Pick up a pair of shoes by the Dutch-born, London based Marloes ten Bhomer, and you quickly realise that there’s something fundamentally different about them. If the cardinal rule governing traditional shoe design is to show off, amplify and exaggerate the inherently curvaceous forms of the foot, ten Bhomer shoes are riotous, sensuous sinners.
Having graduated from the Royal College of Art with an MA in Design Products, and attended the London College of Fashion to learn the rudiments of shoe crafting, ten Bhomer approaches shoemaking with a combination of experimental curiosity and the craft of making. So far, she has produced an extraordinary family of prototypes (all in her own shoe-size) that seem to hail from the future. But while technology plays a key role in her products, it never steals the show.
Ten Bhomer is developing her first pair of production shoes partly through Chinese manufacturers. Her installation in Get It Louder is a surrealistic collage of foot-fetishism and everyday magic. |
