The first thing people notice about your personality is the shoes you wear. This novel invention came into existence around 40,000 years ago as a means to protect the feet. Only over time, they evolved into an accessory that’s become a canvas for projecting your beliefs and style statement. Right from the bold and outrageous to the classy and time tested designs – shoes are, and will remain the talking point of every generation-long way into the future. These pairs of shoes designed by Netha Goldberg fall in the former category with an unthinkable design that you’ll either hate or love to the last bits.
The Israeli designer calls this collection of netted shoes “Netina” and each one of them solves a certain purpose while being completely astray from each other when the looks are concerned. The aim of crafting these shoes is to develop a healthy social relationship among people, providing a sense of comfort in helping someone who’s a complete stranger. Goldberg said, “The human body contains various opportunities for carrying objects that can be useful for ourselves and to those around us. Our feet contain such benefits and also obtain the true characteristic of the movement.”
In this collection are the white shoes that hold matchsticks in a spiked design for times when someone asks for a light. Then there are the red shoes that have a large opening to store tampons for your friend who’s having a menstrual cycle. The third shoes in all blue color are for geeks who like to be surrounded by gadgets, as the pair sports USB ports for charging multiple gadgets via a power bank that is concealed in the sole of the shoes. The choice of design for each pair is motivated by the desire to explicitly display the objects they intend to carry. Clearly, the shoes are way ahead of time in terms of looks but their intended purpose still alludes them from being practical. Not many would want to walk around with eyesore cables (in times of wireless charging tech) hanging from the bottom to the mid-waist (at best) or commute in a crowded metro with people stepping on your shoes with tampons on top. But as far as conversation starters are concerned, these designs are here to help you and those around you connect, break free of the screens, and actually form a bond – after all who will forget that person with matchsticks sticking out of their shoes!
Designer: Netha Goldberg
