Hermes from Hercules wishes he had these
When an art series mashes its ideas to a leather sandal, surreal forms comes to life.
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.
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.
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.
“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.
Now that Hawa Sandals are a reality you can start making your wishes to the universe 🛸.
Wings working or not, you can find this unique piece at Markhor website. & here you find more design creations made on Earth.