Stepping into the Limelight with Dutch designer John Breed

During the exhibition Starker Auftritt!/Stepping into the Limelight! A Shoe exhibition at the GRASSI Museum für Angewandte Kunst of Applied Arts in Leipzig, Germany, we will highlight the different themes and introduce some of the participating designers to you.


Dutch Designer John Breed creates works of art for over twenty years now. After his adventurous travels, he comes back full of inspiration, craftsmanship, indigenous techniques and makes his own new artworks. He learned to draw calligraphy from a Japanese master in Kyoto, graffiti in New York, painted fresco’s in Rome, got in touch with icon painting in Russia and learned to paint traditional landscapes during his trip through China.

The Virtual Shoe Museum found his sculptural shoes piece for the Breuninger Shoe Store in Stuttgart in Germany. The shop’s modern interior was transformed from a run-down factory space and has been proclaimed to be the largest footwear store in Europe. The vibrantly fun art piece, using 145 multicolored and golden legs to create an installation of 9 x 3 meter, is made up of shoe-sporting legs colored in rainbow hues, symbolic for the madness of women about buying shoes. The legs make up an eye-catching art installation to attract the retailer’s visitors.

For the Grassi Museum exhibition John created a new shoe sculpture with 48 vintage shoes called ‘Medusa’s Shoes’, including 4 shoes from the private shoes collection of Liza Snook. Breed’s sculpture aims to channel a classic Medusa head image, where snakes have been replaced by legs wearing high heeled shoes.

Starker Auftritt!/Stepping into the Limelight!
A Shoe exhibition at the GRASSI Museum für Angewandte Kunst of Applied Arts in Leipzig, Germany from 28th of March till the 29th September 2013. Together with Sabine Epple, the curator of modern art of the GRASSI Museum, Liza Snook selected 220 exclusive shoes from the Virtual Shoe Museum, supplemented with German artists and designers who created shoes.

Starker Auftritt!/Stepping into the Limelight!
GRASSI Museum für Angewandte Kunst
Johannisplatz 5-11, Leipzig, Germany

More shoes by John Breed at the Virtual Shoe Museum.