Great shoes and industrial design

Filed in archive Shoes on August 7, 2010

© ninafrazier

What do new shoe designs have to do with dial pack birth control packaging? Tough question. The answer is Martha Davis. Davis, an industrial designer designed the dial pack birth control packaging for Johnson & Johnson over 20 years ago.

Davis has never been able to find the perfect shoe, and as a lover of shoes, it was important to find shoes that were stylish, yet practical. So what did she do? She went to Milan and took courses in shoe design.

Her shoes are made with glove leather, which as you know is incredible soft and luxurious to touch. Her soles are strong and sturdy but look light and delicate. No step-ladder high heels for her collections: her shoes are made to be comfortable so that they can be worn all day.

Davis succeeds in making the Modernist movement, usually associated with severity, look more feminine. And while there's this slice of the past in the design, they never look discernibly retro.