21/08/2026
When I invited Trippen • Ethical Footwear into my work, I was interested in more than the shoes themselves.
I was drawn to the way they approach making — independently, by hand, and with a strong sense of curiosity towards form and material.
Trippen was founded in Berlin in 1991, and has remained an independent company ever since. Their shoes are developed and ethically produced in their own production facility in Brandenburg, where traditional craftsmanship meets experimentation with materials, construction and shape.
What I found particularly interesting is that this way of working feels very close to my own practice.
In butoh, I explore what happens when the body moves away from the familiar. A form can become something else. A movement can transform the body into something unexpected.
Trippen works with objects in a similar way. A shoe does not simply have to follow the shape of the foot or conform to what a shoe is expected to be. It can become a new form — sculptural, functional, sometimes strange, but always connected to the body.
For me, this is where our practices meet.
We work with different materials, different tools and different languages, but with a similar desire: to create forms that leave space for the unexpected.
This playful movement study is an exploration of that connection.
Body. Material. Movement. Form.
