Joe Cooke

Joe Cooke

London, UK

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Product and design seems a constant mix of science and art - moving from imagination to reality, creativity to logic, balancing the strategy of figuring out which bits even matter with carefully crafting the bits that do.

I designed a slipper and a universe for 'downtime' to help people put their feet up. Growing the startup with brilliant team, we built it from 0 to 1m+ pairs and it became the UK's fastest growing business in 2016. I got some runs on the board with a first product, and have kept exploring a breathe of new products, professional capacities and actually constantly building - new products need a mix of different things to come together and this has build a breath of practical insight.

I've been building a lab experimenting with emerging technologies and building experience prototypes. Creating unpolished products that are brilliant experiences for ourselves first, then testing and refining with users.

Balancing a few fields: designing desire, product, AI hardware, experimental prototype building, sport and footwear.

If you're building something and think I could help, would love to hear from you.

Built and designed

Complete universes designed and built from the ground-up.

Busutto

Hardware/Software for Hydration

Coming Soon

I joined as employee #1 when mahabis was just an idea. Over six years, it grew from zero to one of the UK's fastest-growing companies, and the fast growing footwear brand in the world. I distilled a product for 'downtime', created a slipper and supply chain and hopefully helped a few people put their feet up.

Press my work has been in

Design Milk
Business Insider
Hypebeast
Los Angeles Times
The Telegraph
Sneaker Freaker
H Magazine
Wired

"From London comes global design" — Design Milk

"A masterpiece of practicality" — The Telegraph

"I have discovered a few things that make winter actually enjoyable" — Business Insider

Clients I've worked with over the long term

JTI
TYME
Founders Factory
Karmacist

Professional journey

Busutto

Busutto

Founder

Mahabis

Mahabis

CPO, Lead Designer, Employee 1

Puma

Puma

Design & Development

Testimonials

Name Surname

"Working with Joe was transformative for our product vision. His ability to distill complex ideas into elegant solutions is unmatched."

Name Surname — CEO, Company
Name Surname

"Joe brings a rare combination of creative vision and practical execution. He doesn't just design—he builds."

Name Surname — Founder, Company
Name Surname

"An exceptional collaborator who truly understands the intersection of design and technology."

Name Surname — CTO, Company
Name Surname

"Joe's work elevated our brand and product to new heights. Highly recommend working with him."

Name Surname — Director, Company

Awards

Red Dot Design Award

Red Dot Design Award

Drapers Footwear Awards - Best New Innovation 2016

Drapers Footwear Awards - Best New Innovation 2016

Drapers Footwear Awards - Best New Business

Drapers Footwear Awards - Best New Business

Current focuses

  • - Building Busutto
  • - Experimental experience labs
  • - The reality of building a hardware product with AI in 2026
Get in touch