My primary fascination with shoe making is on the patterning side.
Coming from a Drafting background and with 40 years at it I suppose that's no surprise.
I've been pushing and pulling the typical parts for the Derby around for many years and find it endless.
This one was an attempt to find the smallest or largest pieces that could attractively arranged.
Designed and made to go along with us on the 2022 CCS Study Abroad trip to Italy they were first worn at Aki's retrospective opening in Florence.
Me and another Florentine friend Sevilay. An expat from Turkey.
I have several friends and acquaintances now in the shoe-o-shpere in Florence.
I had the honor of collaborating with Aki and Elif on three pairs of shoes for this show!
I call it the Mini Patch just because that was the goal.
But here we see that the Vamp goes all the way to the heel!
The derby side facing area looks typical but turns out to be a floating island.
The lining pattern is nothing new, in-fact it came from the previous pair made on this last.
As you can see the vamp has been extended to use as much leather in one piece as possible.
The "quarter" or side facing does the rest of the work of closing the shoe.
SO it was a fun exercise and I like the design.
Rhino allows me to make variations and keep a solid record of the changes over the years
