Rick Maderis has spent more than twenty years inside adidas, Nike, Jordan Brand and Curry Brand, working on the graphics, color and storytelling that rarely get a name attached. Now he runs Burnside Knives in Portland, and you can see the sneaker brain in every piece.

Rick and I played phone tag for close to a year before this happened, and it was worth the wait. We talk about the fire drills that end up producing better work, tilting the adidas trefoil fifteen degrees and hearing about it, why retros carry more pressure than new shoes, the Doernbecher Air Jordan 15, and asking whether you're the right person for a project before you say yes. Then it's knives: how a sneaker graphic designer ended up with KNIVES on his license plate, why the handle is a magma grip and not elephant print, and the Lost Lake Easter egg hidden in the Cabrillo 2.

CHAPTERS

00:00 Coming up: the Doernbecher kid, and the other side of the river

00:30 Why this conversation took a year

01:57 The conversation starts

03:39 A coloring book and a grandfather

03:57 Art school to adidas, Jordan and Curry Brand

06:27 Is getting moved around good or bad for creatives?

10:46 Big brands vs small teams: who actually does the work

12:35 Fire drills and better work

17:41 Redrawing a grail Jordan pattern from scratch

20:26 Jason Mayden: make them feel something

22:11 Tilting the trefoil 15 degrees

25:13 Sharpening every single edge

26:24 Breaking the Jordan formula

30:26 Why kids should watch the WNBA

36:34 CCS, 5 a.m. phones and skate catalogs

38:47 The Doernbecher Air Jordan 15

43:12 Lewis Latimer, Bruce Lee, and asking first

47:37 Why heritage collections get cut first

50:50 How he got into PENSOLE

55:24 Leaks, mockups and Easter at the drugstore

1:01:08 How Burnside Knives started

1:04:20 Why it's called Burnside

1:07:15 KNIVES on the license plate

1:09:45 Making something that outlives us

1:14:14 Magma grip, not elephant print

1:20:50 The Lost Lake Easter egg

1:26:00 Sneakers made us better storytellers

1:33:02 Where to find Rick

FIND RICK

Rick's work: https://www.rickmaderis.com

Burnside Knives: https://burnsideknives.com

Instagram: @maderis and @burnsideknives

His eyewear side project, IIVNI: https://iivni.com

MORE FROM ME

Watch this episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@NickatSneakerHistory

The Sneaker Newsletter: https://www.thesneakernewsletter.com

Sneaker History: https://sneakerhistory.com

My first book, Small Luxuries: Sneakers, out October 2026: https://bookshop.org/a/122044/9798317900854

Rick sent me the Burnside knife we talk about in this episode. Full video coming soon on the YouTube channel.

Tell someone you like their kicks today. You never know how far a compliment will take you. And we all know how good it feels to be on the receiving end of some appreciation.