FTSHP x Oliver Mušinka /custom Vans Old Skool/

Oliver Mušinka is a young artist from Vranov nad Topľou based in Košice. In his work, he focuses on creating custom soles and shoes. He also does tattoos, live painting, animation and murals. Often, his mind explodes from the pressure of all of his innovative ideas. Now, he’s also the author of a limited collection of custom Vans Old Skools with altered soles featuring moments from all walks of life.

The project “Kroky” first came to Oliver’s mind at a bar – he accidentally spilled some water on the floor and, as he was leaving, noticed that the waffle soles of his Vans left marks. It reminded him of Linocutting, a printmaking technique he was already familiar with. Later, he cut out a sole-shaped piece of linoleum and made the first ‘step’, “Prvý krok vďaka mame”. After that, Oliver started figuring out how to make this concept work with sneakers.

Several weeks later, Oliver contacted us, and soon enough he was on his way to Bratislava to meet us regarding the Kroky project. We were amazed by the idea and gave him the green light. To realize his vision, months of material and process testing followed. Sometime in October 2019, Oliver completed the first pair.

The collection features all the big steps a human makes in his life. Birth, first day of school, love, sin, work, marriage, children, family, illness and finally, death.

Oliver created the collection to depict the average person’s life – which isn’t inherently bad, but the collection reminds you to step out of your comfort zone of a pre-designed life – every sole and cut is unique.Oliver hopes that his custom 16-pair collection will spread the message of stepping out of stereotypes into the streets.

The custom VANS deconstructed by Oliver Mušinka sneakers were displayed at Footshop Bratislava and they were released online 6.7.2020.