HUB Footwear presents
The Artistic Intervention Featuring Haas & Hahn
HUB Footwear creates ‘sophisticated sneakers’ inspired by city life and the passion for style and tennis. As a brand, we like to take our own path. We feel that life is about the surprising moments, not about going by the book.When you step out of your daily routine, original ideas will be born. This is the basis of our brand’s motto, ‘Challenge the Obvious’. Inspired by this thought, we are proud to present the first in a series of documentaries about the beautiful minds who ‘Challenge the Obvious’ every day.This first film is about Dre Urhahn and Jeroen Koolhaas, who use art in their quest to help change the lives of people who live in socially troubled neighbourhoods in Rio de Janeiro and Philadelphia. This is our celebration of the unconventional city life and the individuals who characterize it every day.
Meet Haas & Hahn
Meet Haas & Hahn
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The story starts in 2005 when Jeroen Koolhaas was all set to travel to Brazil to shoot a documentary for MTV about hip-hop in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro and São Paolo. Koolhaas had started working as a freelance audiovisual designer and illustrator after graduating from the Design Academy in Eindhoven and had already been published in several prestigious publications such as The New Yorker and US magazine. After winning a competition at the Black Soil Film Festival, Koolhaas was offered the opportunity to travel to Brazil for the film. He was looking forward to the challenge, but felt he needed a partner in crime. He decided to ask Dre Urhahn to join him on his trip. At the time, Urhahn was working as a journalist and copywriter, but he’d also created several successful companies that specialised in different fields, from event management to television production. Koolhaas figured Urhahn would be the perfect guy to help him shoot the film because of his skills as a producer and his ‘can do’ attitude. His intuition proved spot on — the trip marked the start of a collaboration that continues to this day.
The Artistic Intervention
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Essential Characteristics
From Filmmaking to Painting
Essential Characteristics 7
One of the reasons they work so well together is because they tend to complement each other. While Koolhaas concentrates on the design, colour, shape and execution of the artistic side of the projects, Urhahn focuses on its message: the implications of a project, socially and otherwise. Together they work on their long-term goals and they always consult each other when a big decision has to be made. Urhahn explains that such a productive collaboration wouldn’t be possible without two key ingredients: patience and communication.“One of the most essential things we need when working on these large projects is patience,” he says,“and because we work with a lot of people, it takes time to communicate with everybody. You also have to know what’s going on with every person participating in the project. And in areas like Rio and Philly,
The Artistic Intervention
that’s usually a lot. At times I almost feel like a coach.” Urhahn knows how important it is to keep an open mind when he’s involved in projects of this nature, adding: “We always try to have a fresh perspective because we can learn a lot from the people we’re working with.” The film Koolhaas and Urhahn made in Brazil takes a close look at the impact hip-hop has on the kids who live in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro and São Paolo. The guys saw first-hand how tough life is in the favelas, but they also noticed how the locals always made the best of what they had. “The solidarity in the slums in Rio is inc redible,” says Urhahn.“We’ve never experienced such strong ties between neighbours back home in the Netherlands.”
When they returned to the Netherlands after filming, they were inspired and wanted to do more than just make a film. The plan they came up with sounded crazy: they wanted to paint an entire favela in Brazil. Slowly but surely, Koolhaas and Urhahn embarked on a journey to raise the profile of favelas through outrageous works of art and huge murals in unexpected places. The two men took it upon themselves to inspire others, create beauty, combat prejudice and attract positive attention in the favelas – places typically known for gang shootings and police crackdowns. The favela kids, most of whom would probably end up joining a gang and selling drugs, got actively involved in the project, which provided them with a chance to take a new path in life. You could call it artistic intervention.
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Favela Painting Takes Off
The plan for their third project was to paint the entire hillside of a favela, transforming the community into a living artwork of epic pro portions. Haas & Hahn wanted to execute this project in a favela visible from Rio de Janeiro’s city centre so that people in the city would notice an area that would normally fade into the skyline. And they succeeded: located in Santa Marta,‘O Morro’ (‘The Hill’) has become a new landmark in Rio de Janeiro alongside the Sugarloaf and Christ the Redeemer. Not only does it draw attention to the deplorable state of the city’s poorer neighbourhoods, it’s also a colourful demonstration of pride and joy, two important characteristics of the favelas. For Haas & Hahn, this project will never be finished: they prefer to see it at a work in progress that keeps
Favela Painting Takes Off
Soon, the world began to take notice of Haas & Hahn’s efforts to promote the favelas. O Morro went viral and attracted global media attention. Haas & Hahn were invited to give keynote speeches at numerous international events. These lectures often led to interesting proposals. In 2011, for example, they received an official invitation from the city of Philadelphia to start a similar project for the Philadelphia Mural Art Program, a collaboration with a number of funding partners to revitalise one of Philadelphia’s oldest and most run-down areas.
