FASHION-able

sign practice and perhaps not very radical. What this

method emphasises is the collaborative work and the

delegation protocols created by the designer in col-

laboration with the craftsperson. Here the model can

be changed underway and thus mutate during the

production process and every pair is co-designed. The

input variables of the designer set at the start affect the

process and makes it predictable to a certain extent.

But it is also a surrender of control from the designer

and from a basis of shared trust the models can now

evolve mutually between designer protocol and the

ideas of the craftsperson. This is an implementation in

Morris’s spirit but in a rhizomatic way.

The project also had the aim of raising the attention of

the media, both local and national, for the project.

During the workshop, the project also received an

amount of local coverage in the press, radio and TV.

Bringing in the eyes of media as well as putting the

spotlight on the collaborative working process created

a renewed pride in the craft element in the factory.

Dale Sko came to be recognized and respected not

only for its century old merits but also for its con-

cern to go further, innovate and continue to be a

progressive local player with global fashion connec-

tions. The media attention became a form of recog-

nition for this hard work and boosted the confidence

of the factory.

Synnevåg, the fashion photographer, worked con-

sciously to create the iconography of the shoe hack.

He both documented the process and took the final

fashion photos, some of which are featured in the

thesis. His photographs came to echo a recognisable

Norwegian atmosphere, with the fjords, mountains,

and wind-torn wooden panels, scenes that were all

taken from around the factory and the artists centre.

As we wanted to use the designers as models but still

not make them the “stars” of the process we decided

to drape them in the bed linen from the artists cen-

tre. These were in colours that also matched the blue

sky of the day.

The highly established symbolic power of the Nor-

During the shoe-hack workshop the designers
sketched new designs from the existing ones, like Arne
and Carlos (left), and explored how the machines would
be “misused” to twitch the designs, like Siri (right), or
by creating dynamic models for shifting materials during
the production process (opposite).