TOKYO — Japanese shoe designer Masaya Kushino has a penchant for elaborate, baroquely ornamental designs and luxurious materials that make up a distinct haute couture sensibility.
Hailing from Hiroshima, Masaya first studied fashion design at the Kyoto Institute of Design, before graduating from the Istituto Marangoni in Milan in 2004. He set up his eponymous label in 2007 and has since also also collaborated with numerous runway brands such as Somarta and Christian Dada, producing kinetic art-inspired planting machine shoes with Boston-based Japanese artist Sputniko!, and skull-shaped leather bags that were a joint effort with Japanese jewelry brand AMBUSH® (made up of Verbal from m-flo and Yoon).
Kushino, who is currently showcasing his latest “Bird-Witched” collection at the “Future Beauty: 30 Years of Japanese Fashion” exhibition hosted by the National Museum of Modern Art in Kyoto, spoke with BLOUIN ARTINFO about his latest collection and plans.
Why did you choose to depict a bird’s life in your latest collection?
The Bird-Witched collection was inspired by Jakuchu Ito, a legendary painter who flourished during the Edo period in the 18th century. He depicted real life animals such as birds, tigers, and elephants in a really ingenious way, tinged with a bit of insanity. His realist aesthetic encouraged me to put emphasis on the details of the shoes, which resulted in unique collaborations that used historical Nishijin-ori textiles by Hosoo in Kyoto, or exquisite statuesque heels by Japanese sculptor Takashi Nakamura. Three pairs of shoes are covered with feathers, giving them a mysterious, iridescent texture.
You've previously designed shoes with buffalo horn-shaped heels and used peacock feathers. What is your attraction to animal motifs?
I've always been inspired by the natural form of animals. These forms change from time to time according to the environment and other factors, but on the other hand they are also final forms in a way. Only the forces of the universe can determine what they look like. These factors, which transcend the realm of human civilization, have always influenced my previous works, and will continue to do so in the future.
Do you ever draw from nature, or consider the concept of sustainable fashion?
Some of my previous works, including my collaboration with the Japanese artist Sputniko! that featured a mechanical system for planting seeds, and the Reborn collection, a series of shoes with botanical motifs that evoke the transitions between seasons, were clearly inspired by natural philosophy. In my opinion, human beings have always cultivated their civilizations while being affected by nature. At the moment, the fashion world seems to place an emphasis on ethical or natural products, but for me this doesn't sound new at all. I would say that the fashion industry even devises marketing buzzwords and strategies based on this idea. On the other hand, some of my previous collections were clearly aimed at exploring the relationships between human purpose and the natural environment that surrounds them, while some of the other works just emerged out of a certain personal impulse.
You also like experimenting with the idea of superficial complexity using rare materials, or pushing cultural expectations and definitions of beauty. Why?
During my early career, I made these pairs of Pokkuri platform shoes that were originally worn by Oiran prostitutes in the Edo era. These platform shoes also featured glowing sculptures in their heels — as you might imagine, this idea comes from Japanese lanterns. The Queen collection from 2012, on the contrary, uses extravagant, lavish embellishments to conjure a rather Victorian, or Gothic atmosphere. I have a penchant for the beauty of art from the medieval era. The golden ages of lost cultures or civilizations have always enchanted me and given me a sense of nostalgia. They were produced with the cutting-edge techniques of the age, and cost an incredibly big sum of money to create, not to mention time and the labor of many people — all in an effort to show off one’s prosperity.
Compared to other forms of visual art such as sculpture or mixed media, what is special about making shoes?
As a lot of designers have stated elsewhere that shoes are attractive not only for putting legs in, but also as standalone art objects. In other words, shoes are just as visually stimulating as sculpture or any other three-dimensional art piece, but they also fundamentally have to be wearable. Artworks are basically made just for display or to be appreciated visually. When it comes to artistic pairs of shoes, however, they are more instinctive and more interactive, which I think is their most attractive trait.
Aside from the ongoing fashion exhibition at the National Museum of Modern Art in Kyoto, do you have any projects coming up?
My archival pieces will be displayed in a group exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum in August. I'm also working on my next collection, which I hope to be able to show in New York. I'm based in Kyoto at the moment, but in the future, I hope to be somewhere else where I can work more internationally. I love shoe making, and hope to continue pushing boundaries when it comes to the art of shoes. I dream of beautiful high heels made out of fine jewelry, or platform shoes designed for astronauts living in zero gravity conditions. More realistically, I hope to work on some projects for the upcoming Tokyo Olympics in 2020.
“Future Beauty: 30 Years of Japanese Fashion” runs through May 11, 2014 at the National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto.
Click through to see a slideshow of some of Masaya Kushino's shoes.
