Camper 2011 Workshop: Design in a context of cultural change

At the second edition of the Son Fortesa (Majorca) workshop, which involves some of the world's brightest young designers, Camper's founder, Lorenzo Fluxà, talks about the relationship between production and design over the course of his company's history. The meeting is helpful for understanding concrete ways of thinking about and facing changes in the process of conceiving and manufacturing products—in a truly global perspective.

Roberto Zancan: We might start from the fact that Camper seems to believe that the shoe is the result of the balance between the production of a design object and an industrial product.
Lorenzo Fluxà: From the beginning—from the very first shoe we produced—we always tried to find the right balance in the relationship between the shoe's functional quality and its design. When we started in 1975, fashion and designer shoes were often uncomfortable. On the other hand, Anglo-American casual shoes were very practical and comfortable but their "design" was not as pleasing. From the very beginning, I think that Camper's precise goal was to fill this niche. Using my family's background in footwear, we opened the design window a bit while trying to preserve the comfort of the shoe. I believe that this correct balance is one of the reasons that we have survived for over thirty-five years…Then, over time, technology came into play, along with more sophisticated performance and design. But, in effect, the overall goal has always been to find the right balance between design (not in the sense of fashion design) and industrial production...

Design and creativity seem important to you even in your manufacturing processes.
What is of most interest for us is the industrial design that originates in the shoe-making industry. If we want to talk about my father's production and my grandfather's before him, we must imagine a more classic shoe but still of high quality. We might say that Camper has sought to modernize this kind of production through design but with great respect for the existing footwear know-how. Today the footwear tradition from the last century no longer exists. The craftsmen who understood all the production stages from start to finish have almost all disappeared in Spain and even in Italy they are disappearing…I lived through that period and I learned a great deal from my family and from Italy, which I visited many times. I saw many factories and met many technicians and people who truly loved shoes, who knew the craft fantastically well and who worked with passion. I learned something about that way of making shoes and developed a passion for design. And then I invented a cocktail that has worked, at least until now.

Perhaps the most exciting part of being here in Inca is seeing how you conceive a product starting from the concept and with a manufacturing system that is both local and global.
Yes, yes, definitely. I remember that at first people didn't understand. When we started Camper, I spoke more about a concept for shoes rather than about models or the lines of a certain design. The most successful Camper shoes have always had an underlying concept: a short story that is not a design that starts from zero, on paper....
Before design comes an idea, a concept, like Camaleon, our first shoe, the one that Majorca farmers wore and that inspired our idea of comfort. For Pelotas, there was the idea of the different kinds of balls used in sports, the ones that were once made of leather...Then for Twins, the idea of different shoes....At the time, but not always though, because, among the many shoes that we produced in over thirty years of activity, there were many that did not follow this principle; but all the shoes that have special meaning for us—all the Camper icons—have a story behind them. This is what we try to develop continuously—the conceptual idea.

And then there is something else that is very important to me. It is a triangle that we often forget about in the design world; the triangle of creativity, idea and marketability. The idea must have value for the person using the shoe and must also allow the product's marketability. This triangle must be balanced, because if the idea is fantastic (and we know how the media can communicate fantastic ideas) but the product does not have value for the consumer, or it does not appear to be practical, or if the idea is good but not economically viable from a production point of view, it can end up not going anywhere, like an idea in a museum. This triangle must be self-powered and balanced, each and every time, by resources that are invested in innovation. Because innovation creates value for the consumer. And as we have seen here in the workshop, we often think we should be a bit "crazy," launch ideas…but then the responsibility of a company, of a brand like ours, lies in opening the doors to the idea, helping it gain value for the consumer and economic balance for production. But maybe what I'm saying is a bit too serious for Domus but it is really important....

No, it's just what I wanted to ask you. In the sense that we are curious about knowing how the transition from creation to production works as a design idea. Before you were talking about what you've seen in Italy and what you don't see any more in Spain. But does this represent the future of Europe, what it is today and what will it be tomorrow?
Yes, for sure. This is what we need to think about. I think that the world today, both as a life experience and as an economic universe, is a truly global universe. So from the cultural and economic points of view, we must try to have the local discourse coexist with living openly in connection with the rest of the world. From this standpoint, in my opinion, the only thing we can really recover is the know-how possessed by many European companies: that knowledge of craft and design developed over many centuries and many years; in other words, the expertise of an Italian company that uses design—for furniture or interiors or shoes. The ones who have survived are the ones who try to do this kind of work. Beginning independently, manufacturing in Italy, Spain, France and now in Asia where luxury is emigrating because there are no more artisans in Europe and because the ability to do the same kind of work as in the past is disappearing. In this sense, expertise has become the most important value but it should lead to a more professional and entrepreneurial approach. The crucial point is this: to create design management, to become less of a "designer" and more of a "design manager." This is our bit of experience and what we are trying to work on and develop.

