Noriyuki Misawa Makes Shoes an Art in Their Own Right

Noriyuki Misawa is one of the best-known luxury shoemakers in Japan. His made-to-measure creations, which show minute attention to detail, are worn by clients worldwide.

Having grown up surrounded by his mother’s art books, Noriyuki Misawa developed a sense of intellectual curiosity at a very young age. He soon became fascinated by leather shoes and decided to do an apprenticeship in Tokyo to become a shoemaker. Seven years later, he headed to Vienna, a city particularly known for training courses in art and crafts.

For Misawa, the shoe is gradually becoming an artistic object. When he returned to Japan, he focused primarily on leatherwork. To do this, he worked alongside an artisan who was specialised in this domain, an experience which equipped him with a great deal of technical skill and allowed him to develop his imagination. In 2014, he held his very first exhibition in Ginza Gallery in Tokyo. His subsequent exhibitions, of which there have been many, took place in New York, Cannes and, most recently, London.

Today, Noriyuki Misawa is seen as an artist-shoemaker, the two sides inextricably linked. This double job allows Misawa to continue to attract increasingly illustrious clients to his Tokyo workshop, including directors Spike Lee and Park Chan-Wook.