Malika Green (BFA 2003) and her passion for shoemaking

When asked why she loves shoes, Malika Green says, "that obsession runs deep. They transform how I feel about myself. They transform my attitude. It can make my day to be wearing a great pair of shoes.”

Green has been designing and making shoes since 2000, when she studied under artist and shoe sculptor Gaza Bowen. She took a class in shoemaking while getting a bachelor’s in fine arts at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Though she completed an MFA at Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan and worked in other media, Green kept making shoes, her true passion.

"I was very interested in making shoes and dreaming about designing shoes,” she said.

Today she operates out of a studio in her Bushwick home, where she lives with her husband and baby daughter. This February she landed a competitive three-month residency program at the Museum of Arts and Design in Manhattan, which allows her to work in an open studio on Saturdays. Museum-goers visit her, ask her questions and watch her work.

Green’s shoes are one-of-a-kind works of art, and she draws her inspiration from many places, such as the body or the surrealist movement. "I’m inspired by things that are unsettling but still beautiful.”

She draws from David Kronenberg, Tim Burton and the late Alexander McQueen: "The things he did with fashion and footwear [were amazing], especially the alien shoes.”

Her own shoes are constructed from traditional materials: soft leathers, cork and wood. Each pair takes about 30 hours to make, not including design or hand carving the heel.

While all the shoes Green makes are dress shoes, she says, "comfort is really important to me… I’m concerned with wearability. Art is a function of the shoe.”

In addition to her one-of-a-kind art pieces. Green made the shoes for her bridesmaids in her wedding, five different pairs, each unique, in a specific theme. "It’s something I am interested in doing again for the bride who wants something a little different.” She has also recently started taking orders for custom shoes. "I’m interested in working with people, helping [them to] realize their vision of a beautiful shoe.”

She designs for women, but worked with a male dancer once, someone who could appreciate the value of comfortable, yet artful shoes. And she’s recently acquired a tiny client: her daughter Lia. "I already started designing for her… she’s either going to love shoes [when she grows up] or wear flip flops and sneakers.”

Although a custom pair of shoes by Malika Green goes for $600 and up, she has not yet been able to make that her primary source of income. The residency at the Museum of Arts and Design is paid and she works part time at Satya Jewelry on Bleecker Street near Christopher Street in Manhattan.

Green sees herself possibly teaching at FIT or Parsons in the future and applying for design internships. "I’m excited for the future, for what the universe brings me. I’m following my bliss.”