ELLEN_SAMPSON 

My name is Ellen Sampson and I am conceptual footwear designer. I have worked in the fashion footwear industry since 2005 at a number High fashion footwear labels. I recently took a career break to complete an MA in Fashion Footwear at Cordwainers College (MA Fashion Footwear Distinction 2009) with the aim of developing my skills as a designer.

My design Style and design philosophy is deeply influenced by my undergraduate Studies in Anthropology (UCL 2003 BSC Hons 1st Class). While visually I take a great deal of inspiration from sculpture, particularly the woks of Barbara Hepworth and Henry Moore and members of the St Ives group. I am however constantly compelled to return to my interest in the language of fashion; the layers meaning and metaphor afforded to the clothes we wear. I am fascinated by the role that footwear plays in social interaction and it significance in fairy tale and folk law: in particular the relationship between footwear, sexuality and power. My work aims to transcend the boundaries between fashion and fine art and to make objects that would be as comfortable in a gallery as on the catwalk.


Academic successes:

• 1st Class Hons in Anthropology
• Distinction in MA (Full scholarship: Cordwainers Footwear Award)

Creative Successes

• Short listed for Footwear Friends Designer of the Year Award
• Tea Dance Exhibition - Arts Council funded in collaboration with film maker Alice Finbow
• Agony & Ecstasy Exhibition - shoes commissioned for touring exhibition of contemporary footwear
• Exhibition in Mall Galleries London
• Pop up Exhibition in Marshall Street Galleries London
• Have run shoe making workshops for adults
• Work as Art Editor for Stimulus Respond, an ARTS/Fashion/Anthropology magazine