gives me a lot of energy and input for my work. But also, people within a cultural community, beyond just friends and work, provide a lot of indirect input to my work.

NEWFORMAT (Florian): The borders are fluid between communities — with the gaming community, with the art community, for instance. They are all touchpoints. There’s a lot of overlapping occurring, like when we touched upon the idea of niches. There are no enclosed communities in the creative industry, no matter what you do, everyone can relate to one and other.

deadHYPE: I feel like that’s what really draws me to people. When people sit together in an intersectional manner, I find this so interesting — to hear what different communities come together, despite outwardly appearing different. With UrlfreezeShops, the mixture of brands and the communities you speak to is very intersectional. This makes everything work so seamlessly, since we all understand that we represent many different groups. One way isn’t the only way.  

NEWFORMAT (Florian): Whenever we work with different people, I always want everyone to feel like they can express in their own way. Even if there are different tastes or approaches, that’s not important — it’s all about seeing skill and ambition in other people’s work. It’s all about working together and broadening opportunities.