Tracey Neuls Talk

London Design Week

29 Marylebone Lane (her shop)

September 20, 2016

Tracey spoke about transforming her daily inspirations when she sits down to design her shoes. She might come across a burnt piece of wood in the alley, or a scrunched up cigarette with red lipstick on the end she finds beauty in the colour or the shape and might design a shoe from it. The burnt wood was a seasonal shoe where each heel was blow torched by hand.  The scrunched up cigarette became a shoe where the top part was white and beige and the heel had a stripe of red. Her sketchbooks were displayed with drawings of some shoe designs. She mentioned using Plasticine to mould the shape for each shoe, which is rebellious in modern shoe design.  Also, the feel and hands on approach reminds her of when she was a child. Wanting her shoes to be loved and cared for being and ultimately sustainable because customers will cherish them. She spoke of the importance of collaborations with artists, chefs etc. to keep things fresh. Along with her rebellious approach to shoe design her shops constantly have changing installations with different themes. Currently it is “classroom”.  Along with the unconventional display of her shoes individually hung from the ceiling, she collaborated with Japanese sonic artist Manabu Shimada. His sound installation brought to life a classroom with sounds of pencils writing on paper, and murmurs of legs of chairs moving across the floor. I learned that her shoes are limited edition and that makes her customers feel special!!