Innovative shoe designs have sprung up time after time but it has never been so exciting thanks to the newfound squad of daring shoe designers willing to eliminate the conventional archetype. After all, footwear is a second-to-none obsession when it comes to giving an all-out style punch to one’s personality.

With this in mind, the best example of the ongoing trend owes to the eccentric feathered shoes designed by Masaya Kushino, famous avant-garde shoe designer from Japan.

In an exclusive interview with Arab News, we sat down with him to find out how he makes such amazing shoes, what he sees in them and much more.

Initially, Kushino’s career as a designer began with clothes. Although he continued it for a while, it failed to appeal to him. And he felt that designing shoes was more representative of his untapped potential than it was with clothes on the whole. “This move came about only after seeing the clear picture. I realized that in order to express myself through clothes, it’s must to imagine the final work with the right style and combination whereas it all happens effortlessly in the world of shoes. In addition, clothes are considered well-shaped only when a person actually wears them, but in the case of shoes it’s a whole different thing because the shapes evolve on their own. They are like statues,” he says.

Designing provocative and otherworldly type of shoes is Kushino’s way of making things happen and let his strong curiosity toward anything in shape come alive. Moreover, it’s his incredible passion for embracing challenges which is what ultimately drives him to do what he does best. “I made up my mind for it because I got bored with the trends lacking originality when it came to footwear design,” he says.

The shoes might be comfortable to put on, but normally it’s not possible to walk in them. Based on his assumption that there are some that can be worn to walk while some don’t fit in with it, Kushino stepped forward to clarify this riddle before us by explaining, “When I think of myself as a fashion designer, I have to create shoes with comfort as the superseding factor, however as an artist, I simply don’t work with that in mind.”

He often banks upon his intuition while creating breathtakingly beautiful shoes in compliance with the latest scientific technology, which he considers only when the technological aspect is more important. “Be it artistic or technological, my motto is to showcase the essence of craftsmen’s work in it,” he says.

After the completion of every new collection, Kushino feels like starting everything all over again from scratch. This sort of feeling kicks in because he thinks there are no more shoes for him to make now. But he quickly dispels this ephemeral illusion he gets entangled in.

With his relentless creativity, he wants to revive the Japanese traditional craftwork too as Kushino goes on revealing, “They often give me inspiration for the next collection. I’m always keen about the technique which has its history or is necessarily done by human hands. It touches my heart immensely and more importantly the beauty of it is uncompetitive with machinery works.”

Moreover, every single existence that seems to interest him in his daily life gives him some sort of inspiration. And it doesn’t matter when it’s presented or what kind of industry it’s pigeonholed.

Since each shoe design is a one-of-a-kind creation, it’s important for him to devote enough time to research on materials that just happen to enhance its charm. As for color combination, Kushino is no stranger to it and makes sure it’s perfectly laid out. “The better the color combination, the better its finishing quality would be,” he says.

As Kushino’s work continues to make waves and speak volumes about his intelligence, it’s more often than not that he is called in to give lectures by top-notch universities in Japan. It’s no wonder he anticipates the same from overseas as well. “I’m more than willing to make it happen.”

He doesn’t enjoy seeing himself as part of the mainstream fashion fraternity. Therefore, he tries to keep his distance from it. “I’ve honestly never been curious about it. Unlike fashion industry where the designers must present collections each season no matter what, I’d rather concentrate on my passion, what and how I want to express myself, and they must be presented in the right place at the right time,” Kushino reiterates.

Famous museums and galleries such as Fashion Institute of Technology Museum, Brooklyn Museum, The National Museum of Modern Art, MUDAC (Museum of Contemporary Design and Applied Arts, Switzerland) etc. that have been bowled away by Kushino’s avant-garde shoe designs have, in fact, promoted his shoes by exhibiting them.

It’s just a start for Kushino as he embarks on an exciting journey of creating one wonder after another in the so-called “out of the box” shoe culture. “I must keep it up in order not to let it be something from the past,” he says.

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