I received a copy Kunst, Aufräumen, or “The Art of Cleanup” for my birthday some time ago. Check it out if you haven’t already. It featured all sorts of things “cleaned up” or deconstructed from their otherwise “messy” natural state. For example, organizing from a bowl of alphabet soup a an alphabetized and sorted grid of all the letters and carrot pieces. I really enjoyed the book and all of Ursus Wehrli’s clever images. When I made this pair of oxfords, I wanted to try something similar.
It wasn’t until I tried to make an organized image that I understood how much systematic thinking it takes to be as organized as Wehrli. I’ve got a long way to go. The image I made includes all all the parts that went into these shoes. There are at least two of everything. This pair was built using cement construction. These shoes are unlined, so they do not include the quarter, tongue and vamp liners. If they were welted, there would be a few more parts still. The upper is hand dyed top finished vegetable tanned Italian leather. Here’s the parts list from left to right:
- Wooden pegs (10)
- Thread
- Tongue (2)
- Laces (2)
- Spring steel shank (2)
- Vamp (2)
- Toe cap (2), Toe box (2)
- Inside Quarter (2), Outside Quarter (2)
- Backstrap (2), Heel counters (2)
- Vibram rubber heel cap (2)
- Heel lifts (4, 2 per shoe)
- Leather Insole (2), Leather Sole (2)