Arielle de Pinto’s homespun sandals.
Arielle de Pinto got her start with crochet years ago in Montreal, where cold winters and a film-obsessed roommate meant untold couch hours and idle hands. When spring came, she stuck with it, and, before long, de Pinto swapped out yarn for fine strands of metal, which she crocheted into the loose-hanging spiderwebs of silver and gold spun into her eponymous and highly coveted line of fine jewelry. Now, in what would seem to be the total antithesis of both Canadian winters and sexy upmarket jewelry, de Pinto has collaborated with the Belgian artist collective LVMM to expand her craft to include chunky platform sandals.
Debuting this spring, the sandals mark de Pinto’s return to softer material, with cords of elastic in electric blue, taupe and sunbeam yellow lacing through thick soles of orthopedic foam, looking something like a basketball hoop tangled in a pool noodle. “Shoes are a magical, beautiful, incredible world,” she says, cracking one of many goofy smiles and picking up a sandal. “Instead of one kind of material that I tend to stick to, which is metal, there are how many materials here? Elastic. Chain. And cork! And foam!” Next to de Pinto’s jewelry, which sells in Barneys and has been featured in Vogue and The New York Times, the sandals might seem a bit unexpected, but she says the best inspiration comes from the process of creation. Whether it’s lingerie-like jewelry that swoops down the chest like delicate chainmail or sandals bridging cyberspace fantasy and Boca Raton beachwear, for de Pinto, the medium of knitwear and crochet has many messages.