Fierce Filipino footwear

Risque Designs and The Spark Project are working together to come out with a collection of custom wedges that are meant to highlight both the country’s craftsmanship and its fauna.

Tal De Guzman, owner and designer for Risque, has made more than 200 pairs of “wearable art” since mid-2012.  The custom shoes highlight traditional Filipino arts like hand-carving, hand-weaving, and embroidery.

These arts are slowly being forgotten by younger Filipinos and Risque’s Animalia Filipina collection is meant to help De Guzman and the Filipino crafters she works with “go beyond the boundaries of Filipino creativity.”

The wedges for the shoes are made by carvers in Paete in Laguna province and are inspired by the tamaraw, the pawikan, the tarsier, and the Philippine crocodile.

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These crocs look better and are more artsy than rubber clogs

“Filipino products like bags and furniture have been gaining attention in the global market, but Filipino footwear that uses local materials have yet to conquer the scene,” she says.

Risque Designs is trying to raise funding for the collection through the Spark Project. It has little more than a month to raise its goal of P95,000.

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Inspired by the tamaraw, national animal of the Philippines

If the Animalia Filipina collection gets enough support, tamaraws and tarsiers may soon be spotted on runways and red carpets around the world.

Photos: Risque Designs



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