sander wassink cuts and re-edits shoes into new footwear

sander wassink cuts and re-edits shoes into new footwear

sander wassink‘s creative practice sees him heavily engaging in product deconstruction, harnessing the ‘raw material’ to develop objects with new meaning. the scale in which he works can range from the everyday ditritus of our contemporary culture of consumption, to a partly demolished façade of an abandoned building, in which he envisions updated forms and aesthetics for things that already exist, but with the idea of the local in mind. his work includes notions of history, memory and preservation–amid new construction, new production and the constant proliferation of forms, he tries to re-imagine what can be done with the partially configured.

leftovers and cut-outs of counterfeit shoes
image © designboom

during beijing design week 2013, the dutch designer set up a temporary flagship store in the chinese capital’s dashilar district. the fictive retail outlet saw him transform the space into a pop-up shoe shop. on this occasion, he used cheap, counterfeit footwear as his choice material, employing designers to cut and re-edit them into new pieces, assembled by local dashilar shoemakers. uncracking a new local pride and identity, wassink’s initiative resulted in an interactive project which resulted in refreshed collaboration between maker and the industry.

the work was initiated by salon/1 amsterdam.

local shoemakers assemble the various leftovers of shoes to create new ones

a hiking boot is combined with a sneaker combined with a loafer

raw materials: leftovers and cut-outs

a re-edition under development
image © designboom

various shoe parts are hung on the wall in the dashilar store
image © designboom

sander wassink explains his project to visitors
image © designboom

 
new ‘re-edited’ shoes
image © designboom

sander wassink wears a sample of the re-edited shoes (sneaker-sandals)
image © designboom

image © designboom

sander wassink
portrait © designboom

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