
Design Studies: Final Thesis, part 7 – Sketching 4
Dearest reader, This was the last week of sketching during my thesis project where I am designing haute couture bags inspired by ballet...
Shoe designer, blogger and
mentally in Paris
Charming to meet you,
My name is Siiri. I am a blogger, dancer and a design student at Häme University of Applied Sciences in Finland where my major is in footwear.
I have three rules when it comes to design: it has to tell a story or a message, it has to be aesthetic and it has to be based on research. These together sum up my design philosophy and make, what I believe to be, a base for good, sustainable and justified design.
As for inspirations, more often than not I find it in history, my favorite stories or, simply, in life happening all around. I am quite a romantic day dreamer, so for example, ballet, Marie Antoinette, Scotland, Jane Austen novels and the changing seasons provide me with an evergreen source of ideas.
Recently, however, I have been investigating how bodily knowledge derived through dance can be used in design, a topic I explored in my thesis. Moreover, I am especially fond of knitting, which is why, it has become a characteristic feature of my playfully refined yet classic style of shoes and accessories.
In the future, I hope to work more in the storytelling side of fashion: create shoes for movies or, perhaps, film content for brands.
Yours truly,
Siiri
Collection
The Bag Edition
Mademoiselle Parisot
Madame Sallé
Miss Collins
Donna Amalia
Fru Cullberg
In my final thesis project I designed bags to go with the Prima Ballerina -shoe colletion and investigated how you can utilize bodily knowledge in a creative sketchbook process. Inspired by my background in ballet, I used dance and somatic methods, particularly Bartenieff Fundamentals, as a way to learn through my body. Basically, I recorded my findings from the dance sessions and together with ballet and rococo elements I created different bag design ideas.
Watch the sketchbook process of designing the Prima Ballerina -bag collection.
Collection
"Silk and mohair shoes inspired by ballet, Swan Lake and rococo dance shoes."
Upper: 100% Silk
Velvet ribbon: silk and viscose
Knit: 72% Mohair and 27% silk
Sole: Leather
Heel: Wood, leather and silk
Prima Ballerina is inspired by my long-time hobby, ballet, and draws influence especially from pointe shoes, Swan Lake and rococo dance shoes. This collection charms with real silk, mohair knit imitating swan’s feathers and vegetable dyed velvet. Furthermore, each shoe is named after a famous ballerina or a character from ballet in order to bring forward ballet’s female stars.
Pavlova
Fonteyn
Taglioni
Odette
La Camargo
Swan Princess, maiden in trouble
and a leafer of swans
Russian prima ballerina and
a messeger of ballet
French ballerina and pioneer
Sustainable Product Development
"Knitted knee high boots with vintage pearl buttons and luxury felt linning."
Upper: off-white and blue wool yarn and off-white wool felt.
Buttons: mother of pearl
Sole: tunit (vulcanized rubber and SBR rubber)
Heel: plastic, tunit and black excess bovine leather.
Sustainability: The upper is made from wool which is biodegradable, micro plastic free and naturally renewable material. The shoes have button closure with real vintage mother of pearl buttons from the 1940s which can be cut of easily and reused when the shoes is no longer fit for use. The sole is constructed with one layer of tunit and the heel is coated with excess leather. Between the knit and felt lining there are heel and toe stiffeners made from vegetable tanned leather
Design
"Pointed toe mules inspired by time surpasing vintage jewelry".
Upper: green suede, pig skin linnig and black satin.
Sole: Tunit (vulcanized rubber and SBR rubber)
Heel: Plastic, tunit and green suede.
Decoration: Clip-on earrings from 1980s
Sustainability: High quality materials with timesless design that is relevant from age to age. Reusing of vintage clip-on earrings as decorations which you can also wear on your ears for a matching shoe-earing-look.
In the blog
Studies
My university journey studing design and footwear.
If you wish, view my full portfolio here:
In the