Liam Fahy’s African-Influenced Limited Edition Handmade Shoes

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If your idea of African-influenced designs is lots of bright colors, tribal patterns and perhaps animal prints, well, you can drop all those notions when it comes to Liam Fahy.

Liam Fahy is a shoe designer from ZimbabweLiam Fahy is a shoe designer from Zimbabwe

Born in Zimbabwe and raised in Africa, 26-year-old Liam Fahy is one of the newest designers in the luxury shoe scene. How he got into shoe designing is quite a story in itself: as a young art and psychology student, he decided to pursue his passion for creativity by living with the Tonga tribe by the Zambezi River for a year.

With no running water, no electricity and no cellphone service, Liam Fahy lived off catfish and dodged aggressive hippos.

He finally returned to civilization after seemingly a lot of soul searching and having realized his true lifelong passion which is to study and design footwear. What a journey to realize that you want to design shoes, huh?

Fahy won numerous awards while enrolled at De Montfort University but it was his stint at working for multinational sports brands that finally steered him towards designing for the women’s luxury side of the footwear market.

The technical, uncreative and mass-production style of designing must’ve gotten to him. Well, that’s a loss for those multinationals and a point for us.

The signature nickel brand label that the soles of each pair of Liam Fahy shoes are embellished withThe signature nickel brand label that the soles of each pair of Liam Fahy shoes are embellished with

Liam Fahy’s designs for his current Spring/Summer 2012 and Autumn/Winter 2012 collections are refined, sophisticated and elegant. All these come from a boy who grew up living on a small snake farm in Africa and who didn’t wear a lot of shoes then because of the hot climate.

Liam Fahy Spring/Summer 2012 collection

Liam Fahy Spring and Summer 2012 collection

Liam Fahy Spring and Summer 2012 collection

Liam Fahy Spring and Summer 2012 collection

Liam Fahy Spring and Summer 2012 collection

Liam Fahy Spring and Summer 2012 collection

Liam Fahy Autumn/Winter 2012 collection

Liam Fahy 'Lula' black velvet ankle-strap pumpsLiam Fahy ‘Lula’ black velvet ankle-strap pumps, $688.00

Liam Fahy 'Nicole' pony hair toe monk strap shoesLiam Fahy ‘Nicole’ pony hair toe monk strap shoes, $760.00

Liam Fahy 'Briege' fur toe lace-up high heel oxfordsLiam Fahy ‘Briege’ fur toe lace-up high heel oxfords, $1,168.00

Photos courtesy of Liam Fahy