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Hermes from Hercules wishes he had these.

Hermes from Hercules wishes he had these

When an art series mashes its ideas to a leather sandal, surreal forms comes to life.

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Multi-disciplinary NYC artist, Saks Afridi, teamed up with Pakistani brand Markhor to craft a limited edition (100 pairs each color) of a winged sneaker sandal. Hawa Sandal is an genderless leather creation that combines sci-fi art with extra comfort based on the traditional Peshawari Chappal footwear design.

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Sandals: check. Wings: check. Hand-crafted leather creation: check.

But how did sci-fi come into this narrative?

Saks Afridi's latest project called ‘SpaceMosque’ exists in a new genre he terms as ‘Sci-fi Sufism’, as he explores the idea of ‘Spiritual Machines’ that fuse mysticism & technology. All that inspired his leather sculpture collab with Markhor. A wearable piece of art that even the performance artist Darvish Fakhr wanted a change to fly in them.

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For his project, Saks created a history in the near past when a spaceship from the future delivered one prayer answered every 24 hrs for each human being on the planet. In Peshawar Pakistan, a young boy whose parents were separated wished for a way to visit his father in Kohat. The next day, his sandals had grown wings — so he called them Hawa Sandals, literally 'wind/air sandals'. They flew him many miles every night to see his beloved father. When the spaceship left the skies, the sandals lost their ability to fly.

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“I grew up wearing the Peshawari Chappal and still do, it’s part of my identity. The idea of adding wings stemmed from a story in the SpaceMosque project. So I reached out to Markhor and the collaboration began.” said Saks Afridi.

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Now that Hawa Sandals are a reality you can start making your wishes to the universe 🛸.

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Wings working or not, you can find this unique piece at Markhor website. & here you find more design creations made on Earth.

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