If you’ve got the craft bug, and a house remodel The result of her research is a shoe that defies means your basement is filled with power convention in many ways. The look has an air tools, where does that lead you? If you’re Annie of Danish Modern furniture with clean lines and Mohaupt, it means reinventing the wheel, or rather, clear-finished wood. Wedges and heels come in the shoe. Mohaupt’s not unusual in loving shoes, three heights, and there are three toe shapes in but as a trained architect, she’s constantly think- the current collection — pointy, rounded, and an ing about materials and how things are made. asymmetrical box shape. The shoes are made from Often her musings stray from buildings to everyday solid cherry, walnut, or veneered birch plywood that objects. “When I walk around, I see materials and Mohaupt imports from Finland, and some designs think, ‘That would be great for a shoe.’” have abstract silk-screening on the wood base.
As an architect, Mohaupt worked at a small firm Though Mohaupt has refined her shoemaking
in Chicago. She says her job, more project manage- process, she still makes each pair by hand. She’s
ment than design, kept her behind a desk and away careful to use sustainable materials throughout
from the more artistic aspects of the profession she her manufacturing process. She has incorporated
loved. “I wanted to recycled rubber soles and environmentally friendly
do more with my glues and finishes. She screen-prints on the shoes,
hands.” She made by hand, at Chicago’s Screwball Press.
jewelry and hand- Mohaupt’s shoes have caught the attention of
bags as a creative fashionistas, greenies, and crafters because of the
outlet. unusual materials and patent-pending design that
In 2005, a friend features elastic loops secured to the base of the
asked her to share shoe with brass rivets. Each pair comes with a set
a table at Chicago’s of ribbons that can be laced through the loops and
Renegade Craft Fair. Mohaupt saw the fair as a new tied in various ways. The wearer becomes the shoe
opportunity, and was excited to participate. “I wanted designer, choosing which ties to use and how to tie
to create something other people weren’t making.” them. Wearers often come up with unusual ties of
It wasn’t long before she came up with an idea: their own, incorporating buckles, vintage rickrack,
“I was inspired by a skateboard I saw, and it got me or crocheted lace. As Mohaupt says on her website,
thinking about wooden shoes.” Mohaupt devoted “You can play Imelda Marcos without requiring the
a summer to devising a new shoe design. She budget and storage space for 5,000 shoes.”
researched how skateboards were made, and how
wood is bent for furniture. “I studied shoes that Annie Mohaupt’s Mohop Shoes:
mohop.com
I thought were comfortable.”
Mohaupt told herself, “If the shoes sell, I’ll quit architecture.” Even though it rained both days of the fair and attendance was low, she did well, and was convinced. She quit her job and founded
Mohop Shoes.
Photography by Brian Ulrich
Amy O’Neill Houck crochets, knits, and writes at her home in Washington, D.C. She blogs at hookandi.blogspot.com.
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