technical description
Artefact with a sculptural and organic design reminiscent of the Venetian chopine. Wooden platform creating two islands on the insole, where the foot sits on soft leather. Upper of a leather sandal, with tubular and flat straps.
Size 335x255x200mm, 1365 gr., 2020
concept
Maria Bika explored the materialisation of silence in footwear, by constructing artifacts that highlight the importance of mindfulness in contemporary culture. The shoe is approached as a tool of internalisation and proposes a new dimension of space. The main aim was to probe the possibilities of what footwear design could be by researching the boundaries of movement as a tool to trigger personal awareness. A concept expressed by Ensō, or the Circle of Enlightenment, which embodies one of the most defining aspects of Zen Buddhism, the "no-mind concept". A state of no-mind is where a person is free from all thoughts and emotions through the total engagement of the present moment. Here the feet become the mediators between the body and the mind in order to reach the ultimate inner feeling of silence.