Internal team building exercises aren’t necessarily what you want to show the public. Paint ball anyone? But Nike had a team design day and wanted to turn the results into an exhibit, at which point they called me.

The original event had Nike’s entire design staff separated into groups and given factory seconds, seven hours and a battery-powered sewing machine to come up with a whole outfit. The results were the basis for “Reconstruct,” a show examining how artists and designers take found materials and reconstitute them. I suggested increasing the show’s reach by including people as diverse as New York artist Tom Sachs and Dutch designer Hella Jongerius – while the exhibition copy traced that moment of inspiration from where people see one thing and think it could be another. The text linked that experience to Duchamps, Beck, the fashion collective Project Alabama – and even Nike’s founder Bill Bowerman, which turned out to save the show.

Nike executives had been struggling to see what was “Nike” about the show. But tying its very premise to Bowerman’s original waffle sole (made, as its name would suggest, with a waffle iron) helped them see its importance. Instead of cancelling it, they embraced the exhibit.