Luke Grant-Muller footwear uses the recognisable structure of the brogue as a framework for experiments in reflection, colour, print and laser-etched imagery.
A familiar form as a starting point
The brogue already contains a visual system: panels, seams, a shaped toe and repeated perforations. Rather than removing that system, the collection uses it to organise unfamiliar surfaces.
Mirror silver and gold turn the upper into a moving reflection. Holographic material changes colour with the viewing angle. Porcelain-derived blue and white patterns place an image across the shoe's separate components. Black graphic outlines emphasise the construction itself.
Restriction as a design method
An archived interview describes an interest in working across illustration, painting, fashion, music and video. It also records the designer's preference for restricting a process when that limitation can reveal options that might otherwise be missed.
The repeated brogue form works in this way. Keeping a recognisable silhouette makes it possible to compare what reflection, print, colour and etched imagery each do to the same underlying object.
Ambiguity and surface
The designer described the wider visual signature as "slightly dark, slightly surreal, ambiguous, androgynous, sometimes grimy and sometimes polished". The footwear moves between those positions. Some designs are highly polished and immediately reflective. Others disclose their imagery only at close range.
Beyond footwear
The studio's current work extends to patchwork clothing, trunk bags, sculptural footwear and audiovisual software. These projects share an interest in perception: an image can resolve at a distance, a surface can change with movement, and one medium can be used to approach another.