Arielle de Pinto's shoes "are just different to other shoes," says Arielle's friend and partner Mary-Catharine Anderson. Arielle's jewelry, too, looks unlike anything else. The Canadian designer has made her name creating unique pieces from crocheted metal chain that are as delicate and beautiful as they are tough.
For the past two seaons, Arielle and Mary-Catharine have also been working on a new project: a collaboration with their friends at all-female art collective LVMM. Combining Arielle's crochet (this time in elastic) with hand-shaped foam soles, the woven platforms sum up everything the girls are about: fun, innovation, and working together.
While that sounds like enough to be getting on with, Arielle also teamed up with crystal artist Lars Paschke for Fall/Winter 2012. The resulting rings, in super bright violet, yellow, and turquoise, were made by growing chemical quartz directly onto Arielle's metalwork. At the end of what must have been a crazy few months, we caught up with Arielle and Mary-Catharine to talk about their latest shoes.
Shop all Arielle de Pinto here.
Alice Newell-Hanson: How did you guys meet LVMM?
Mary-Catharine Anderson: We met Valeria when she was showing in Paris. She looked like some amazing creature from Fraggle Rock or The Dark Crystal with a thicket of untamable curls and strange English. Then we figured out she was Italian! She was mad about our Charm Bracelet—it had carved figurines colorized using a plasma chamber—and it won our hearts immediately.
ANH: Who are the girls of LVMM?
MCA: Laura, Valeria, Manon, and Michelle. They studied at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp and stayed on doing art and fashion experiments together. Antwerp has this great community of artists; it’s like a secret village where people work very hard and also have a lot of fun. Laura has this imperative to be "how we were at thirteen." And I think that really comes through with the shoes. They are a bit wild but simple and natural too.
ANH: Can you give me a rundown on the shoes?
MCA: They're rad. Not sexy by conventional standards, more tomboyish. They're just different to most other shoes I've seen. And they feel different too: a bit strange at first with the crochet directly on your skin but when you adjust the cords they become super comfortable and supportive. They're very danceable. We've tested.
ANH: How did the collaboration come about?
Arielle de Pinto: I've been working on my jewelry and showpieces for almost five years now. I've wanted to do other things, collaborative projects, but our jewelry work is so involved and specialized. We do all our own production and I've personally trained our entire team in Montreal. I'm pretty much designing solo most of the time, but I love working with a group like this—it really keeps the energy up.
MCA: When we saw what the LVMM girls were trying to do, it really resonated. They were sawing the bases for these shoes by hand! They were impossible to produce! We understood what they were trying to do, and the hurdles, instantly. So we decided to help design and make the shoes together. The LVMM project has also helped galvanize what we're about in general: loving fashion and art, not being shy about business, and remembering our essential thirteen-year-old natures!
ANH: How do you work together when you're all in different cities?
ADP: It's definitely been challenging, but it has provided the opportunity to be in some strange places at times when there are no
For the past two seaons, Arielle and Mary-Catharine have also been working on a new project: a collaboration with their friends at all-female art collective LVMM. Combining Arielle's crochet (this time in elastic) with hand-shaped foam soles, the woven platforms sum up everything the girls are about: fun, innovation, and working together.
While that sounds like enough to be getting on with, Arielle also teamed up with crystal artist Lars Paschke for Fall/Winter 2012. The resulting rings, in super bright violet, yellow, and turquoise, were made by growing chemical quartz directly onto Arielle's metalwork. At the end of what must have been a crazy few months, we caught up with Arielle and Mary-Catharine to talk about their latest shoes.
Shop all Arielle de Pinto here.
Alice Newell-Hanson: How did you guys meet LVMM?
Mary-Catharine Anderson: We met Valeria when she was showing in Paris. She looked like some amazing creature from Fraggle Rock or The Dark Crystal with a thicket of untamable curls and strange English. Then we figured out she was Italian! She was mad about our Charm Bracelet—it had carved figurines colorized using a plasma chamber—and it won our hearts immediately.
ANH: Who are the girls of LVMM?
MCA: Laura, Valeria, Manon, and Michelle. They studied at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp and stayed on doing art and fashion experiments together. Antwerp has this great community of artists; it’s like a secret village where people work very hard and also have a lot of fun. Laura has this imperative to be "how we were at thirteen." And I think that really comes through with the shoes. They are a bit wild but simple and natural too.
ANH: Can you give me a rundown on the shoes?
MCA: They're rad. Not sexy by conventional standards, more tomboyish. They're just different to most other shoes I've seen. And they feel different too: a bit strange at first with the crochet directly on your skin but when you adjust the cords they become super comfortable and supportive. They're very danceable. We've tested.
ANH: How did the collaboration come about?
Arielle de Pinto: I've been working on my jewelry and showpieces for almost five years now. I've wanted to do other things, collaborative projects, but our jewelry work is so involved and specialized. We do all our own production and I've personally trained our entire team in Montreal. I'm pretty much designing solo most of the time, but I love working with a group like this—it really keeps the energy up.
MCA: When we saw what the LVMM girls were trying to do, it really resonated. They were sawing the bases for these shoes by hand! They were impossible to produce! We understood what they were trying to do, and the hurdles, instantly. So we decided to help design and make the shoes together. The LVMM project has also helped galvanize what we're about in general: loving fashion and art, not being shy about business, and remembering our essential thirteen-year-old natures!
ANH: How do you work together when you're all in different cities?
ADP: It's definitely been challenging, but it has provided the opportunity to be in some strange places at times when there are no