Today we’d like to introduce you to Martin Hector Hernandez.
Hi Martin Hector, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
Art has always been a part of who I am. At an early age, it was the way that I was able to express who I was as a person. It was also a way that I was able to connect with my family. My father had a huge impact on my life for where I am in life today. Also being a creative, he dreamed of his children pursuing artistic careers. He saw the importance it was to create not only an artist but an artist with a purpose. One day while working my father came upon a school in the mountains called ArtCenter. Once he found out about the work that ArtCenter produced he immediately knew he wanted me to go there. I remember going to ArtCenter open houses and being amazed of what the students were creating. I remember being so excited going, but as a small child I never thought that I was going to go to that school. I just saw it as a great museum and time with my dad.
Time passed and we didn’t go to open houses as frequent anymore. I was going to school and picking up new hobbies, but still remained with a hidden passion for art. I always knew ArtCenter was there but at the time I just wanted to go play basketball with my friends. Going to my senior year in high school it was time to make a decision about where I was going to go to college. I wasn’t too sure about where I wanted to go. I knew I wanted to go to college but wasn’t really interested in the majors they were offering. Then I remembered about ArtCenter and decided to take a class with them on the weekends. It was a product design class that opened up a whole new perspective about the world. Before that point, I saw art as just creating beautiful paintings and sculptures. But when I learned about product design, it felt like I unlocked a secret about creating art with a purpose. I fell in love with the design process that and the concept that I was able to solve problems through Art.
I knew I had an interest for product design. I knew it was something that I could see myself doing in the future. Everything clicked when I realized that shoes were products. At the time I was heavily focused in basketball and started to become familiar with the sneaker world. Once I made the connection between product and shoes then my decision was clear. I was going to become a footwear designer. A young dream that was able to turn into something greater. After graduating high school, I focused on creating a portfolio to go to Art Center. This took a lot of practice and classes at various places. One summer day I was on Twitter and saw a tweet about Pensole footwear design academy.
At the time I only knew about art center, and a school that teaches you about footwear design was unheard of. And the fact that it was free tuition and free housing made more the sense to apply and go to Portland. I applied to Pensole and got accepted to join the Bme master class. It was a 4 week intensive with sponsored brands. My first day ay the school I instantly knew that I wanted to be part of the footwear industry. It was basically my love for product design combined with my love for basketball and shoes. I was able to finish Pensole with great motivation to complete my portfolio and go to Art Center. At the time I felt very confident in my skills. I had some experience creating my portfolio and learned a lot from Pensole, I felt that I was ready to go into the field. But it was my father that encouraged me to keep going to school. A decision that I am most grateful for.
The following year I was accepted and getting ready to start a new chapter of my life at Art Center. I still remember the feeling of driving down the road almost as if it was the first time going to an Art Center open house. I was optimistic and ready to become a footwear designer. Yet I was unaware of my future path and the personal developments I was awaiting. It was here where I learned a lot of myself and knew I had to make a difference in my life. Coming into Art Center at an early age made me realize that I had a lot of growing to do. I knew I had the capacity and the skill to become a product designer. The problem was my mindset, I still wanted to go out and have fun. I still wanted to experience college like I saw in the movies. This mindset cost me dearly in the first half of my college career. I wasn’t able to manage my time and did a lot of unnecessary all-nighters to catch up on my work.
Eventually, this caught up to me and got to a point where I wasn’t able to produce work at the level I knew that I could. This led me to take a break from school to regroup and think about my life. I knew I had to make a change. A change that would be for the better, but it was a lifestyle change that I have been putting off for too long. New circles, new goals, and a new mindset. I realized that if I really wanted to become a footwear designer I had to give everything up and focus on my mission. In reality deep inside myself, I was afraid. I was scared that If I would give it my all and I didn’t succeed then I would be devastated and would not be able to continue. But I had no other choice It had to be done,
I came back to Art Center motivated once again with a new plan. A plan to give it my all and never give up. And even with this mindset I still managed to struggle, it was not an easy path but I did feel that I was progressing. I am very grateful that I went to Art Center. It taught me everything I needed to become successful in life. It taught me techniques, a work ethic, and communication skills throughout the four years that I was there. The most important lesson it taught me was to always keep going. As a product designer, I learned the process of solving problems through design. But this process can be applied to every problem that life will bring us. No matter what the problem is there is always a solution. Some solutions are better than others, but it all depends on how much you keep going and working on finding that solution. The more you work and continue to look a solution the better the end result will be. It is just a matter of time.
