Pensole Student Designer Interview: Jake Rochester words & images_Nick DePaula In part two of our Pensole Student Designer Interview series, Sole Collector catches up with fifteen year-old Jake Rochester from Hartford, Connecticut. One of the youngest students invited to D’Wayne Edwards’ exclusive Pensole program, a two-week long summer course in conjunction with the University of Oregon’s Portland-based Architecture school that aims to teach students about footwear design, Rochester began drawing shoes at the age of nine and has been passionate about illustration and sketching ever since. The course featured a strenuous 9 am to 6 pm schedule, including weekends , and most students even admitted to staying well past 6 every night. Jake was quick to say that the extra time spent learning from older students and sketching as much as possible was easily his favorite part of the course, as he was looking to soak up as much knowledge as possible during his first trip to Oregon. Each student in the Pensole program was given a specific brief and directive from D’Wayne Edwards, much in the same way that the Design Director has doled out countless briefs for Jordan Brand designers for much of this decade. While other students were challenged with making a post-game slide, an environmentally friendly casual shoe or a signature Air Jordan model, Jake instead looked to create an original Jordan all-terrain running shoe. Read along as I spoke with Jake about the Pensole course, his expectations and also his deeply detailed design and points of inspiration. Nick DePaula:What were your expectations of the program and how’d you first hear about it? Jake Rochester: I entered Future Sole last year, and I didn’t get too far [laughs], although D’Wayne Edwards emailed me and said, “Hey, you had a great design but it wasn’t what we were looking for, but I’d like to work with you.” I just talked to him over emails and would send him more designs and he told me he had a program coming up in Oregon. I just said, “Woah, that’s in Oregon, that’s pretty far.” [laughs] I’m in Connecticut! So I didn’t know if that would work or not, but I’m here now and it worked out fine.
