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Stepping into the Limelight with Dora Kloppenburg

Monday, May 20, 2013 - During the exhibition Starker Auftritt!/Stepping into the Limelight! A Shoe exhibition at the GRASSI Museum für Angewandte Kunst of Applied Arts in Leipzig, Germany, we will highlight the different themes and introduce some of the participating designers to you.

Dora Kloppenburg is a Dutch product designer specialising in shoedesign. Who finds her inspiration in constructions, architecture and the anatomy of the foot. She is continually exploring the boundaries of the shoe. When is a shoe still a shoe? What possibilities can be explored while keeping a shoe wearable?

She translates these ideas into a graphic and clear image. Her experimental ideas are transformed into a wearable product. This open and experimental approach results in surprising new designs. Next to her startling shoes she also designs special accessories and jewellery.

The three pairs of shoes of the Remotion collection are on display, including the video, in Starker Auftritt!:
Communism, construcive architecture, man as a machine, as a tool. Turning the machine on together in the interests of the greater good. What would it be like if man existed solely to serve the purposes of the shoe? Does the shoe still need mankind in order to be a shoe? As a designer, Dora Kloppenburg adopted these hypothetical issues as the basis for her collection (2012), while she also carried out research into constructions driven by human locomotion.

Starker Auftritt!/Stepping into the Limelight!
A Shoe exhibition at the GRASSI Museum für Angewandte Kunst of Applied Arts in Leipzig, Germany from 28th of March till the 29th September 2013. Together with Sabine Epple, the curator of modern art of the GRASSI Museum, Liza Snook selected 220 exclusive shoes from the Virtual Shoe Museum, supplemented with German artists and designers who created shoes.

Starker Auftritt!/Stepping into the Limelight!
GRASSI Museum für Angewandte Kunst
Johannisplatz 5-11, Leipzig, Germany

More shoes by Dora Kloppenburg at the Virtual Shoe Museum.

Photograph by Lonneke van der Palen.

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Tags: newsletter | design | exhibithion | fashion

Gothic festival weekend in Leipzig 2013

Friday, May 17, 2013 - This weekend, 18th and 19th of May, the Wave Gotik Treffen will be held again in Leipzig, Germany. The Grassi Museum of Applied Arts offers a special program inspired by the current shoe exhibition 'Starker Auftritt/Stepping into the Limelight'.

Wave Gotik Treffen (Treffen means meeting), the annual world festival for 'dark' music and arts, hosts ± 150 bands and artists from various backgrounds (Gothic rock, EBM, Industrial, Noise, Darkwave, Neofolk, Neoclassical, Medieval Music, Experimental, Gothic metal, Deathrock and Punks) that play at several venues throughout the city over 4 days on Whitsuntide. The festival also features several fairs with medieval, gothic and cultural merchandise.

Visitors of the Wave Gotik Treffen will be granted free admission to the permanent exhibition and the special exhibitions 'Starker Auftritt/Stepping into the Limelight' and 'Gestaltung für den modernen Haushalt/Design for the Modern Household'.

Program (in German):
Sa, 18.05. 13 Uhr GRASSI GOES GOTIK Kleider machen Leute Führung zur Mode von Mittelalter bis Renaissance in der Ständigen Ausstellung (Julia Rotsch)

Sa, 18.05. 13 Uhr GRASSI GOES GOTIK Schwarzes Leder, roter Lack: Steile Schuh-Kreationen Führung in der Sonderausstellung 'Starker Auftritt! Experimentelles Schuh-Design' (Nadine Geuthel)

Sa, 18.05. 13 Uhr GRASSI GOES GOTIK Sohle mit Biss Führung in der Sonderausstellung 'Starker Auftritt! Experimentelles Schuh-Design' (Axel Menz)

Sa, 18.05. 13 Uhr Space Cowboy Führung in der Sonderausstellung 'Starker Auftritt! Experimentelles Schuh-Design' (Olga Barannik)

Sa, 18.05. 14 Uhr GRASSI GOES GOTIK Geschnürt, gepresst, gepudert Führung zur Mode von Barock bis Biedermeier in der Ständigen Ausstellung (Julia Rotsch)

