The coronavirus has shaken up society to its core, driving people to rethink everything from socialising, working, travelling to shopping and working out. While the COVID-19 crisis is still peaking in some parts of the world, in others a post-corona society is gradually taking shape. A new normal needs to be defined. What it will be like? Well, that’s tricky part. Nobody knows at this point. What’s clear is that a new set of rules will alter the playing field substantially in the coming months. Social distancing, mandatory face masks and contact tracing just to name a few. Unknown territory? Yes, but so were the internet, mobile phones and social media in their early days.

We believe it’s all about adopting a designer’s mindset when it comes to dealing with this altered reality. Rather than seeing restrictions, look for opportunities to challenge the status quo and rethink traditional roles. Take things apart, reinvent them and make them relevant again within the new normal. Figuratively, as well as literally.

Take a pair of sneakers for instance. More than any other type of shoe, they play a substantial role in expressing people’s identity. But wearing them significantly less during this lockdown period, made us rethink their function. We pulled the sneaker apart, dissected it into its elemental parts and recreated it as a face mask. It changed the sneaker’s functional role, but the emotional one remains the same. It’s still a way to show the world who you are.