- Eggs
- 2024
Belgian-made leather (outside)
Cork (inside)
L300 x W180 x H225 - “I want to create new shoes that no one has ever seen before.” - for Misawa, who has been consistently making shoes following this theme, the starting point of his creation was an encounter with shoemaking. He has never doubted this. But was this really the case? As he asked himself this question and went back to the beginning of his creative process, what he found was that he had been a self-taught figure since he was 3 years old, constantly moving his hands, repeating evolving by trial and error.
“My childhood was spent making things day after day. Fabricating things with a deep sense of excitement and thrill. I want to bring that feeling back to my mind once again.” With this in mind, he was flipping through his drawing book, the source of his ideas, when an image of a cracked eggshell caught his eye. The egg is not a perfect circle, and is the perfect shape for animals to create life; and because of this, it evokes a sense of security and stability, the ultimate form of curves. He would like to express this with the knowledge and technical skills he now possesses, creating shoes that can be worn and walked in.
A humorous and lovely object, like a dinosaur egg. The white and yolk peek out from the zigzag cracks. At first glance, it looks like a leather art, but please stare at it carefully. Yes, don't be surprised to find that these shoes are actually made in the traditional oxford construction: toe caps, vamps, and wings (without the metal eyelet for laces, though). There is also a seam at the heel curve.
When you turn it over, what appears is a beautifully baked champignon-like appearance. The sheer cuteness of the figure makes one's countenance relax. The roundness, which is the key of the work is made by exquisitely balanced packed corks to express a realistic egg conformation. This soft oval shape, which can be enjoyed from all directions, is unmistakably a heel-less shoe.
“The form is your world itself.
The form is in you.”
This is a passage from the book, Walk With Eye, Listen to the Shape, Touch Will Tell, written by Marcia Brown and translated by Shuntaro Tanikawa. The new work, "Eggs," expresses Misawa's "world" itself, was born of the "forms" that have been nurtured within him, and manifests the joy of giving them visible "forms" with his own hands. “Eggs" is the culmination of Misawa's work.