katerina shukshina's shoes bloom straight from the garden

a garden turned into a shoe collection

What if your next pair of shoes grew in the garden? Katerina Shukshina makes exactly that, turning flowers, leaves, vegetables, grasses, and other plants into playful pieces of footwear. Her shoes range from delicate floral sandals to fluffy dandelion slippers and even ballet flats made from zucchini, creating the strange impression of a tiny fashion collection that has somehow sprouted from the ground.

Shukshina’s process starts with looking at plants differently. A zucchini can suddenly suggest the shape of a ballet flat, while flowers, stems, and leaves offer their own possibilities for straps, uppers, and decoration. She often works directly with what is growing around her, allowing the shape and texture of each plant to guide the final piece. 

Flowers are some of her most expressive materials. In one pair, small blue blossoms spread across green leaves to create a delicate floral surface, while another is almost completely taken over by large pink flowers. Dandelion seed heads gather into soft, pale shoes that look almost like fur, and long green stems curl around the foot like laces. The familiar silhouette of a shoe remains, but everything that normally makes it a shoe has been replaced by something from the garden.

all images by Katerina Shukshina

katerina shukshina makes footwear out of flowers and leaves

The plants are fresh when Shukshina makes them, which means the shoes can change even before they are photographed. Flowers wilt, leaves dry, and vegetables eventually return to their original purpose. She perceives this impermanence as part of working with natural materials. A pair of vegetable shoes might therefore exist for only a short time, captured through an image before the material changes again.

The artist’s relationship with plants goes back to her childhood, when she grew up surrounded by gardens, fields, and forests and used natural materials in games and everyday life. She later trained as a history teacher before turning to art, and today much of her creative material still comes from close to home. Alongside her shoes, Shukshina also creates other accessories and garments from plants, but the footwear is particularly effective because it takes something so familiar and gives it a completely unexpected material life.

dandelion seed heads create fluffy, cloud-like shoes worn in a meadow

Katerina Shukshina covers sneakers with fresh leaves, flowers, and seed heads

tulips emerge from a sculpted green shoe made from leaves

small blue flowers and leafy stems form a delicate pair of botanical shoes

purple flowers and lettuce-like leaves create a playful pair of plant-based shoes

green stems and flower heads are woven around a white sneaker

bright pink and orange flowers cover a pair of shoes

pink flower petals form rounded uppers on a pair of temporary shoes

pink gladiolus flowers transform footwear into sculptural floral forms

large peonies and smaller flowers create a lush pair of floral shoes

pea plants and vines wrap around the feet

pea shoots, leaves, and curling tendrils cover these plant-based shoes

nasturtium leaves and orange flowers form a leafy pair of shoes

wild strawberry leaves, fruit, and flowers become delicate botanical sandals

project info:

artist: Katerina Shukshina | @shu_katerina