Unfolding Possibility

Editor’s note: Founded in Osaka in 1906, Mizuno brings over a century of Japanese craftsmanship and innovative product design to its running footwear. Tempo is partnering with Mizuno to explore the story behind their latest collection, the Origami Pack, and the Japanese philosophy that drives it. In Australia, the Origami Pack is available exclusively at rebel.

A single sheet of paper. A few precise folds. And from that simplicity, a crane takes shape – or a flower, or a star, or something no one has made before. The Japanese art of origami has captivated the world for centuries because it proves that beauty and complexity can emerge from the most humble beginnings. It’s a fitting metaphor for what happens when we lace up a pair of running shoes: endless possibilities unfold from the same starting point.

Mizuno’s new Origami Pack is a limited-edition seasonal collection spanning seven models, from race-day super shoes to daily trainers, all rendered in a refined palette of grey, black, white and gold. Recombining this colourway, geometric forms shift across each silhouette like paper being folded into new configurations: the same elements, endlessly rearranged. It’s a celebration of the brand’s Japanese heritage and, underneath the clean exterior, the painstaking development that goes into every shoe.

The Origami Pack encompasses Mizuno’s full running range. At the sharp end sit the three Hyperwarp models – Pure, Elite and Pro – designed for race day. Alongside them, the Neo Vista 2 and Neo Zen 2 bring the same aesthetic to the brand’s responsive “bounce silo” shoes, built for tempo and long runs. For daily training, the Wave Rider 29, Mizuno’s biggest-selling model, rounds out the collection. It’s a one-off release, and won’t be repeated; next season will bring a new theme entirely.

“We always wanted to showcase our brand heritage and the culture of Mizuno through Japanese craftsmanship,” says Hiroaki “Hiro” Kawanishi, a product manager for Mizuno’s performance running range, speaking from the brand’s European base in Rotterdam. “We’re not just making a crazy colourway. That’s not the way at Mizuno. We felt that showing a Japanese speciality, origami, makes us unique.”

An earlier iteration featured crane motifs transferred onto the upper and midsole, drawing on one of origami’s most iconic forms. “In elementary school, everyone is forced to make a crane,” Hiro says as he outlines why that idea was soon discarded. “One of our design philosophies is technical simplicity. So we decided to make it simpler.”

What they arrived at captures the essence of origami without being literal about it. The pack looks clean and restrained on the outside, but beneath that surface lies enormous dedication. “Origami looks very simple, but on the inside it is very technical and needs a very sensitive handcraft,” Hiro explains. “We think origami matches well with our process of performance running development. On the outside, it’s very simple. Clean. But on the inside there is a lot of dedication, lots of development, lots of performance. We believe it’s the same theme between origami and our product development.”

The colour story is just as considered. Where an earlier prototype drew on the Japanese flag’s red and white, the design team pulled back, opting instead for something more globally resonant. With the pack released just after the Osaka Marathon, gold became the centrepiece. “This colour pack is dedicated to racing, or for people who want to race their personal best,” Hiro says. “The gold represents everyone getting a gold medal, for chasing a personal best or other personal goal.”

The idea of hidden depth, of simple surfaces concealing rigorous attention to detail, connects the Origami Pack to a philosophy Melissa “Lissy” Duncan knows intimately.

Lissy is one of Australia’s most accomplished middle-distance runners. A 1500m and 5000m specialist, she has represented her country at two World Championships, the Commonwealth Games and the World Cross Country Championships. She won the Oceania 5000m title in 2019 and was selected for the 2016 Olympic Games before injury forced her to withdraw. Her career has been marked by resilience: a broken foot in the lead-up to Rio that required surgery, a gruelling rehabilitation, and the mental battle of rebuilding confidence after months on the sidelines.