Sa, 18.05. 15 Uhr GRASSI GOES GOTIK Kleider machen Leute Führung zur Mode von Mittelalter bis Renaissance in der Ständigen Ausstellung (Julia Rotsch)

Sa, 18.05. 15 Uhr GRASSI GOES GOTIK Schwarzes Leder, roter Lack: Steile Schuh-Kreationen Führungen in der Sonderausstellung 'Starker Auftritt! Experimentelles Schuh-Design' (Axel Menz)

Sa, 18.05.15 Uhr GRASSI GOES GOTIK Sohle mit Biss Führung in der Sonderausstellung 'Starker Auftritt! Experimentelles Schuh-Design' (Olga Barannik)

Sa, 18.05.15 Uhr GRASSI GOES GOTIK Sohle mit Biss Führung in der Sonderausstellung 'Starker Auftritt! Experimentelles Schuh-Design' (Nadine Geuthel)

Sa, 18.05.16 Uhr GRASSI GOES GOTIK Geschnürt, gepresst, gepudert Führung zur Mode von Barock bis Biedermeier in der Ständigen Ausstellung (Julia Rotsch)

So, 19.05.13 Uhr GRASSI GOES GOTIK Kleider machten Leute Führung zur Mode von Mittelalter bis Renaissance in der Ständigen Ausstellung (Julia Rotsch)

So, 19.05.13 Uhr GRASSI GOES GOTIK Schwarzes Leder, roter Lack: Steile Schuh-Kreationen Führung in der Sonderausstellung 'Starker Auftritt! Experimentelles Schuh-Design' (Nadine Geuthel)

So, 19.05.13 Uhr GRASSI GOES GOTIK Sohle mit Biss Führung in der Sonderausstellung 'Starker Auftritt! Experimentelles Schuh-Design' (Axel Menz)

So, 19.05.13 Uhr GRASSI GOES GOTIK Space Cowboy Führung in der Sonderausstellung 'Starker Auftritt! Experimentelles Schuh-Design' (Olga Barannik)

So, 19.05.14 Uhr GRASSI GOES GOTIK Geschnürt, gepresst, gepudert Führung zur Mode von Barock bis Biedermeier in der Ständigen Ausstellung (Julia Rotsch)

So, 19.05.15 Uhr GRASSI GOES GOTIK Sohle mit Biss Führung in der Sonderausstellung 'Starker Auftritt! Experimentelles Schuh-Design' (Olga Barannik)

So, 19.05.15 Uhr GRASSI GOES GOTIK Space Cowboy Führung in der Sonderausstellung 'Starker Auftritt! Experimentelles Schuh-Design' (Nadine Geuthel)

So, 19.05.15 Uhr GRASSI GOES GOTIK Kleider machten Leute Führung zur Mode von Mittelalter bis Renaissance in der Ständigen Ausstellung (Julia Rotsah)

Guided tours 'Starker Auftritt! Experimentelles Schuh-Design': (each tour lasts 1 hours, max. 20 persons)

Starker Auftritt!/Stepping into the Limelight!
GRASSI Museum für Angewandte Kunst
Johannisplatz 5-11, Leipzig, Germany

Shoe images above by and Omar Angel Perez and Natalie Shau

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June 8th Fashion and Shoe design show by SASK

Thursday, May 16, 2013 - On Saturday, June 8 the Fashion and Shoe Designing Academy of Fine Arts Department of Sint-Niklaas presents it's annual sensational and spectacular show for the 17th time. For this presentation 't Bauhuis will be transformed into a show location.

The fashion and shoe designs of part-time education in Sint-Niklaas, Fashion Design department: led by Ellen Monstrey and assisted by Maureen Declercq and Chris Franssen and Shoe Design by Anne Poesen & Patrick Cremers has manifested itself for many years as a professional and very inspiring department looking far beyond the borders of Sint-Niklaas. What makes this program so special is that it is a part-time education program. The students combine this training with other part-time studies or with their full time or part time jobs. Motivation and enthusiasm is the driving force. For some people it means finally realizing their childhood dream. It requires huge commitment and only who is passionate enough gets to the finish line. Because the program sets its goals very, academic, high.

