While I see people around me like the shoe maker and designer Michelle Quick find ways to bring contrary elements together in symbiotic fashion, giving breath to seemingly opposing elements:  

Masculine/ Feminine.    

Internal/ External.  

Industrial/ Refined.

I wonder how these paradigms became so encoded. Not that I have a problem with Yin Yang’s or the boldness of things that are purely definable, but it gives me great joy and hope when I come across that which can slip in and out of the traditional and solidly definable.  Michelle’s work pushes the limits of the classic without being contrary for contraries sake. Expanding the boundaries in a sophisticated revolution without  the clamor and violence of an angsty rebellion.   For the last few years Michelle has been studying the art of bespoke and focusing on men’s footwear and traditional gender roles within craft practice.  Coming from a female-dominant crafts like fiber/textiles and now working in bespoke men’s footwear, which is male dominant, she has successfully worked on combining elements from both masculine and feminine and brought art to craft discipline.  Although Michelle is currently residing in London, an ocean away, I was still able to ask her about the mind boggling work that she does.

SF: What drove you to shoe making?

MQ: I did my undergrad at The School of The Art Institute of Chicago. I knew they had  a few shoe-making electives and had heard good things about them. I finally got  around to taking the class during my second year there. I pretty much fell in love  with the process right from the beginning, I felt it combined everything I was  pursing at school into one craft. I continued to take the classes and pursue  independent studies in footwear until I graduated. I’m now studying for an MA in  Fashion Footwear at The London College of Fashion. 

SF: What is the hardest thing about making shoes?
 

MQ: There is a lot to be considered when making a shoe, there are so many steps in the process. Everything has to go in a certain order. I guess the hardest part is having the discipline to see it through, especially if you are trying something new and unconventional, you’ll get to a difficult part or something will be going wrong and you can’t skip it or take shortcuts.  It’s like functional sculpture, you take all of these flat materials and you have to mold them into a 3 dimensional object that not only looks good but will support the weight of a human and hold up to concrete.

SF: Tells use a little about the world of cobblers and designers.  Are there ancient rites and traditions passed down through the ages?
 

MQ: First of all, a cobbler is a someone who repairs shoes, it’s a really common  misconception - a shoemaker is called a cordwainer (or just a shoemaker). There  are quite a few people who still practice and teach traditional methods, it is  something that has to be learned person-to-person. I’ve tried to teach myself techniques from books, and they’ve worked alright but I’ve now been working with a bespoke maker and it all makes more sense. It’s really about the little nuances and actually seeing someone do it. Hand shoe-making hasn’t changed much since the processes were perfected 100’s of years ago, it’s really only manufacturing and new materials, etc that have changed. I think designing shoes and making shoes can be very separate things, you need to have a certain amount of knowledge about the making to design but a lot of people just design or just make.

SF: What are your inspirations for your designs?
 

MQ: I get most of my inspiration from different craft techniques and combining several disciplines into one object. When I first started footwear, I was also doing fiber and textiles at school, so I used lots of knitting/crocheting and different fabric manipulations in my shoes. I also love starting with a material and letting that influence the design. I used to work a lot with vintage leathers and let their flaws and imperfections play a part in the final look of the shoes. I think collaborating is also very inspiring, I always really enjoyed group projects in my footwear classes because everyone has different strengths and by bouncing ideas off each other you always end up with something more interesting.

SF:   I see allot of  organic elements with your material choices like hand knit pieces. What types of forms in the urban/country world inspire you?

MQ: I’m definitely a city girl. I grew up outside of Detroit then moved to Chicago and am now in London. I think your environment plays a big part in the work you create. Detroit definitely still resonates in my work. It’s a decaying city, parts of it are completely taken over by nature and I think it’s that type of nature that I find inspiring. I prefer objects that feel like they have a history and are already worn in, I try to invoke that in my work.  I also think growing up down the street from the Ford factory is part of the reason I value craft tradition and hand processes so much. Being surrounded by mass production will do that to you I guess.

SF: People verses Nature/ Shoe verses Foot

MQ: Shoes were invented to protect our feet from nature. They have turned into something more than that but they still serve that basic purpose.
 

SF: Drafting/Building platforms that we stand on you hold allot of control over shaping bones and muscles in peoples bodies. Transversely shaping their structure with your structure. Does this responsibility freak you out or do you kinda love it?

MQ: When you’re making a pair of shoes for a specific individual, you have an immense responsibility to make sure they are comfortable in the shoes and that prolonged wear won’t cause them any problems. It’s a bit different with women because we are used to being uncomfortable in heels and cheap fashion shoes offer little structural support, we will sacrifice being comfortable for looking great, but for men I think comfort and style must go hand in hand. In the bespoke business, your have customers paying a lot of money to have a shoe made to their measurements/ style specification and it’s important that they love the way the shoe feels and how it looks.

SF: What are your feelings about stilts, roller skates and unicycles?
 

MQ: I’d say they are kinda separate from shoes, although some high heels are practically stilts. I really love those old roller skates that were just a metal frame with wheels and you strapped them over your shoes.

SF: I once read this book a called “wise child.”  It was your basic spells and sorcery mystical young adult stuff.  In it one of the characters was learning to weave cloth and messed up the stitching. With that screw up it lead to a gap in her magical protective armor and later in a knife fight almost died because of it. Do you feel like your stitching is a bit like a magical protective shield?

MQ: I don’t think my stitching has magical powers but I can relate to making a small mistake that ends up having a big impact on the final product, whether good or bad.

SF: Do the shoes make the man/woman?

MQ: I think they can. The shoes you wear can totally change the look of your outfit or the way you hold yourself. I always feel better when I have some really great shoes on. People do tend to notice your shoes more so than other accessories I think.

SF: What is your favorite surface to walk on?

MQ: Being in London, I’ve gotten used to walking on very uneven surfaces: loose cement tiles that teeter as you walk over them, cobble stones, cellar doors in the sidewalk that bend under your weight. I think wooden surfaces might be my favorite to walk on, hardwood floors, wooden balconies and decks. I miss the wooden balconies of Chicago.

SF: If  people had wings how do you think that it would effect shoes?

MQ: I guess you would need something that would be easy to land in, maybe something soft like a dancers shoe.

SF: Will there ever be a men’s high heeled shoe?

MQ: There has been a time when men’s high heels were in vogue. I personally won’t be trying to bring it back.  A lot of men’s boots and dress shoes have quite a heel on them. I don’t think they’ll ever be as extreme as women’s currently are.