Changing Gears: Sam Amis on Crafting Meaningful Objects

02/21/25 • 47 min

In this episode of Changing Gears, Kat chats with industrial designer Sam Amis, whose career has taken him from innovating cutting-edge gear at Nike, to shaking up the world of everyday carry at The James Brand. They dive into his journey from art-loving high schooler to designing some of the most modern pocket knives out there. Sam shares behind-the-scenes stories from working with Timex, his love for iconic design (think Swiss Army knives and Air Jordans), and how his obsession with symmetry influences his work. They also geek out over watches, talk about the magic of good product design, and even touch on AI’s growing role in the creative process. Whether you’re a design nerd, a gearhead, or just love a good origin story, this one’s a must-listen!

We hope you like this new podcast format and really appreciate all the listeners! Kat has some awesome interviews in the works for those of you that love gear! To stay on top of all new episodes, you can subscribe to The Worn & Wound Podcast — now available on all major platforms including iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Soundcloud, Spotify, and more. You can also find our RSS feed here.

If there’s a question you want us to answer you can hit us up at [email protected], and we’ll put your question in the queue.

Show Notes:

If there’s a question you want us to answer you can hit us up at [email protected], and we’ll put your question in the queue.

Show Notes:

Previous Episode

Ep 386: A Dive Watch Draft

This week on the Worn & Wound podcast, we’re drafting divers! Zach Kazan is joined by Zach Weiss and Devin Pennypacker to participate in a fun but ultimately fruitless exercise whereby they pick their favorite divers at three different price points: under $5,000, between $5,000 and $15,000, and over $15,000. It’s always fun to play with fake money, and our panel picks a truly wide and sometimes strange selection of divers, from the common to the completely obscure and everywhere in between.

Before they get into the diver conversation, Zach, Devin, and Zach discuss two of the bigger pieces of news to come across the transom last week, Rolex shuttering the Bucherer brand, and the news that Breitling is apparently set to acquire Gallet.

To stay on top of all new episodes, you can subscribe to The Worn & Wound Podcast on all major platforms including Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, and more. You can also find our RSS feed here.

And if you like what you hear, then don’t forget to leave us a review.

If there’s a question you want us to answer you can hit us up at [email protected], and we’ll put your question in the queue.

Show Notes

Next Episode

Ep 387: What Do We Value in Watches?

This week, Griffin Bartsch makes his return to the Worn & Wound podcast, where he joins Zach Kazan and Zach Weiss for a conversation focused on how we find value watches. Inspired by Griffin’s recent review of his Vertex Aqualion, they dig into concepts of price sensitivity, how we rationalize the cost of a watch, and what actually makes us think a watch is “overpriced.” It’s a fun discussion on a topic at the forefront of the minds of many collectors as watch prices rise but the overall quality of a watch doesn’t necessarily follow suit.

And if you like what you hear, then don’t forget to leave us a review.

If there’s a question you want us to answer you can hit us up at [email protected], and we’ll put your question in the queue.