Focus is for Fashion and Shoe Design the same: structure, craft, form study, graphics and research of historical and ethnic costumes. These both programs at planned the same time and personal vision and authenticity are encouraged from the first year.

This very professional training is accompanied by a passionate team of teachers and has proved itself in former exhibitions by their students, jobs in the fashion industry and the many prices won by different students. This year Tom Van Der Borght won the re-imagination price of C&A. Until 16th of June, the students will exhibit in Sint Niklaas 'Ondraaglijk mooi' to celebrate the 200 years of the Academy Sint-Niklaas.

The Shoe Design department was created out of passion for the craft. The show is the culmination of an academic year and gives students from the first year on a platform to show their work, their vision and creativity. That every year 1.200 people, not just family and insiders, come to visit this show is the best form of appreciation for this department and it's students.
So make sure you will also join this dazzling, exciting, inspiring show!

8th of June
SASK Fashion show 20.00, shoe design shoe show 21.00
Tickets in advance 15 euro/at the door 17 euro

Location: 't Bauhuis, Slachthuisstraat 60, Sint-Niklaas, Belgium

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Stepping into the Limelight with Dutch designer John Breed

Monday, May 06, 2013 - During the exhibition Starker Auftritt!/Stepping into the Limelight! A Shoe exhibition at the GRASSI Museum für Angewandte Kunst of Applied Arts in Leipzig, Germany, we will highlight the different themes and introduce some of the participating designers to you.

Dutch Designer John Breed creates works of art for over twenty years now. After his adventurous travels, he comes back full of inspiration, craftsmanship, indigenous techniques and makes his own new artworks. He learned to draw calligraphy from a Japanese master in Kyoto, graffiti in New York, painted fresco’s in Rome, got in touch with icon painting in Russia and learned to paint traditional landscapes during his trip through China.

The Virtual Shoe Museum found his sculptural shoes piece for the Breuninger Shoe Store in Stuttgart in Germany. The shop's modern interior was transformed from a run-down factory space and has been proclaimed to be the largest footwear store in Europe. The vibrantly fun art piece, using 145 multicolored and golden legs to create an installation of 9 x 3 meter, is made up of shoe-sporting legs colored in rainbow hues, symbolic for the madness of women about buying shoes. The legs make up an eye-catching art installation to attract the retailer's visitors.

For the Grassi Museum exhibition John created a new shoe sculpture with 48 vintage shoes called 'Medusa’s Shoes', including 4 shoes from the private shoes collection of Liza Snook. Breed's sculpture aims to channel a classic Medusa head image, where snakes have been replaced by legs wearing high heeled shoes.

Starker Auftritt!/Stepping into the Limelight!
GRASSI Museum für Angewandte Kunst
Johannisplatz 5-11, Leipzig, Germany

More shoes by John Breed at the Virtual Shoe Museum.

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Tags: newsletter | design | exhibithion | museum

Shoes of Orange

Saturday, April 27, 2013 - Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands, the oldest reigning Dutch monarch, will after 33 years on the throne following her mother's abdication in 1980, relinquish the crown and leave the monarchy to Crown-Prince Willem-Alexander, her oldest of three sons on April 30th.

The ascent to the throne of Willem-Alexander means the Netherlands will have its first king in more than a century. Abdication is also in the tradition of the Dutch monarchy. Beatrix's mother, Queen Juliana abdicated in 1980, her mother, Queen Wilhelmina, in 1948. The wife of Prince Willem-Alexander, Princess Maxima Zorreguieta will be the first Argentinian to become a queen.

Shoe and fashion designers have been inspired by the Queen and the Dutch national colors red-white-blue with orange for years. Shoe brands like Lola Pagola made a collection of Dutch shoes inspired by traditional symbols and souvenirs in 1998, including a Souvenir queen shoe.