After graduating Art Center, I was able to accomplish my dream of working with one of the biggest sports brand, Nike. It felt like a dream being able to see behind the scene and be part of the creation process. Going to Nike made all the blood, sweat, and tears worth it. It really motivated to keep going and see what life will have to offer. I currently am working with Mizuno as Color Designer in Atlanta, Georgia. It is an exciting opportunity and am very grateful for the opportunity that they have given me. Sometimes I like to sit back and soak it in that I truly am lucky that I love my job. I don’t think that I would be the man I am today without going through their curriculum. I am not sure how long I’ll be there for or where I will ultimately end up. But what I do know is that I am going to continue to keep going and working my hardest. I know that with this mindset it will take me to where I need to be. What is meant for me will come to me.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I don’t think it will ever be a smooth road. Without struggle, we wouldn’t be able to appreciate success as much. I am very grateful for the life that I was given. I may not be the richest or the most connected, but I do have something better. A family that loves me and has always supported me from the beginning. This gift was always helpful for when I needed to fall back and regroup myself. My challenges never really came from learning new skills. I was always able to understand and pick it up any skill that I needed. My challenge came from understanding who I was.
Growing up I always felt like I was different. I never truly fit anywhere. My parents were immigrants and came to LA for a better life. They both knew that they wanted to create a family here and live the American dream. My parents always wanted the best for my sister and I. This meant surrounding us with safer communities and different mindsets that they were used to. I did grow up with my cousins but lived far away from them and went to different schools. We still saw each other but grew up differently. We had different friends and interests. We always felt a bit disconnected from each other. Going to school was a bit difficult as well. My friends and I had similar interests and goals but our backgrounds were very different. This situation continued to even now in my career. In a sense, I was always too Mexican for the American people. And I was always too American for the Mexican people. At first, It was difficulty to deal with this situation, but eventually I learned about the importance of who I was.
I always wanted to fit in and be part of a community that I can feel close to. I feel that this is part of our nature to connect with people and be part of a family. But it was difficult because I was always different. This problem came up a lot in my design career. I felt as if people didn’t really understand what I was doing or who I was. It wasn’t really their fault but more of mine in that I wasn’t able to communicate my vision clearly yet. This is something that I still continue to work on. But instead of shying away of who I am, I decided to embrace and be proud of who I am. I feel that I am able to provide unique perspectives and ideas that can lead us into a better society. I still hope to find a community that understands everything that I’ve been through. But for now, I am grateful to how far I have gotten and excited to keep breaking barriers.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I still like to think of myself as a designer. Throughout my school career, I learned how to design products from furniture, environments, transportation, and footwear. I know that with my education and experience I can design anything that comes my way. But for my bread and butter, I am a CMF Designer. Also known as Color, Material, and Finish. This is mostly just focusing on applying the finishing touches to the product. I focus on footwear so I mainly pick out what colors and materials will be applied to the design. What I love most about this job is the storytelling behind every colorway. In school, I found that I loved to create and present stories that people could experience. I had an act for creating immersive stories that would translate onto footwear. This career path led me to the proudest moment of being able to work for Nike as a Material Designer. With CMF design I was able to stand out because I could tell stories that were unique to my personal experiences. I could focus on different communities and tell stories that they could resonate with. This was always exciting to do and felt very passionate throughout the entire process.
We all have a different way of looking at and defining success. How do you define success?
Success always have different definitions. People always have their interpretation of what It can be and how it applies to their lives. For me, success is being able to accomplish the dreams that you have set for your life.
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Martin Hector Hernandez
