Rui Silva

Rui Silva is a Footwear Designer/Maker who explores subjects of personal obsession. With a blended approach towards traditional and unconventional materials and construction methods, his work aims to preserve craftsmanship by introducing digital fabrication. Through the exploration of masculinity, brutalism, obsession, and fetishism, his project, Brut Masculinities, aims to show a new narrative around BDSM and create footwear that generates physical and psychological interaction, while celebrating deviant masculinity. Each object has the functionality of placing the user in the position wanted for the physical and psychological exploration desired. If not in use, they function as decorative objects that, while hiding their main purpose, act as totems of the owner’s desire.