How avant-garde shoe designers Masaya Kushino and Kobi Levi are turning footwear into wearable art – from the eccentric, to the otherworldly
Celebrities like Lady Gaga are into avant-garde footwear because of its breathtaking beauty, and these two designers push the limits with their odd craftsmanship and details – and their shoes are wearable!
Designing avant-garde shoes is very much a work of greater ingenuity than one thinks. After all, these pairs of shoes stand out from the rest for their odd craftsmanship and details in every aspect. Needless to say, one feels curious enough to design such footwear to bring out their eccentric beauty as to how they can be turned into breathtaking works of art just by pushing the limits. In fact, the wearability factor is also a major part of this artwork.
Fully well-versed at this artistic work are two famous avant-garde footwear designers, Masaya Kushino from Japan and Kobi Levi from Israel, whose collections are believed to be nothing more than priceless collectibles. Their creations capture the essence of innovative shoe designs that are unmatched in quality.
Masaya Kushino
Before starting his career as a shoe designer, he designed clothes for a short period of time. This didn’t appeal to Kushino at all, leading him to abandon it for good. “I began to look at the world of footwear with a clear picture. It was more reflective of my untapped potential than what relationship I’ve had with clothes. When shoes are made, their shapes evolve on their own. They’re more like statues,” he says.
He believes designing provocative and otherworldly types of shoes is his way of making things happen and lets his strong curiosity toward anything in shape come to life. “I simply love to embrace challenges as they drive me to do what I do best. I made up my mind for shoe design in the end because I was bored with the trends of footwear design since they lacked a touch of originality,” Kushino says.
Though the shoes might be portrayed as comfortable to put on, they aren’t for daily use. As he explains, “When I try to think of myself as a fashion designer, I have to create shoes with comfort as the superseding factor. However, as an artist, I just keep that thought at bay while designing.”
Kushino primarily banks upon his intuition while making shoes that are applauded for their artistic splendour and scientific benchmark. “Each designed shoe by me is a one-of-a-kind creation because it involves a lot of research on materials that I use to make each pair,” he says.