I am obsessed with skateboard shoes. My personal archive of original shoes, catalogs, and other ephemera spans from 1976-2000 and onward. In many ways, skateboarding and skate footwear has defined my cultural identity and how I interpret the world around me.
At the same time, I am drawn to designer shoes. Wearing them makes me feel important and valuable. However, I'll never admit that I buy them used for about 1/8th of the retail price. Perception is everything ;)
To me, the construction details and sensibilities of contemporary European fashion house sneakers echo the design language and philosophy of OG skateboard footwear design. My work exists at this intersection, fusing the raw excitement of OG skate footwear with the refinement of European luxury.
The goal is to provide people with the same excitement I feel for OG skateboard shoes, through the disguise of European luxury where 'design value' is paramount. For me its all about style and taste. I like the idea of performance, but only as an abstraction. I won't design a running shoe for you, not because I can’t, but because I much prefer designing the idea of a running shoe.
My hot take - 'Form follows function' is a bad design philosophy. Form should come first, always. Function should be implied through aesthetic design, and engineered on the back end. It doesn’t matter how innovative a shoe design is if it doesn’t look good.
Fun Facts:
DOB: 08/15/1994
Shoe size: 7 US
Stance: Goofy
Words to live by: “Snack free, or crunch hard.”
-2021-