WGSN fashion awards

So plowing through the raft of emails now that I'm back and I have one suggesting I nominate myself for the WGSN "Most Influential Designer - Footwear and Accessories" award. Whilst I have a feeling this might be for more established brands if anyone feels like they might like to nominate me that would be rather nice!

Update

Apologies for a lack of posting but I took a few days off last week for a bit of rest and recuperation. Now back in London I'm working on new design work, learning new software and trying to work out what's next for me..

some non-shoe drawings..

a dress you say??

Having a massive file clear out since my poor laptop keeps crashing, and came upon some old black and white photos I took and printed (hence terrible exposure) during my hugely fun art and design foundation course at Runshaw College (before doing shoes at LCF). It's of a paper dress which fell to pieces in the midst of our "shoot", and I love that I thought pinning bits of chiffon to a board stacked in research would make a good backdrop ha. I always fancied doing some crazy pleating with shoes though..hmmm!

recyclable hiking boots?

The "Fitzsimmons" from Native, a brand I hadn't heard of before until a quick peruse of nylon this morning so naturally this caught my eye:
"100% recyclable hiking boots. Oh, and they're foam -
made from a funky foam-injected material that creates 0% waste and no carbon emissions".
Kinda funky but I can't find out anything about how they're recyclable, what this mysterious foam is or anything about the rest of the products on the native website..come on guys!

fierce

in the wake of all the crazy nail art that's going on at the moment, this tops it for me..


original manicure by makeup artist Topolino (shot 1994) reissued by nylon magazine

No more topshop discount..

so as of last friday I am no longer a student and graduated at the royal festival hall with all my other shoezies. Good and sad times!

Ecouterre piece

I'm still hugely excited to keep finding my work spreading to new blogs and online magazines. One of which - Ecouterre magazine contacted me for further information and have written an article about my collection. As a result I have also written a press release which is available if you email me at info@helenfurber.com. View the piece here. Here some other new snippets of press I've managed to find..

Gaetano Pesce for Melissa

"The ankle boot is comprised entirely of interconnected circles, customers will be able to create seven different styles from this one shoe, by cutting the edges to create each new style."

I quite like the idea of this product - be interesting to see what they look like in real life. via de zeen blog

China digital boom

Fascinating report on Chinese Market growth & digital marketing at a luxury level, via Business of Fashion

China: The Biggest Opportunity for Prestige & Luxury Brands in a Generation from L2 Think Tank on Vimeo.

soft hard black white

Abbey Lee Kershaw by Hedi Slimane for Vogue China, via models.com

BOF talks sustainability

Just mulling over Business of Fashion's article "In Ethical Fashion, Desirability is Sustainability" (and linked article Sustainable fashion: what does green mean? on FT.com).

"Indeed, the brands that will resonate most with increasingly aware, but ever-demanding consumers will be the ones who integrate sustainable principles into their operations without making “being green” their defining principle."

I definately feel that the fact that it's so hard to even define what "sustainable principles" are demonstrates the scale of the problem and the need for an industry wide standard. But also believe the true ideal would be to look at this from a more "cradle-to-cradle" perspective where "being green" - or taking responsibility for your environmental impact? - should be an equally defining principle to whatever your design aesthetic/ethos is, not secondary, and both complement each other.

I also think whilst it's really great that PPR have supported HOME (a film-based "environmental call to arms") it could be viewed a little as "green marketing". Most people now understand that we need to do something about our environmental impact (but perhaps don't know how to apply it on a day to day basis) and there is already a lot of info/material out there about the theory. I feel it might be a stronger message to also demonstrate support via visible changes to business and product strategy which have a tangible outcome to the consumer.



Of course some change is better than no change and I think Florien Gonzalez's comments are interesting and positive:

"For years, I have been saying to brands that improving their sustainability credentials does not require to tag the brand as “eco”, “green” or “ethical”. Humility and hard work are necessary to make current luxury/fashion business models and supply chains more sustainable. It is very easy to fall into greenwashing when one company presents itself as “eco” just because they have one “eco-collection” or a CSR director… We should serve sustainability more than sustainability serves us, and act more than we speak… As for the sustainable luxury definition, it is not as difficult as one would think, it requires to have a positive impact on people, planet and… profits. The implementation of this 3p definition is obviously complex and long term.."

Stretch Metal

"The idea of Loll is to transfer the idea of stretching metal from 2D to 3D into furniture solutions. Stretching the laser cut steel sheet up to maximal strain creates a static equilibrium. With this simple but ingenious technique, a metal sheet just 3 mm thick has been turned into a lounger and a coffee table".

Whilst the final product is not really to my taste, it's an interesting method of construction..hmm heels...

featured on Deco Design blog via notcot.

Pressing Matters

Since the style bubble post, I've been overwhelmed by lots of new blog posts about me springing up and a fair few emails regarding ordering shoes. I thought I should explain that at present the shoes are not available to buy, and are not likely to be purchasable for some time (if ever). Currently they are very much a concept prototype and would require much further engineering of parts for them to be manufactured as working footwear (adidas mentioned they take around 2 years to develop new concept products..)
However I am looking into the possibility of making up a small sample run with September Fashion Week in mind - but this is still very much inquiry stage (anyone interested in sponsoring me please get in touch..info@helenfurber.com!)

I'm also working on a website, apologies it's not up and running yet..

In the meantime I've become addicted to googling myself and seeing how many new posts pop up - really amazing! Here are some other snippets including refinery29.com, trendhunter.com, fashionindie.com, designscene.net...

acrylic brain

Laser cut and etched acrylic brain inspired by MRI images by Northup. So up my street in all its perspex glory: via notcot and sold on etsy! Could see that in my livingroom..

the right kind of bubble

Unfortunately between industry night on thursday evening last week and friday lunchtime (when I took my friend to visit the carnaby exhibition), someone stole the lookbook I had on display with my shoes. Considering it cost me £30 to print (a lot on my student budget!) as well as a trip out to my shoefactory in leyton to emboss the cover myself I'm a bit gutted and just hoping it's in good (fashioney/press) hands. On the bright side I'm absolutely ecstatic that I've been featured on superblogger susie lau's stylebubble blog over the weekend, and what a post it is:

"I'm therefore pleased that I have killed two birds with one convenient stone by finding a designer who a) easily gets graduate footwear designer of this year (last year was the fearless Chau Har Lee) and b) also has impressed me with her will to combine forward-thinking production means with sustainability in materials as well as a mind-blowing aesthetic.. "

I feel really honoured to be featured given that this is a blog I've followed religiously for several years now and overwhelmed by the positive response and great feedback which susie's post is generating. Thankyou to Susie and everyone who's commented - and how exciting!