It was during that comeback that Lissy made one of the most distinctive moves in Australian running. In early 2019, she relocated to Tokyo to join the Shiseido Running Club, one of Japan’s corporate ekiden teams, becoming one of only a handful of foreign athletes (especially among those not hailing from Africa) to compete in the system. Tempo followed her journey in a 2019 feature, ”The Tokyo Experiment”, as she navigated a culture, language and training philosophy vastly different from anything she’d known.

Now back in Melbourne, where she works as a running coach and teacher, Lissy was the natural choice for a photo shoot celebrating the Origami Pack and its Japanese roots. And when we asked her about what training in Japan taught her, her answer cut straight to the heart of what Mizuno is trying to express.

“Training in Japan taught me the importance of the little things,” Lissy says. “It’s not just about going for a run – it’s about everything around it. Warming up properly, looking after your body, not neglecting those small details because, combined, they’re what actually get the results in the end.”

Those years at Shiseido were intense and transformative. Days began with a 10-kilometre team run at 6am, every morning, regardless of what training lay ahead. Splits were called every kilometre. Breakfast followed, prepared by the team’s chef and dietician. Then an 11am session – a workout, weights or cross training – followed by physio, another run at 4pm and dinner as a group. Everything was structured; nothing was left to chance.

“Earlier in my career, it was normal to just eat a banana and head out for a run,” Lissy reflects. Training in Japan exposed her to a completely different world of athletic discipline. Now back in Australia, Lissy has taken on some of those learnings but has applied them in a way that works best for her. “There’s nothing impressive about one impressive session. What actually makes the difference is consistency: showing up day in, day out, and doing the best you can with what you have on that day,” she says.

This is the origami parallel in practice: the folds you can’t see are the ones that hold the shape together, and Hiro recognises the connection immediately. “For Japanese athletes – all athletes, not just in running – it’s focusing on the small habits and small details that makes them special,” he says. “Japanese athletes have often been training since the age of six or nine, and they mainly focus on one sport. Coaches tell young athletes to dedicate themselves to the small details, to maintain the small habits. That’s part of the sports culture in Japan. That’s what makes our Japanese athletes unique and very strong.”

That culture extends to Mizuno itself. Unlike many global sporting goods companies that concentrate their operations in one or two major cities, Mizuno maintains branches in mid-sized towns across Japan, giving the brand a grassroots presence that most competitors lack. “We have a really strong connection with the runners, but also local companies, local government,” Hiro says. “We support lots of marathons, and also 10K races and half marathons. As a company, we respect the running culture in Japan – not just in the big cities like Tokyo and Osaka, but the entirety of Japan as a community of runners.”

It’s this community spirit that powers one of Mizuno’s proudest associations: its official sponsorship of the Hakone Ekiden, the legendary two-day, 217-kilometre university relay race that captivates Japan every New Year. Millions watch on television as teams of 10 runners pass the tasuki, a sash that symbolises responsibility, teamwork and continuity.

“Ekiden has a long history and a unique spirit,” Hiro says. “There is a very Japanese way to this, which sometimes involves sacrificing ourselves for the others on our team. Running is a personal sport, but ekiden is different – it’s a team sport. Blending marathon culture with ekiden culture makes Japanese running quite interesting right now. That’s why people are curious and many are coming to Japan to see the Hakone Ekiden.”

For Lissy, who competed in two seasons of the Queen’s Ekiden during her time at Shiseido, the team dimension of running resonates deeply, and it’s something she carries into her coaching today.

“The running community is what keeps me going every day,” she says. “I love the connections, the friendships, and training alongside people who are working towards similar goals. You don’t need to feel motivated every day when you have people around you who inspire you. It makes the effort feel easier.”

And there’s a lesson in her words about consistency that runners of any level can take to heart. “Distance running really is about doing the same thing over and over again,” Lissy says. “The best thing you can do is keep turning up every single day. Through that repetition, you build consistency, and over time that creates a strong foundation.”

Not every session has to be impressive. Not every fold has to be visible. But keep showing up – keep making those precise, patient folds – and eventually everything starts to click.

The Mizuno Origami Pack is available now, exclusively at rebel in Australia.