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S H O E M A K E R
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I N N O VA T I N G WITH CRAFTSMANSHIP What do you get when you mix a medieval-inspired bespoke shoemaker with an international footwear company, unashamedly driven by technology? An unexpected amount of common ground. We speak to shoe couturier Alexander Fielden about his work and a somewhat unlikely collaboration with ECCO.
"I started off not knowing what I was
impossible to make. Within a year I
"I didn't realise it at the time, but they
doing at the art academy," Alexander
made a group of shoes, applied for a
had been setting up an artisanal 'stealth
says. "I knew I was on the right track to
fund, and could set up a studio."
artisan' project as a rough sketch, and they invited me to come and play."
somehow becoming a creative person, but at that time, I didn't understand a
"I got grounded physically when I found
whole lot about the world, but doing
shoes. It's the metaphor I still use every
Describing his own style as something
creative things, that gave it sense."
day — that the shoe is the first contact
"in between — a medieval untraveled
on Mother Earth, that it's where we
Future" Alexander says he finds inspira-
"When I first started designing, there
stand. Shoes have the ability to express
tion in many things, in everyday objects
was a lot of handwork," he says. "At that
how men walks through life. It's always
like curbs and pavement.
time, there were no computers for 3D
been a red thread through my life." "It's a bit crazy," he says, "But I can be
design, you made everything by hand, and I think it really shaped me."
From 2005, Alexander made one-off,
very excited about a piece of metal
bespoke shoes, mostly for female clients,
that's been bumping around for two
But while he spent his daytime studying
from about €1500 a pair, until another
years on the street. You cannot recog-
at the Utrecht School of Arts, it was
job at a clothing store saw him fall in
nise it anymore, but somehow it has a
actually his job in a shoe store that
love again — this time with men's shoes.
reference to what it was, its 'deformation' brings the freedom of looking at
helped define his career the most. "With women's shoes you can go crazy,"
something from a new perspective."
"I was working in a shoe store, and then I
he says. "You can do a lot of things, but
started to draw the shoes that we had in
with men's shoes, it's different. For me,
"The essence I've found within my work
the store," he says, "And I thought, 'Hey,
I always found it very daunting to play
has an alter ego — the Wanderer,"
there's something with this, I like this!' So, I
with the fact that the boundaries are
Alexander says. "He is a time traveler —
did some research and I fell in love."
much stronger."
he can move deeply into the past, and
That love saw him spend the next three
In 2010 he launched his first men's
It's all about having an open mind to
years making shoes from scratch in a
shoes and leather goods range: 'The
anything that he finds interesting."
course that included everything from
Wanderers Collection' and grew a name
measuring techniques of the foot, to
in the 'darkwear fashion' world, bringing
And while his ideas might seem to
final construction. Eventually there came
his designs to stores like Darklands Berlin,
belong in a somewhat parallel world, his
a time when he couldn't do both, so he
ISETAN and Lift Ecru in Tokyo, Hotoveli in
design sensibility is very pragmatic.
parted ways with the art academy and
New York, and Antonioli in Milan.
the untraveled future or parallel worlds.
"I don't like to fake things. If it's there,
went out on his own instead. It was on this journey that Alexander
it needs to have a function," he says.
"I got help from a teacher — one of the
developed a relationship with ECCO
"I've never thought it before, but I really
best bespoke shoemakers in the world,
Leather, using their leathers to make his
like all these technical boundaries that
Rene van den Berg," he says. "He was
modern, medieval-inspired silhouettes,
you have to push against. That was
a teacher at the shoe course, and he
and also attending their annual 3-day
the exciting thing about working with
gave me the confidence to execute
"Hot Shop" leather innovation workshop.
ECCO — being part of a new process for them."
all the ideas that I had thought were
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