Year: 2019

Designer: Lloyd Revald

Physical shoe making: Lloyd Revald

Photography: Lloyd Revald

As part of my semester as an international student at ArtEZ University of Arts in the Netherlands I had a course about shoe making. 

The scenario was: Create a futuristic material and a shoe for 2022

I imagined how would a shoe for a Mars astronaut walk in? I researched trends and completed more than 70 tests of materials and tried multiple solutions. 

Some of the key-words are: modern man ː space travel ː a story that reflects where he comes from ː and where he is about to go ː solid build ː futuristic form ː modern/old textiles  ː earth/mars tones 

The shoe has its roots from 1940s England combined with a modern touch from an astronauts suit. 

All leather was sponsored in collaboration with Ecco Tannery, Netherlands. 

Images show the materials being experimented with and created. The final material is one created in a combination of candle light and ecological bee wax which has been cooked and held in fifty degrees hot water.

The result is stunning and gives the leather a protecting new skin on-top of their quality leather.

A futuristic perspective 

The drawings are created with a futuristic perspective in mind and a feeling that the shoe should be comfortable for the astronaut. The colors are well chosen to support the idea of a quality product. The red colors is a contrast color and is a quality mark as it is for products like Victorinox.

In the workshop stitching 

With no experience of stitching I took the challenge of stitching the whole shoe. From start to finish. Many prototypes and calculations where made to come up the final design of the MS22. 

Not only did I color, stitch and hammer the shoe - I also created the sole. The sole is handcrafted out of matter which I formed by hand. The following post production was among other things painting several times.

MS22

Together, the earth colors are revived from the leather surface, reminiscent of surfaces found on Earth as well as on Mars. The sole is large and provides support for a Mars walk. Thus, a shoe that is raw, stylish and comfortable for exploring Space. A combination of the new and old world in one shoe.