Interview with Shoe Designer Kitty Shukman

Kitty Shukman is a London based shoe designer disrupting the concept of original footwear. Formerly at Yeezy and now working as a freelance, she agreed to give us a quick interview on her designs. This summer is all about feet ! (P.S: we strongly suggest to apply sunscreen on your feet you wouldn’t want a sunburn down there…)

Why feet and shoes ?

Feet are the main connection point of the body to the earth. There’s a fascinating relationship to the earth, ourselves, and each other with our footwear. I love how you can play between shoes being totally practical or completely ridiculous and playful

What is to you the most important detail to remember while design shoes ?

To try and keep a balance of letting your own inner self expression through while staying close to the overall intent of the brief - who is the shoe for and why would they be wearing it

What is your design process ?

I work in a very intuitive way. Meditating, drawing, sketching, collaging, working with clay, cutting up shoes or random fabric to drape in strange ways. Being an open channel for the design to come through how it wants !

How did you lean into 3d printing as opposed to textile crafting ?

I love the speed of it, you can sculpt a silhouette and wear it so much faster than traditional shoe making. I love working with clay and it felt like a much more aligned way of combining both craft and technology

How do you feel about AI and design ?

An amazing tool that has very inspiring ways of showing us weird new possibilities.

What are your opinions on a underrated summer-shoe : sandals ?

A beautiful and a personal fav combination of mine when mixed with a toeless sock.

What are your summer-feet essentials ?

Taking your shoes off as much as possible ! Re-grounding into the Earth. Making the effort to walk barefoot as much as you can.

If a fictional character could wear a pair of your designs, who would it be ?

A magical pixie from another dimension come to our planet to spread more joy and who turns each one of my shoes into living creatures.

xoxo, Balthazar