BOSTON — Boston-based clothing brand Bodega partnered with Amsterdam shoe company Filling Pieces to create a sneaker that takes on the look of a blue and white Ming vase. Consider this a less-aggro version of the porcelain-inspired Dr. Martens boots we wrote about a few months back.
“Bodega Mountain Cut Ceramic” released on Bodega’s store May 7 for a limited run. In fact, it looks like they’re becoming scarce quickly. The sneakers are made of white tanned leather with a classic blue and white porcelain pattern. They have white Italian cup soles, a blue leather lining and blue waxed cotton laces. In trying to link the shoe to ancient porcelain design, Bodega doesn’t quite stick the landing. They’re leaning on the limited availability of the sneakers. “As rare as a 14th-century vase itself,” it seems to say.
What made blue and white porcelain the object of such intense, consuming desire was its craftsmanship. The production process was, at the time it made its way to Europe, completely unique. A century or so and some noteworthy industrial espionage would lead to works of comparable quality eventually being produced on the continent, but as is so often the case, the original can never truly be matched…
The stitched leather and vulcanized rubber of the Mountain Cut may replace glazed and fired ceramic, but the essential point remains the same, having something beautiful that few if any other people can get their hands on just touches some kind of primal nerve in the human brain.
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Though that might be enough for sneaker junkies to salivate over, we’d add that we’ve gotten lost in the design at least twice since we started writing this article. There’s less real estate on the sneaker than there is on the boots we posted earlier. This means you don’t get the large, satisfying nature scene that takes up most of the boots, but you do get to see tightly-coiled, intricate blue and white patterns that are so easy to fall into. There’s a building or two hidden in the vortexes; the design is full of little surprises like that. As if we needed another reason to stare at our feet when we’re out in public.
Do you love or loathe this contemporary ceramics fashion? Let us know in the comments.
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I LOVE the blue & white shoes!!!! I want them! It is so refreshing when someone finds a way to use a traditional pattern (Ming Dynasty vase) on an unexpected, but familiar object (shoes)! AND it’s wearable! How fun is that?