And Marielou Buitenhuis-Koppens designed the ultimate Queensday shoe called Double Dutch she shoe that changes with you. The Switchit can create endless variations of the different models, colors and ribbons in the colors of your country flag.

Princess Maxima already gave Dutch fashion designer Jan Taminiau international recognition wearing his ‘mail bag’ jacked and his stunning evening dresses. According to modekoninginmaxima her chose of shoes is on the safe side, so we hope she will get inspired.

More Orange shoes at the Virtual Shoe Museum.

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Tags: tradition | newsletter | fashion

29th of April: Workshop Kei Kagami in the Dutch Leather and Shoe Museum

Thursday, April 25, 2013 - This Monday, April 29th, Kei Kagami will give a workshop in the Dutch Leather and Shoe Museum in Waalwijk. The London-based fashion designer Kei Kagami is a master of conceptual design.

This workshop, for fashion and shoe design students only, is entirely sponsored by YKK Netherlands. Therefore the museum can offer this workshop for free. YKK is the largest supplier of zippers in the world and also sponsor of Kei Kagami.

Kei Kagami likes to use zippers in conceptual designs as in his shoes. Like no other he can show you how zippers processed and can be adjusted in a design. In the workshop on 29 April, he will show fastening tricks and techniques using simple tools and know-how. And how to shorten, to sew, to process zippers and how to handle 3-, 4- or 5-way zippers. He shows how to implement two runners in the same zip and how to create an vintage look and even how to get a zipper to work smoother. As an added bonus to the workshop he will show how to oxidize metal heels.

Programme
13:00 -13:30 Arrival at the museum, free viewing of the exhibition 'Kei Kagami – Retrospective’
13:30 -13:45 Presentation about YKK by Kei Kagami
13:45 -15:00 Lecture 'Importance of creation juxtaposed to culture’ by Kei Kagami

15:00 - 15:15 Break

15:15 - 16:30 Workshop adaping zippers and learning about oxidation methods by Kei Kagami

Would you like to attend this workshop, please register at Inge Specht.
Sign up now, there's only room for 30 students. Subscription will be in order of application.

Kei Kagami – A Retrospective
Dutch Leather and Shoe Museum
Elzenweg 25, Waalwijk, the Netherlands

More shoes by Kei Kagami at the Virtual Shoe Museum.

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Urban Armour by shoe designer Meliné Katchi

Monday, April 08, 2013 - Meliné Katchi is making her strides though the innovative conceptual footwear world one step at a time. Her recent collaboration with her now partner footwear consulting and customization firm Sophisticated Primitive SOPR, has spawned the development of the most unique, architecturally inspired series titled ‘Urban Armor’.

This architecturally inspired creation communicates a sophisticated understanding of what ‘Urban Armor’ could essentially represent as a boundary -pushing form of footwear design. This particular design challenges mainstream media and creates a complete aesthetic visualization that would communicate through the presentation of my various pieces as a new form of ‘contemporary fashion’.

Katchi developed this project partially in Los Angles, CA and partially in the UK, working from the prestigious London College of Fashion. She is currently approaching the final year of the exclusive Masters program at Cordwainers, London, whose alumni include: Jimmy Choo, Nicholas Kirkwood, Camila Skovagard, Finsk and many more successful innovators in the shoe industry.

Identifying and customizing a methodology to develop the series titled ‘Urban Armour'. Meliné Katchi (S.O.P.R.): "This series is a reflection of the sophisticated development and methodological process of materials treatment regarding the creation of an original body of work. The ‘Urban Armour’ theme aims to represent a visual presentation with strong connections to generations of protective armour and the modernized representation of it. It is creating a visual representation of the inherent psychological need to protect oneself from others invading your personal psyche within a overpopulated Urban space."

More shoes by Meliné Katchi at the Virtual Shoe Museum.

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Tags: newsletter | design | extreme | fashion

Starker Auftritt!/Stepping into the Limelight!

