reincarnated soles by lanvynguyen from usa

Our shoes are reincarnated soles designed for the invisible souls of rural artisans of Hue, Vietnam who find it increasingly more difficult to sustain their livelihood with dignity and keep the ancient tradition of pagoda woodcraft. We design processes that insure profits are shared so that artisan would not have to compromise their unique skills to sustain a healthy livelihood. Yet, neither will we compromise on the strict guidelines for a beautiful creation.

To manufacture our shoes we worked with an NGO, the local authority, and mobilized artisan villages in Central Vietnam to collective find a way to resurrect the artisan economy so that together we can push back the loss of artisan population due to migration for better economic opportunities. Together, with the NGO, we invested in new equipment, machines, materials, ideas for product developments and process improvements. We recruited a local leather cobbler (who we also later invested in with new equipments) and his engineer friend to help with the balance and weight distribution of the wooden shoes.

Our design inspirations came from what were already available. We took what the pagoda artisans knew how to do well and miniaturized such designs to fit within the shape wooden wedges. A 6-foot dragon head became a 6-inch wedge, though smaller it was no less fierce. We limited our materials to wood from local jackfruit and longan orchards whose trees have been downed or expired of fruits.

We are designs innovators that make up the team at Fashion4Freedom. We are driven to redefine luxury in a way that proves fashion matters beyond the boundaries of consumerism. In our processes, we account for movement of people, we account for Social Needs, for problems of economic forces that move whole population out of artisan villages. A movement that RISK the exictintion to an ancestral craft.

we hope to Inhibit this “motion”. ..to stop the dying process of our artistic culture and resurrect a renewal commitment for tradition.

We share with LEXUS a relentless drive to push the boundaries of design. Shoes allow us to create motion - getting us from point a to b- as DO the the wheels of a car. Critical are the wheels that turn in our heads and the speed at which our hearts beat. We design to provoke and shift paradigms. Our collection of reincarnated soles represents an alternative route of production for the fashion industry. We hope to shift ideas on what it means to consume with consciousness and sense of responsibility...to transcend beyond the assumption that great designs only exist to provides consumers ease & mobility. Great designs can provide shared benefits for mobility. Great designs of products and processes can lift those on the margin OUT of poverty and stop the erosion of a disappearing artform. Our latest design is a pair of wings in flight. Our artisans lament over the difficulty of executing these wings. I opine over the difficult of our overarching goal. But we are driven and We know that a mentorship through the Lexus Design competition would give us flight and move us forward. I thank you on behalf of my team of designers and artisans of one sleepy province in Vietnam... I THANK YOU FOR THE OPPORTUNITY TO BE HEARD.