Cube Design Museum to host shoe design exhibition

By

Shomara Roosblad

Published
Jan 22, 2018

The Netherlands’ Cube Design Museum will host an exhibition dedicated to extraordinary shoe design. Titled ‘Heaven or Hell,’ the exposition will focus on both iconic historical pairs along with modern innovations.

Heaven or Hell will feature more than 100 pairs of shoes, including stilettos, ballerinas, wedges, sneakers and sandals. The show will highlight shoes worn by celebrities such as Marilyn Monroe, Judy Garland, Brigitte Bardot and Lady Gaga. The exposition will also portray shoes that became well known via celebrities such as Sarah Jessica Parker in her role as Carrie Bradshaw and the Mock-Croc platforms by Vivienne Westwood, worn by Naomi Campbell during the 1993 runway show.

In addition to the celebrity focus, Heaven or Hell will also exhibit shoes that played an important role in society, for example as a symbol for a particular subculture, such as Dr. Martens shoe boots and their contribution to the punk scene.

Modern innovations are another focal point of Heaven or Hell, which will exhibit the 3D printed Ilabo shoe by designer Ross Lovegrove together with the Nova shoe British architect Zaha Hadid created for Dutch label United Nude. Other brands on view include: Alexander McQueen, Givenchy, Gucci, Iris van Herpen, Jimmy Choo, Marni, Manolo Blahnik, Beth Levine, Vivienne Westwood, Reebok, Ugg and Salvatore Ferragamo.

Heaven or Hell will run from 28 January till 2 September 2018. The exhibition is co-produced with Rome-based IMF Foundation and curated by Elisabetta Pisu.

Cube is the first Dutch museum fully dedicated to design. The museum is based in the Southern town of Kerkrade. In addition to exhibitions, Cube also acts as a multidisciplinary laboratory, where visitors work together with students and designers on innovative product design. Recent exhibitions included ‘Everything you always wanted to know about toilets’ and ‘Showroom Limburg 2017’.