3. D
uring his career as a designer for adidas, Fritz
uring his career as a designer for adidas, Fritz
Träumer privately filled dozens of notebooks
Träumer privately  lled dozens of notebooks
with his plans to create the most original sneakers
with his plans to create the most original sneakers
the world had ever seen. Not content for a sneaker
the world had ever seen. Not content for a sneaker
to remain simply athletic or aesthetic, Träumer
to remain simply athletic or aesthetic, Träumer
dreamed beyond the realm of what is even thought
dreamed beyond what is even
possible today. More than thirty of his notebooks
possible
have been recovered by adidas from the depths of
have been recovered by adidas from
various estates, along with a precious and secret
various
collection of seemingly impossible sneakers that
collection seemingly impossible sneakers that
Träumer quietly made into realities. Herein lays
Träumer quietly made into realities. Herein lays
an inspirational por trait of a visionar y of vast
an inspirational por trait
proportions, a celebration of his mesmerising range
proportions,
of sneaker creations and, perhaps, the precursor to
of and,
an unrestricted future of sneaker design.
an unrestricted future
FriTz TräuMer (1931-?)
FRITZ TRÄUMER (1931-?)

4. T he f i r st cor resp onde nce b et we e n Träu me r a nd t he compa ny t hat we lcomed h i s or ig i na l it y.
h at na A note f rom Träu me r to h i s la nd lord a nd ne ig hb ou r i n G e r me r i ng - neve r de l ive red .

5. Fritz Träu me r documenting one of his earliest days with adidas and the experience believed to have been the genesis of his cloud design. STur (STor
STUR M (STOR M)
WATer vA pour, ed.
WATER VA POUR, ED. 1/1
310 x 140 x 130mm
X X

6. LUFTSACK IR BAG)
LuFTSAck (A ir bAG) Hetrick’s
John hetrick’s revolutionar y air cushion restraint system, developed in 1952 to protect his own family, was a direct
POLY ESTER BL DDERS ITH COMPR ESSED NITROGEN, ED.
poLy eSTer bL A dderS W iTh coMpr eSSed NiTroGeN, ed. 1/1 inf luence on Träu me r who remodelled the technology to protect something equally as impor tant to him.
X X
300 x 130 x 160mm

7. An artist’s illustration torn from the
herzogenaurach public library’s edition
Herzogenaurach
of king Midas and The Golden Touch,
King
on loan to Fritz Träu me r for 48 years.
in his notes regarding the Midas sneaker, Träu me r makes the only recorded mention of a
In MidA S
MIDA
ram sneaker, which is believed to have been a hybrid Merino battering tool. Le ATher ANd GoLd, ed. 1/1
LE ATHER A ND GOLD, ED.
300 x 130 x 140mm
X X

8. An advertisement for Fritz Träumer Sr.’s
marginally successful ‘Nice-Nose’ straightener.
Fritz Träumer Jr. (far left).
A keen inventor his whole life, Fritz Träumer Sr. (above) finally achieved minor fame through his patented nose straightening device,
inspiring a doting Träumer Jr. to follow in his father’s unconventional footsteps.
Siegfried Träumer and herr Liebkosung, formerly
Herr
belonging to Fritz.

9. Träu me r ’s fascination with species endemic to their
par ticular environments led him in 1965 to Antananarivo,
Madagascar. His major discover y there, however, was the
his
Chameleon, a species common to many par ts of the world
and per fectly adept at camouf laging itself through air por t
customs checks in Frank fur t.
CH A M Ä LEON (CH A MELEON)
ch ä LeoN (ch MeLeoN)
Le ATher ANd CH A MELEON, ed. 1/1
LE ATHER A ND ch MeLeoN, ED.
X X
350 x 130 x 120mm

10. roboTer (roboT)
ROBOTER (ROBOT) Follow ing a self- descr ibed per iod of persona l creative decline, Träu me r ’s v isionar y f lame was reignited by
Nick eL MeTA L h y dr ide ANd MicroproceSSor, ED. 1/1
NICK EL META H Y DR IDE A ND MICROPROCESSOR, ed. pioneer ing developments in the robotics industr y of 1973.
300 x 130 x 160mm
X X

11. Sy NTh
SY NTH On loan from the pr ivate collec tion of Ra lf Hüt ter, the sy nthesiser snea ker is believed to have absorbed more than t wo years of Träu me r ’s
on ra hüt
LE ATHER W ITH MICROPROCESSOR, ED. 1/1
L e ATher iTh MicroproceSSor, ed. li fe as he trained himself to wa lk each note of comet Melody 2.
life Comet
290 x 120 x 160mm
X X

12. Though believed vacant for more than a decade, Fritz Träumer’s private sneaker workshop
was discovered littered with empty gin bottles and a still smoldering fire.

13. herzogenaurach
Träu me r would often find stimulation through travel and send postcards to himself in Herzogenaurach as reminders, br imming
tra ANTi-r äuber (ANTi-robber)
A NTI-R ÄUBER (A NTI-ROBBER)
8 york city unex
w ith new ideas. The 1980 New York City transit str ike had an une x pec ted effec t upon the traveling Träu me r when his a lter nate route AchiNe SpuN MeTA iTh MiG eLdiNG, ed.
M ACHINE SPUN META L W ITH MIG W ELDING, ED. 1/1
through the city’s meaner streets motivated one of his boldest snea ker solutions. x x
320 X 140 X 220mm

14. Originating with the increase in awareness of
originating
globa l pollution in the 1980s, Träumer’s tree
sneaker was discovered and uprooted from the
garden of his former home more than two decades
after its creation, still in full bloom.
BAUM (TR EE)
bAuM (Tr ee)
GENETICA LLY MODIFIED Seed, ed. 1/1
GeNeTicA LLy ModiFied SEED, ED.
310 x 120 x 210mm
X X

15. As he steadily began to recede from the outside world, public records
reveal that Träu me r failed to renew his driver license in 1987, requiring
him to retake the practical driving test he had passed more than
in
thir ty years prior. In a typical retor t against what he would describe
english
in English as ‘bureau-crazy’, Träu me r instead opted to pioneer a new
method of transpor tation by means of a voice-instr ucted limousine
at his feet.
LiMouSiNe
LIMOUSINE
h ANd Sh ped MeTA ed.
H A ND SH A PED META L , ED. 1/1
x x
280 X 110 X 130mm

16. | FRITZ TRÄUMER, ED.1/1 |
na
T he f i n a l e nt r y i n t he re cove red jou r na ls of Fr it z Träu me r, whose whe reab out s re m a i n s
u n k now n but i s sp e c u lated to b e somewhe re e nt i re ly or ig i na l.