Rectangle Shoes by Maria Nina Vaclavek
Updated: Jan 28, 2020
The Rectangle shoes were designed for a school assignment based on a research of historical eras and its implementation with a reference to the contemporary world. Vaclavek chose the first shoe ever made by man in prehistoric times to brace against cold and chafing as an inspiration. She based her work more on the method of fabrication than the visual aspect of the shoe. The caveman hunted down an animal, skinned it and wrapped the skin, still raw and warm, around his foot where he tightened it with bast. The skin adapts to the shape of the user’s foot. Vaclavek found this technology very interesting and decided to work with it further.
The final version is made of one piece of leather including the sole. She based the design on a rectangle, which is the silhouette of the shoe viewed from profile as well. An organic form of the human foot is pressed into the geometric outline similar to an X-ray scan. The sole is hidden but the shape can be guessed very well. This tension is amplified by the opened point which shows the toes and the opened heel.
