What a fascinating career British shoe designer Judi Cook has had! I was delighted when she agreed to be featured here on All Things Paper after her incredible work caught my eye on Instagram.
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| Wyvern |
For many years, Judi worked within the industry creating shoes to complement the finest fashions and later taught shoemaking workshops at her home. However, when the pandemic lockdown put a halt to this, she turned her attention to constructing fanciful paper shoes. Each model is not to be worn, of course, but instead can decorate a niche as a beautiful art object.
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| Autumn Leaves |
I asked Judi a host of questions about her journey, and she was kind enough to share her story. Enjoy reading what she has to say.
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| Jungle |
An Early Love for Fashion
My memories include my mother making clothes for me and of me, making clothes for my dolls. Making shoes for my dolls was, however, beyond me. Few subjects excited me at school apart from art and design which inspired an ambition to work in the fashion industry.
Cheltenham had an excellent Fashion degree course with a subsidiary of either footwear, millinery or textiles, so of course I chose shoes. Subsequently, I went to Leicester to specialise in shoe design, receiving a Master's degree.
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| Seedhead |
From London to Hong Kong
Whilst at Leicester, I won the 'International Shoe Designer of the Year' competition, sponsored by leather company, Barrow Hepburn. I spent my prize money on the trip to Italy, arranged through my college, to gain work experience in Milan at a small factory making shoes for French couturiers. From this time I knew I wanted to work in this world.
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| Curves |
I moved to London to work as a junior designer at H & M Rayne (by royal appointment shoemakers to Queen Elizabeth II). They had a wonderful collection of their earlier models, some by the world famous designer Roger Vivier, whose work inspires me. His shoes were made under license for Christian Dior.
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| A Roger Vivier shoe |
The Bata Shoe Museum in Canada featured his work in an exhibition, curated by Elizabeth Semmelhack, who said "Roger Vivier created the ultimate elegance - true perfection in a shoe, balancing shape, materials, and decorative treatments." He is recognized as one of the masters of shoe design, and his work continues to inspire me.
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| Judi's doodles lead to new shoe designs. |
When my husband got a job in Hong Kong, I worked for Lujaco, a Chinese/American company for two years. On returning to the UK, I worked on freelance projects and lectured in shoe design at my old college.
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| mule workshop tools |
A New Chapter in Paper
Of recent years I have held workshops making simple mules for people with no experience of shoe making. Now I have returned to my first love of designing shoes, but this time out of paper. Paper shoes allow me free rein - to create my Fantasy Shoes.
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| Judi's doodle of a bird; a digital image that she converted into layers via Procreate. |
Today's CAD technology is so versatile and exciting. I work from my doodles and sketchbooks on an iPad, printing my designs which are then cut out by a Cricut machine. I love the challenge of constructing 3D sculptural shapes from my two dimensional drawing, striving to make unique things of beauty.
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| completed Hummingbird shoe |
Thank you, Judi, for sharing your creative journey with us! I'm so glad you have found such a lovely and satisfying way to continue your love of making shoes.
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| Judi Cook |
Visit Judi Cook's website and keep up with her latest designs and projects on Instagram, where she is @judi.cook.
