Saving soles
Who would have imagined that sole-destroying waste could turn into the coolest sneakers with new lives to live.
When Helen Kirkum was at the Royal College of Art, she went on a field trip to the fashion waste warehouse Traid.
Transfixed by the towering bins of single shoes, she was told that when people put their old shoes in the recycle bins, often they don’t tie them together, so shoes lose their sole mate and go to the place where single shoes go to die- landfill sites.
So Helen decided to do something about that.
She began creating new bespoke sneakers made out of old single sneakers and Helen Kirkum Studio was born.
People loved the deconstructed aesthetic of her collaged sneakers. And gradually over time she worked out ways she could save more and more single sneakers from landfill, turn waste into a primary, precious material and create a ready to wear collection.
SOLE SOLUTION
My Brave New Girl podcast guest Helen Kirkum saw a problem and found a solution by re-imagining & re-engineering waste into sneakers with a whole new lease of life.
My guest this week is Helen Kirkum, multi-award winning designer & pioneer in sustainable footwear whose Studio was born on the fundamentals of rescuing old sneakers to create pieces that raise awareness of post-consumer waste. Wherever possible they incorporate recycling and up-cycling into their products, breathing new life into discarded sneakers.
STUDIO
Helen Kirkum Studio Limited was founded by Helen Kirkum in 2019.
At Helen Kirkum Studio they celebrate the processes of wearing and making in their products. Utilising recycled and dead stock materials, they create bespoke sneakers artistically crafted for an individual experience. They collaborate with brands worldwide to bring their playful perspective and sustainable message to their products. They also love to spread their signature design through making ethos in talks and workshops, promoting the value of spontaneous and tactile creativity.
HELEN
Helen Kirkum is a London-based artist and designer. Kirkum’s artisanship has garnered international acclaim and it is her ability to tell stories through her designs that sets her work apart. Each pair of sneakers she makes is unique, weaving together the memories of the components that make it and allowing the owner to own something inherently personal and one-of-a-kind. She is widely considered a pioneer of the hacked and deconstructed aesthetic within the sneaker industry, and in the vanguard of the sustainable footwear movement.
Kirkum graduated from London’s Royal College of Art in 2016. Through her practice, Kirkum challenges us to rethink the meaning of consumption and the way we interact with the products we own.
For any press enquiries, please contact: info@helenkirkum.com
Helen Kirkum Social Links:
Instagram: @helenkirkumstudio
Twitter: @HelenKirkum
TikTok: @helenkirkumstudio
Website: www.helenkirkum.com
Helen Kirkum Community Links:
Instagram: @sneaker_sculptures
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