Translated material
Shoes for star girls.
20 km from Amsterdam in Hofdorpe, a small Dutch town, is a small atelier for the production of shoes. The owner of the studio, a middle -aged man with a pleasant smile and sparks in his eyes. At first glance, a typical average Dutchman who loves his job and can talk about him for hours. However, miracles are being done behind his inconspicuous door in the studio. His little workshop and golden hands are known far beyond the borders of Holland. Boxes with precious deeds are regularly taken from his workshop. And you know who gets these boxes? These boxes are received by girls such as Bjons, Fergi, Lady Gaga and many others who value high fashion, luxury and avant -garde.
His name is Rene van den Berg. His name is hardly familiar to you by ear, if you do not live in Holland and you have no particular tendency to wear astronomically high avant -garde shoes.
However, seeing his creations, you definitely cannot throw his name out of your memory. First, I saw a collection of Jan Taminiau with futuristic shoes. Then I saw the cover of the last album of Bjons, where she stands on a fantastic platform. After that, I noticed unusual avant -garde shoes from the collection of Ilya Fisser. And that’s all, hooked me.
Rene was able to chat with me and at the same time showed his studio. He does all the main work himself and sometimes two of his trainees help him. A small and clean atelier with the most diverse equipment for the production of shoes, in principle, is unremarkable, and if you do not know what he is doing, you will pass by.
People who know about his skill in the manufacture of space and avant -garde shoes are associated with him from different parts of the Earth.
Having behind him an impressive amount of knowledge and experience in the manufacture of an orthopedic shoes, Rene for a long time dreamed of combining his skill and a passion for high fashion.
NN: Renee, who are you in the specialty?
Rene: I am a technical specialist in orthopedic shoes.
NN: How did your cooperation with fashion designers begin?
Rene : Before becoming a technical specialist in orthopedic shoes, I really dreamed of going to an art school, but a diploma of the art school does not guarantee you a stable job. Therefore, I chose what guarantees normal earnings after graduation. Already the fourth generation of my family is engaged in the production of shoes. Therefore, this was a reasonable decision for me to go to this area of activity. My dad was also a specialist in orthopedic shoes. I always wanted to create beautiful shoes, but also to make special shoes for people with the problems of the musculoskeletal system. I finished my studies, but after a while, creativity all the same prevailed. I have worked in the orthopedic industry for 10 years. Then I started my own business and inspired an atelier for the production of shoes, and after a while I received my first order from Thierry Mugler. Since 1997, I have made five collections for Thierry, of which there are three for the Haute Couture collections and two for the Pred A Porte collections.
NN: How did you get your first order from Thierry? I think it is quite difficult to start cooperation with such a designer.
Rene: When I started working for myself, I began to take part at exhibitions. At one such exhibition, my acquaintance, who graduated from art school in fashion and design, asked me about the opportunity to create shoes for his thesis. I saw his work, I really liked her. I agreed and accepted his proposal to create shoes that would correspond to his collections. In any case, I already had in plans to make my new collection. This guy, his name is Irving Forster, he now has his own fashion brand Irvinx, wanted to intervene with Thierry Mugler. He sent photos of his thesis, but the collection did not interest them. They liked my shoes and they asked him who made it. Thus, I was involved in cooperation with Thierry Mugler.
NN: How can you characterize your style?
Rene: I have an organic style.
NN: Why organic?
Rene: I'll show you better. This is very old works, they are about 20 years old.
NN: Did you do it for customers or for yourself?
Rene: This is for yourself. I tried my capabilities, honed skills, worked out skills, and generally gained experience in design.
NN: Do you work with skin and wood?
Rene: Yes, I work with skin, wood, allumin. There are no materials with which I cannot work.
NN: Is it possible to wear them?
Rene (laughs): You can try. I do not make shoes that cannot be worn. After cooperation with Mugler, I worked with many clothing designers, with famous private clients, and also made shoes for theatrical productions. With such a volume of work, I do not have time to make my own collections now. I have a huge number of sketches. I continue to draw, but there is no time for production.
NN: How do you find a balance between art and business? After all, you somehow need to support your studio and yourself?
Rene: Now I am completely dependent on fashion, fashionable designers and their orders. Last year, I had only to cooperate with fashion houses and this is enough to maintain my business and family. I also continue teaching.
NN: I know you worked with Yan Taminiau and Heineken. Tell us about it.
Rene: Jan has long thought to make a couture collection. Long before the creation of the collection, they asked me about the possibility of manufacturing shoes for this collection. The design of 99% was performed by Yang. They showed me sketches and we began to discuss wearing, technical moments in production and generally their implementation. From the very first sketch, I began to work out the form. At this stage of sculpture, you decide what shape should be a heel, the height of the platform, the shape of the sock or heel, that is, the most key points. After that, I work on the prototype. When the work on the prototype is finished, I make the final approved template and already reproduce the entire collection on it. This is how I work on shoes with a platform, such as Yang Taminiau, Ilya Fisser and Heineken.
NN: Why Heineken? This is a beer company.
Rene: Heineken opened their conceptual night club in Milan. The opening of the club was dedicated to the Salone del Mobile 2012 exhibition (approx. A large Italian furniture exhibition). This club attracts designers in all industries from all countries of the world to cooperate. Designers are developing clothes, interior, furniture for this club. I was offered to take part on this project, since I already have a name in the fashion industry. Michelle Wu developed a shoe design and I did it.
NN: Rene, and who is your favorite shoe designer?
Rene (laughs): This is a difficult question. I like Kobi Livai. I also really like what Alexander McQueen did. This does not mean that I am inspired by his work, I just like his design. I also like United Nude, 10 years ago I helped them with the first prototypes. In general, now the design of shoes is much more interesting than ten years ago. This is facilitated by a variety of materials, technicians and new equipment. In addition to skin and wood, I work a lot with polyurethane. All my platforms are made of this material.
NN: Russian girls love to wear high heels. Many can check all day on them. How are you looking at this?
Rene: Definitely. This is harmful to health. Your back and legs suffer. I began a joint project with my business partner Karin Jansenhava and we decided that 9cm Kabluk is the perfect heel for women's shoes. As a specialist in orthopedic shoes, I can say that 9cm heels is a limit. Such a height gives a woman a sense of comfort, stability and she looks also sexy. If you do not know how to walk in heels, it is better not to try. It looks bad and not at all attractive.
NN: Tell us about your project in more detail.
Rene: The idea of the project is to make shoes to order. We ordered all this quality skin for our business. The shoes will be one -color and two -tone. All the boxes are already prepared for the first batch. This is a trial collection. That is, we give our customers to try new shoes before we make it specifically for each client. We plan to make couture and high -quality shoes. It often happens that the right leg is 39 sizes, and the left 39.5 and in such cases, shoes to order the best solution to the problem. Customers can also choose skin color for their shoes. A Shoe Can Be ... is the name of the brand. Each new model will have its own name, for example, “shoes can be luxurious”, “shoes can be sexy”, “shoes can be irresistible”, “shoes can be fashionable”. This is couture shoes, so the prices will be high.
NN: What will be approximately the price range?
Rene: Starting from 1200 euros. The price is high, since I will do all the shoes manually. There will be no sales. We will actually have a very small luxury brand in which several people will work. We will produce the shoes that we find interesting. We made the design of the first collection. These are studs and sandals. Unfortunately, I can’t show how we keep this secret for the official discovery. We do not plan to make big advertising in magazines or newspapers. We really want our customers to advertise us to their friends, and their friends, in turn, to their friends.