The brain behind Yeezy sneakers discusses their coveted DIY clay kicks and how they got into goo.

 

We had a one-to-one with the mind behind rapper Kayne West's sneakers and are excited to reveal they're a secret slimer.

 

 

 

How connected is your sneaker job to your slime job?

 

The way I design real sneakers and clay sneakers is generally the same. It starts with shape and a mood. Then comes colors and details just like how I assemble my clay shoes. I just don’t cover my real designs in slime lol. For me, everything is a design moment of inspiration and those events inspire both mediums.

 

What was your first clay sneaker and which is your favorite?

My first clay sneaker was built 15 years ago while working out a complicated design. It was meant to show the technician the exact design without cutting any material. So I started doing that for more and more of my complicated designs. I passed this hack on to the design team at Yeezy. The concept of making slime out of clay sneakers didn’t happen until August 30, 2018 when I posted my first clay shoe, a rainbow high heel that was a reproduction of an actual best seller of mine IRL and #slimetistdesign was born. My favorite video would be a toss up between my checkerboard Vans skate sneaker and my Nike rainbow runner Both are life-size and took so much focus to build.

 

 

How did you get involved with Yeezy?

Long story short, I worked with the Yeezy President in a previous sneaker project involving Adidas.

 

How long does it take to make DIY Clay Sneaker shoes and how long does it take to make a real Yeezy?

Depends on the level of detail and scale but it now takes about 20 minutes to make a clay one. Before it took hours, but a real Yeezy can take days, weeks, months, years to perfect.

 

What are your five favorite sites and what would you wait overnight for?

 

Sites for...? Sneakers? I don’t wait in line for sneakers ;) I make the sneakers people wait in line for.

 

Three favorite Instagram accounts?

This is a hard one because there are so many great ones I can’t choose but you can’t go wrong with @talisa.tossell & @slimeobsidian if you’re curious what THIS [slime] is all about & I love this new acct called Sloomoo have you heard of them? It’s fantastic what how slime has evolved into an art form and the stigma of its being a gooey green mess just for kids is in the past. *NOTE TO EVERYONE: WE DID NOT PAY HER TO SAY THAT! *

 

 How’d you get into slime?

My step daughter asked me during spring break ‘18 if I wanted to make some slime. The rest is ASMR history.

 

What are you known for?

I’m known for designing/making the shoes you wear 5 years in the future...

I’m most recently known for making the freshest Yeezy sneakers by hand, sometimes within 24 hours. The Yeezy 700 (waverunner) was my best (re)work of an existing design that needed that elusive yet certain “quelque chose” silhouette to take it from past to future, and to get Ye’s final stamp of approval.

 

 

SPILL THE SLIME: Tell us your worst slime-making disaster.

My first floam cube video was so disastrous I can still find floam balls even after changing the floors. I mean it was an explosion beyond comprehension and static cling everywhere. Basically I left the floam cube out, it dried, I tried to squash it and disaster ensued to the tune of one million foam balls bursting into the atmosphere, everywhere.

 

What’s one thing the slime community would not know about you?

I think you just revealed it! Another reveal is I used to be a celebrity costume designer! For one project, I put Sandra Bullock in a pasta salad corset I designed. Ben Stiller wore the first raw meat vest ever filmed (sorry Gaga, I was about 20 yrs ahead of your meat dress lol) and Ellen DeGeneres wore her first skirt on camera - all for the VH1 Vogue Fashion Awards.

 

What are your future plans and goals?

To enjoy everything I do and create beauty, raise the aesthetic level of whatever I’m into. My hope is that every adult understands the magic of slime and how it’s evolved into an art form, but that it also relaxes the senses allowing creativity to flow organically.

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