14 DAY TRIAL // London-based artist INSA is now one of the two creative minds at INSA Heels, constantly coming up with collections that fight mainstream by blending some of the most sought after features in a pair of shoes, like trendiness and style. With its new design, INSA Heels has taken futuristic to a whole new level by coming out with a pair of 10-inch heels made from elephant dung, as High Snobette can confirm.
INSA started off as a graffiti artist; later on, he teamed up with shoe designer Ruth Shaw and INSA Heels was born, an exclusive brand that aims to cater only to those who want to be different and stand out from the crowd by wearing a unique, colorful and original design. The brand’s latest design is, in this sense, as original and unique as it gets for it’s a pair of 10-inch stilettos with soles made of elephant dung.
“London-based-fine artist and designer, INSA, was one of six artists asked by Tate Britain gallery to create a response to a recent exhibit by artist Chris Ofili (New Yorker may remember him from his paintings, ‘The Holy Virgin Mary,’ which used elephant dung as a material and which then mayor Rudy Guiliani tried to have banned from a Brooklyn Museum exhibit),” the aforementioned e-zine says.
“INSA responded with the 10-inch (!!) elephant-dung heels featured here. According to the press release, ‘INSA retraced the footsteps Chris Ofili made over 15 years ago and sourced dung from the same family of elephants that produced the dung used in Chris’s infamous paintings of the nineties.’ Wow, talk about a crazy journey and an amazing tribute!” High Snobette further writes, praising the highly original creation.
As of now, not much is known of the unlikely shoes, except that there’s only one pair and will probably sell to the highest bidder for a fortune (an INSA “regular” model retails for upwards of $200). Photos made available online show the kind of attention that went into each minute detail, from the pearls on the sole to the design and, well, making the elephant dung into something able to support the weight of one’s body without crumbling to pieces.