This is what happens when a graphic design project leaves the walls of an exhibition and enters everyday life. The collaboration between Stefan Sagmeister and ekn footwear starts from exactly this possibility, transforming two works by the Austrian designer into two footwear models. The project accompanies Finally, Something Good., Sagmeister’s exhibition at Gaîté Lyrique in Paris from 15 October 2026, and connects visual communication, craftsmanship and design.

The two models, Bring It On and Like a Complete Unknown, do not simply transfer graphics onto a sneaker and an ankle boot. Both originate from works that address current issues through data and visual representations, showing how even an everyday object can become a tool for drawing attention to issues that often remain distant from our direct experience.

The Bring It On sneaker stands out for its colourful graphic composition, built from data on worldwide electricity production from renewable sources. The information becomes lines, shapes and colour fields that follow the panels of the shoe, while the complete data set is printed on the insole. The result is an object in which the graphics serve not a purely decorative function, but make visible a change under way in the energy sector.

Like a Complete Unknown is of a different kind: a light-toned leather ankle boot that addresses the condition of people experiencing homelessness. The model incorporates a visualisation based on OECD data on people living on the streets or in public spaces in various countries. Here, the design is embroidered directly onto the leather, becoming an integral part of the surface and of the shoe’s visual construction.

The two proposals address different subjects, but share the same principle: translating complex information into an immediate language, capable of reaching people even outside an exhibition context. This is where the collaboration takes on its most interesting meaning. A shoe is worn, travels through places and meets chance glances; it can thus carry a message into contexts where no one would expect to encounter it.

To create the two models, Sagmeister and ekn footwear adapted the graphics to the shapes of the shoes, working on proportions, placement and embroidery so that each element would blend with the structure of the shoe. Both models are handmade in Portugal and use chrome-free tanned leather.

The collaboration is part of the approach of ekn footwear, a brand that pays attention to materials, product durability and production methods. Here too, the shoes will be made to order: pre-sales run from 14 October to 15 November 2026, with deliveries scheduled for January 2027. A choice that allows production based on actual demand, limiting the creation of unsold stock.

The project also includes a donation for each model: €30 for every pair of Bring It On will go to Future Cleantech Architects, a German organisation that supports innovation in clean technologies; €35 for every pair of Like a Complete Unknown will go to the Coalition for the Homeless in New York.

With this collaboration, design thus becomes a meeting point between aesthetics, information and responsibility: Sagmeister’s shoes take the related issues out of art spaces and place them in an everyday context.