Monthly Archives: October 2011

Aztec Art in Japan

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Occasionally I search Ebay and Etsy for straw shoes and sandals.  Recently I found a store named AztecArt on Etsy that offered a pair of straw sandals that looked very interesting.  The overall design was unlike any I had seen from Japan and yet the soles were very similar to sandals from Japan in The Collection.  The shop owner and artistic creator is Ixtlixochitl White Hawk.  I learned from Ixtli’s profile that she was born in Mexico City into a family that traces their ancestry to the ancient Aztecs.  Ixtli made these sandals while living in Misawa-shi, Aomori Prefecture, Japan.  She values cultural traditions and crafts and is a member of the Tloke Nahuake Traditional Aztec Dancers:

On her profile page she wrote “My work centers in my Aztec roots, creating pieces in traditional and contemporary styles. All pieces are hand crafted with care and quality materials using semi-precious stones, feathers, leather and other natural elements. My pieces are unique,…”  Indeed the sandals that I obtained from Ixtli’s store reflect her creative philosophy and provide an excellent example of how different traditions can combine to allow the evolution of sandal design.  I believe that these sandals show both Japanese and Amerindian cultural influences.  Therefore, I entered them into the Japan Gallery as J12a,b and started a new gallery, Americas, with their entry Am1a,b.  The sandals from AztecArt are shown below (upper image) along with an image of J10 (lower image), sandals from the Japan Gallery:

Note the similarities in the design and construction of the soles.  The vamp of the AztecArt sandal has been woven with a basket weave pattern and bright colored straw strands were added, which is rarely seen in Japanese sandals.  If color is used, it is added by cloth strips woven into the sandals or used as thongs.  I have seen antique sandals made by the Anasazi Indians of the southwestern United States that employed this weave.  For example, I took the photograph below of a sandal dated to 4000 B.C.E. at the University of Utah Museum of Natural History:

The AztecArt sandals were created for use as wall art or home décor.  Ixtli suggested hanging them in the home “for good luck and safe travels”.  Here is another example of  a possible Japanese influence.  Kokeshi are Japanese dolls handmade from wood in a characteristic shape.  A pair of Kokeshi placed on tiny Waraji sandals represents the spirit of travel with a friend or partner to enhance the pleasure of the experience.  The image below is from the Collection (Mis2, 3, 4):

The AztecArt woven sandals shown as home decor below:

Contemporary designers may help save an ancient craft

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A new direction for the Straw Sandals Project is the collection of representative contemporary shoes and sandals that use woven components.  This is happening in both lower and high-end brands.  Our first contemporary entry into the collection is C25, a pair of high heel raffia-covered sandals made in China by Rocket Dog.  Shoes by this brand are priced to be broadly affordable and the designs appeal to younger women.  Contemporary designers use mixed material construction and the various materials are typically produced in different countries, so the shoe industry is truly a global enterprise. Thus, it is more appropriate to say that a shoe is assembled in a particular country rather than made there.  The woven material covering these sandals is raffia straw.  The straw may have been produced from Raphia palms grown in Madagascar, East Africa, or even the Philippines.  It may have been woven in the country of origin or the fibers may have been shipped to China for weaving.  Rocket Dog likely purchased the woven raffia cloth for assembly of these shoes.  It is very difficult to sort out the supply lines and assembly strategy that various companies use.  Woven fibers are combined with leather such as the foot bed used here and synthetic materials such as the soles of these sandals.  The sole form may be either wood or synthetic material.  The woven material is an environmental friendly renewable resource that gives workers in developing countries jobs and holds down the cost of the item.  In a way this may help preserve the ancient weaving crafts, so long as the weaving is done by hand and not by machine.

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