Sunday, March 17, 2013 - A Shoe exhibition at the GRASSI Museum für Angewandte Kunst of Applied Arts in Leipzig, Germany from 28th of March till the 29th September 2013. Together with Sabine Epple, the curator of modern art of the GRASSI Museum, Liza Snook selected more than 150 exclusive shoes from the Virtual Shoe Museum, supplemented with German artists and designers who created shoes.

The special relationship which exists between people and shoes – and in particular women and shoes – is a popular source of fascination. The mystical attraction they exert is felt not only by the female of the species, but also to an increasing extent by designers and artists who are thinking ‘outside the shoebox’ and falling head over heels for footwear.

Never before has an exhibition showcased such an experimental, boundary-pushing concept of shoe design. There is nothing mainstream about the styles on show; rather, they are imaginative, bold and even provocative. Some 150 pairs of shoes from a hundred or so international designers introduce the visitor to a wealth of styles, ranging from the architecturally inspired to creations of audacious irony and socially-motivated footwear. The most exclusive shoes from all over the world have been brought together on loan for the exhibition. Most are one-off or limited edition designs.

During the exhibition we will write articles about the participating artists and designers and keep you posted on shoe events. Hope you will step into the Limelight with us!

Starker Auftritt!/Stepping into the Limelight!
GRASSI Museum für Angewandte Kunst
Johannisplatz 5-11, Leipzig, Germany

Events at the museum in April
April 10th / Wednesday / 12.00 / Art break
Shoe Show. Lecture by with Axel Menz

April 11th / Thursday / 14.00 Lecture about the failed shoe-objects.
After this making a clay Ceramic shoe object to take home with Axel Menz (only for children - 5 €)

April 14th / Sunday / 11.00 / Lecture by Sabine Epple (curator of the exhibition)
Shoes between passion and design.

April 30th / Tuesday / 16.30 / English language guide
Step into the limelight. Lecture by Westrey Page

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Hand Made Long Live Crafts in Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen Rotterdam

Friday, March 15, 2013 - Never before has there been such a great interest in crafts. Contemporary designers are drawing inspiration from handmade products and traditional techniques, and there is also a marked increase in the practice of crafts in the private sphere. Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen will be bringing crafts to life, with an exhibition, demonstrations by craftspeople and workshops that will allow visitors to experience and explore handicrafts.

This spring, from 9 March - 20 May 2013, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen is staging an exhibition that presents the most exceptional examples of artistic crafts, of today as well as yesteryear. The museum will be displaying more than 500 objects: from a medieval settle-chest, refined Venetian glassware from the 17th century and virtuoso handicrafts from the Victoria and Albert Museum in London to an inlaid screen by Studio Job, a sweater made from the fleece of a single sheep by Christien Meindertsma and metal fencing with a bobbin-lace pattern by Demakersvan. Short videos will illustrate the process of producing the artefacts on show. The exhibition incorporates two specially equipped workshops where craftspeople will be working continuously, as well as demonstrating various craft techniques.

Celebrating craftsmanship
Over the last decade, craft has grown into a popular phenomenon in the art and design world. “Today’s renewed attention for crafts is not simply a nostalgic looking back, but more a component of the creative quest for new, contemporary methods and techniques,” states Hand Made’s curator Mienke Simon Thomas. In addition to the growing interest in the practice of crafts in the private sphere, there is also increasing interest in crafts among economists and politicians. Recent socio-economic research reveals that over the coming years the Dutch economy will need hundreds of thousands of trained craftspeople. The knowledge and experience of such artisans and the respected values of the craft economy are inspiring factors for designers, artists and policy-makers.

Historical context and a glimpse into the future
In Hand Made, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen presents centuries-old craft techniques alongside contemporary cross-pollinations between craft and design. Instead of being arranged chronologically, the hundreds of objects in the exhibition are organised around seven popular clichés about ‘craftsmanship’: the honest, unique, virtuoso, artistic, traditional, professional and amateur. The selected objects show that these clichés often possess a kernel of truth, but that it is also possible to show that the converse holds true: craft is not necessarily ‘honest’ and imperfection has not been a universally valued feature of handmade products throughout history. By taking this investigative approach, Hand Made places the concept of ‘craftsmanship’ in an historical context and at the same time offers a glimpse into the future of creative crafts.