And how do you manage all of that? For example, regarding production in China: do you design everything and then send a file...? But I don't want to reveal any trade secrets by asking this question.
No, no, and anyway, what is secret today? People can move around and copy. Value in the creative industries lies mainly in the ability to create with continuity. Today, everyone can copy everything so the important thing is to have a culture of design. This cannot be bought with money but is a process that lasts for years. I think it's true that the Chinese are learning very quickly and can also design but, in my opinion, they still need years to acquire this culture.

How did you come to create Camper after two or three generations? First your grandfather and your father, and now you and your children…
We have to believe that this accumulation is a value. You can't go fast, but if someone wants to create a company like so many that can be found only in Italy, it takes generations!
But I want to come back to something that's very important to Camper. For my father's and grandfather's generations, the factory was the center of economic activity. Even if Camper never really had only one factory. From the beginning, we worked with other companies; in the beginning in Majorca in Spain, then in Morocco, and then elsewhere…In this sense, Camper never had an industrial plant that was ours alone. We had the know-how of the family and the technicians. We kept this small factory to make all the prototypes and create the demand for product research. In Inca, we do all the creative and technical development up to the finished prototype and the forms.
My grandfather was the first person to have a small factory in Majorca. He started it in 1877 and then expanded in the mid-1930s. In the mid-'60s, there were more than two hundred small and medium industries in Majorca, mainly producing quality shoes. Unfortunately, all of this disappeared and with the arrival of mass tourism, the death of the industry came about even more rapidly. But the know-how accumulated by many generations remained. We recently purchased the last form factory in Majorca and moved it to Inca. There were two technicians who had tremendous knowledge and with whom we bought all the machinery, the know-how and the documentation of the historic forms (but this is part of the know-how and these people, right?).

Now young people are learning to make forms by hand; because this is important, because you have to do that, because we should always have a small personal secret regarding company style—some forms, some materials, some methods of making soles and so on. The ability to mix these elements is a bit like using a recipe—a recipe like paella in Spain. Paella is made in all homes but the recipe is different in every household because everyone has their own little "secret." We want to maintain our "secret"—our personality and our means of making shoes. In this sense, we take great care in keeping the "secret." You also saw some people; they are people from the factory and not the designers. The designers are the ones you see in the workshops…Even from the human standpoint, this mix of personalities—factory people and design people—is very interesting. I don't know exactly how many nationalities are present or working in Inca today, but there are many of them because this is the reality of our times. But we still have local people here in Inca—the farmers who make these shoes. They are here and we keep them and we care for them because they give that personal touch to our shoes, even if the shoe is then made... boh!

It seems to me that what also counts for you is to create and accentuate the new dimension of global production.
A good Dutch designer who had once worked with us said to me, "Lorenzo, you have the responsibility to tell the world that China and Asia are not only cheap labor. You have to make people understand that there is high quality in China." I was very reluctant to go to China but I had to when it had become impossible to make shoes in Majorca. We took a first step with Morocco, where we stayed for fifteen or sixteen years and where we still are. Then a friend told me, "You have to come with me to see what's in China"…I was surprised to encounter a truly high technical level, quality, cleanliness. China is huge and, like Italy, there are fantastic companies that work really well. They are technically and technologically prepared and the workforce is extraordinary—young people who are willing to work to improve. It's a bit like what was happening here in Spain forty years ago: people worked without limits. There are huge factories that produce millions of pairs of shoes a year. They are large organizations that have grown up with the world's most important companies from a technical standpoint—in particular the American sneaker manufacturers. Quality control became the center of their production system.
For example, let's talk about product reliability. Camper's has always been very high and we have seen a 50% decrease in the number of problems. Let's say that if it was 1%, now it's 0.5% because there is a completely different way of managing production in China. They don't start producing until everything is perfect. They started with large sneaker companies but are adapting to European companies that probably represent the future. So what the Dutch designer said is true....