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In 2006, Koolhaas and Urhahn formed a professional partnership under the name Haas & Hahn. That same year, they started working on the first mural in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro, collaborating with a group of young boys from the Soldados Nunca Mais programme of the Ibiss Foundation. The painting, called ‘Boy With Kite’, took almost three months to finish. For their second project, they took on the steps of Rua Santa Helena in the favela of Vila Cruzeiro. The steps are built into a massive concrete structure on the hillside which protects the street from mudslides during the rainy season. Haas & Hahn asked Dutch tattoo artist Rob Admiraal to help them with this design because he has knowledge of Japanese art and woodblock-style drawing. His experience as a tattoo artist gave him the skills for working on round and inclined surfaces, which was very useful for this particular
The Artistic Intervention
location. In the end, the three agreed on a traditional Japanese design depicting a river full of fish. The dangerous situations they encountered in Rio de Janeiro didn’t stop the guys working. Instead of packing their bags after experiencing their first gun fight, they looked at how the locals dealt with the constant threat of violence and learned from them. They learned to listen so they could work out which direction the bullets were coming from, and hide in order to dodge the bullets. By doing this, they integrated into the local communities in a very profound way. The first two projects proved to be big learning opportunities. Rather than let setbacks grind them down, they pushed themselves even further, and this fuelled the idea for their next undertaking.
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on growing organically. Even though O Morro started in Santa Marta, they would love to see it take root in different locations and inspire other communities.
Close Collaboration
Close Collabo ration 11
One year on,‘Philly Painting’ has turned into a reality and a four-block section of Germantown Avenue in north Philadelphia is being transformed into an urban art piece. The area was once a vibrant commercial centre that had turned into a ghost town before the arrival of Haas & Hahn. Just as in Rio de Janeiro, the success of the project and its social effects are largely dependent on the involvement of the local community and local businesses. The two artists developed a range of different designs for the buildings that were selected with the help of local property and shop owners. Each shop owner had the chance to choose a colour scheme for their own shopfront. Such close collaboration with the locals is not only rewarding, it’s necessary, says Urhahn.“We feel it’s an honour to get accepted into these communities. It works well because we’re not trying to intrude into their space, we’re trying to add something positive to
The Artistic Intervention
it. We’re providing locals with opportunities, which help them to pay the rent, and we also support them on a personal level. A Dutch television reporter once asked whether we consider ourselves artists or social workers. Jeroen answered that he would never call himself a social worker. I said I would never refer to myself as an artist. This pretty much explains our point of view.” Haas & Hahn started the project in Philadelphia without knowing what to expect. Mainly, they hoped to contribute to building a better world. They didn’t want to camouflage or paper over any problems in the neighbourhood. Rather, their aim was to draw attention to a forgotten area and make it shine again. But in the end it’s not the paint that invigorates the community — that’s only a cosmetic coating after all — it’s the power of narrative that shines light into dark corners.
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Close Collaboration
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The Artistic Intervention
Maintaining Curious Attitudes
Main taining Curious Attitudes
About HUB Footwear
Credits: All Images, photographs and designs from Brazil by Haas & Hahn for favelapainting.com Design of Rio Cruzeiro by Rob Admiraal Photographs of Phillidelphia by Justin Maxon
About HUB Footwear 15
When asked what it is that drives them to start projects in foreign cities, Urhahn says: “We never really made the decision to go to Philadelphia. Gradually, our inspiration evolved into this project. We never saw an ad that said: ‘Go paint in all kinds of rural areas worldwide’, but it just happened to be a perfect challenge for the both of us. History, social matters, photography, art, travelling — it’s all there. Besides these factors, we also feel emotionally challenged by getting involved in all these different situations.” Koolhaas recently became a father and Urhahn got engaged. This has given them a more serious attitude towards the future.“We’re making conscious decisions about continuing with other projects now,” says Urhahn.“For example, we might go back to Rio de Janeiro and continue the favela painting. We want to kickstart this art intervention on a massive scale so it can continue without our help.”
The Artistic Intervention
It’s a busy time for Haas & Hahn, but they’re still both naturally curious and open-minded.“If we receive a phone call tomorrow asking if we’d like to do a project in Colombia, we might as well get on the next plane and set something up over there,” says Urhahn, who also suggests they’re not done with Rio de Janeiro just yet.“We do have plans to return to Rio to continue our dream of painting an entire hill. We’re currently setting up crowd-funding platforms to enable people to participate in this amazing dream. Most of our projects have been realised with the help of enthusiasts, fans and supporters who all made donations, so we hope that they will help to make this new dream a reality.” As Haas & Hahn have proved, anything is possible. Who knows where they will be in ten years?
A city is a living, breathing organism, full of inspiration. Like most things, the more you put into it, the more it gives back. In 2004 three Dutchmen experienced this for themselves. Tired of the current obsession with vintage and the unhealthy adoration of the past, they wanted to seize the moment and capture the constantly changing nature of ‘the city’: combining the impulsiveness of urban life and a high standard of style and quality through design. Owing to two of the company’s founders, Huub van Boeckel and Tim Rompa, being former professional tennis players, tennis has naturally been an influence on the design of HUB Footwear shoes. The tennis soles are combined with a casual and clean upper look, resulting in a combination of sport, street and fashion elements, a ‘sophisticated sneaker’. A central characteristic
of HUB Footwear’s various designs is the iconic orange Z-stitch, once placed as a physical connection on the sneakers to strengthen the seams, nowadays it’s the brand’s icon and more a metaphorical connection to challenge HUB Footwear wearers to connect with the worlds around and within them, than a structural device. By 2012 the brand has been distributed throughout Northwestern Europe. This year HUB Footwear will cross the English Channel and enter Britain. Over recent years HUB Footwear has maintained healthy growth and managed to keep it’s distinctive look and original attitude. As it’s in the DNA of the founders, HUB Footwear will always be a brand for the ‘independent’,‘open-minded’ and ‘young hearted’ individual. For more info visit www.hubfootwear.com
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Watch the documentary and view our full collection on hubfootwear.com