Workshops, films, Hand Made markets and more
In conjunction with the exhibition, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen is organising numerous activities. Hand Made includes an extensive and varied film and documentary programme about artistic crafts, which will be screened on continuous rotation. The museum’s educational space will temporarily be transformed into a ‘Crafts Studio’, where specialists will be holding a whole range of workshops, such as knitting, 3D printing and woodworking. The accompanying programme’s highlights include the Hand Made markets, where handmade products by amateurs will be sold alongside products by professional artisans.

The workshop shoemaking from 13 t/m 20 May 2013 will be presented by (Dutch Health Tec Academy) gives a week, demonstrations Hand shoemaking. The teachers and students of the course Hand Shoemaking will work this week in the workspace within the exhibition. All activities of the traditional shoemaking will be displayed: from a sketch reading, pattern making, pattern cutting, shafts and stitching. The lecturers are Liesel Swart and René van den Berg. The Virtual Shoe Museum will keep you posted on the shoes made in this week.

Hand Made, Long Live Crafts
Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen
Museumpark 18-20 Rotterdam

More shoes by Liesel Swart and René van den Berg at the Virtual Shoe Museum.

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'No country for old women!'

Tuesday, March 12, 2013 - SLEM presents free SLEMinars about comfort shoes and a Slipper Battle at GDS! SLEM, the international education and innovation institute for footwear and its master class of students, presents a wealth of information and inspiration at the upcoming GDS in Düsseldorf, from March 13-15.

Join us at our booth #03 in zone 3E and find 'The battle of the SLEM slipper'.
Master students previously divided into two teams will actualize the concept live at a makeshift workshop. Participate by trying on the slippers and casting a vote! The winning concept will be immortalized within the school, used by future visitors in order to preserve the new 'wet-blue' floor, designed after a step in the leather tanning process.

The free SLEMinars called: 'Comfort Footwear: A walk on the wild side' - will launch the series of lectures, workshops and classes about innovative solutions for comfort footwear, which will be held at the SLEM schools in both the Netherlands and China later this year.

As always, Nicoline van Enter, creative director of SLEM, will also present the trends for both footwear and sneakers for the upcoming seasons.

All SLEMinars will be held in the Speakers corner, in Hall 7. This is the full schedule:

Wednesday 13th
11:00 - Young fashion footwear trends for AW13/14
11:30 - Sneaker trends for AW13/14
12:30 - Comfort footwear: 'A walk on the wild side' - the future audience for comfort footwear
16:00 - Join the early bird, Young fashion footwear and sneaker trends for SS 14 and AW 14/15

Thursday 14th
10:00 - Comfort footwear: “a walk on the wild side” - future retail concepts for comfort footwear
11:30 - Young fashion footwear and sneaker trends for AW13/14
17:00 - Comfort footwear: “a walk on the wild side” - the future needs for comfort footwear
17:30 - Young fashion footwear and sneaker trends for AW13/14

Friday 15th
11:00 - Young fashion footwear and sneaker trends for AW13/14

The future audience for comfort footwear
Out-dated assumptions about the main target group for comfort footwear (women 50+) are common; while most brands agree the target group has a much younger mindset/lifestyle than past generations of that age, they struggle in applying that knowledge in the best way. How should you prepare for the rapidly growing future generations of middle aged and elderly consumers?

Future retail for comfort shoes
The way we shop is already drastically changing, but what does that mean for the middle aged target group in particular? This presentation offers in-depth research and fresh ideas on how new retail concepts, both on and offline, can make shopping for comfort more comfortable.

Future needs for comfort footwear
As our lifestyle changes, so do our feet and the way we use them. We no longer only need shoes for walking , since nowadays we spend most of our time sitting, which brings other foot issues, such as bad blood circulation. This lecture addresses what needs we might have in the future, both physically and mentally and how these can be met with the right shoes.

Cannot join at GDS? Then please check SLEM for more info after GDS.

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