Yuzhao Huang, MA Footwear, London College of Fashion
Footwear designer Yuzhao Huang’s project blurs the lines between high heels and homeware, taking the language of the iconic shoe and marrying it with mechanical elements to create new forms and unexpected movements.
Now finishing his Master’s in Footwear at London College of Fashion, Yuzhao initially came to UAL in 2016 as an undergraduate student on the BA Cordwainer’s Footwear course. At the start of his time here, aesthetic value of footwear was his focus. But after interning Nicholas Kirkwood and McQ Alexander McQueen, Yuzhao started to think about what impact he wanted to make to the world through his designs. Beginning his master’s, he was encouraged to challenge what usually comes to mind when we think of shoe design.
“During my master’s degree, I got influenced by my tutor Eelko Moorer, who comes from an industrial design background. He encourages me to break traditional boundaries […]. The new approach frees my creativity on a new level.”
The inspiration for Yuzhao’s final project first began to take shape in the summer of 2019 during a road trip to the Balkins, visiting the Spomeniks (‘monuments’). The abandoned World War II monuments built in the former Yogoslavian era made Yuzhao feel ‘reborn’, he says, inspiring him to create a collection that delivers the same feeling to his audience. Looking outside of pre-existing footwear collections for inspiration, Yuzhao turns to consumer products, furniture, automobiles, aircrafts and more to inform his work. Brutalist architecture, especially the work of British mid-century sculptor Brian Willsher, plays an especially key part.
Striving to create something that pushes the boundaries of footwear design, the decision to reinterpret home décor pieces with high-heel language was inspired by Yuzhao’s view of footwear as products of engineering, the saturation of the footwear market and the growth of the homeware market. “Instead of creating another collection of normal shows, I want to explore a new direction of designing using the footwear knowledge I have,” he explains.
The current pandemic also played a huge part in the development of Yuzhao’s ideas. “Overshadowed by global pandemic and natural disasters, what the world needs the least is a collection of beautiful footwear,” he says. “I’ve never been at home as much as I was for the past eight months due to the pandemic. As the pandemic is still with us, I’m still working from home, eating at home and exercising at home. I find myself connected with my home in a way my pre-Covid life had never allowed. I started to look into this multi-functional space and wonder: Can I combine footwear with home ware, and deliver the feeling of “re-birth”?”
The result of Yuzhao’s broad inspirations is 5 decorative homeware pieces, defined by their notable high-heel shapes. Each shoe in the collection transforms between a ‘décor’ and ‘shoe’ mode; a set of wind bells becomes a pair of high heels, alongside bookends, a Rubik’s cube-inspired piece, a tumbler shape and a tensegrity sculpture all transforming into shoes.
Looking to the future, Yuzhao hopes to keep pushing the boundaries of footwear design. “After the course, especially under the current climate, I am more and more aware of the ‘hidden’ power of design, apart from the aesthetic value,” he says. “As a designer, I create and deliver experience, which is more important and powerful than the product itself.”
Explore
See Yuzhao Huang’s Graduate Showcase: The Spomeniks
See UAL’s Graduate Showcase 2021
Find out more about MA Footwear at London College of Fashion.
Find out more about BA Cordwainer’s Footwear: Product Design and Innovation at London College of Fashion.