Spanish shoe designer Laura Villasenin has incorporated Peet Pienaar’s graphic finesse and quirky slogans in her new range of shoes and bags.

Having long wanted to make a range of eco-friendly, fair-trade shoes that did not conform to the ethnic or hippy cliché, Villasenin was inspired by Pienaar’s work, which she came across while on holiday in South Africa. After communicating over e-mail, they agreed that Pienaar would do the graphic details and packaging for Villasenin’s shoes, in return for which, Villasenin would assist Pienaar in designing sneakers.

Based on her ecological ideals, Villasenin decided to explore the South African manufacturing alternatives too. “The idea was to source materials from within southern African countries and use vegetable tan leathers to make it as eco-friendly as possible,” she explained. For the handbags, however, she used the much-lauded Ugandan bark cloth. The multifunctional aspects of her designs – knee-high boots zipping down into anklets and large handbags folding into purses – also adhere to green design principles.

“This is a high-end product rather than being mass-produced because you can’t compete with China on that anyway. In Spain and Italy, they’ve already positioned themselves in terms of high quality,” said Villasenin who previously worked at ethical footwear label Terra Plana in London. After completing the project with Pienaar, she returned to Spain to take up a position with Camper.

Pienaar was thrilled to try a hand at footwear design. His limited-edition leather sneakers sport a unique lace-up structure with gold alphabet beads. He also has an experimental distribution plan, which entails an inflatable shop that will travel around the country.

“It’s so exciting to think that one can actually design sneakers because one tends to think that they only do it in China. But unless you’ve studied shoe design, there’s a big gap because you can’t communicate with the factory. Even if you know what you want, unless you have the terminology it’s impossible to get there with the factory,” said Pienaar.

“The work on display in London’s most prestigious shopping arcade demonstrates the huge breadth of talent that is cultivated at London College of Fashion. The collections on show reflect the international student base with strong environmental themes using traditional skills. Highlights include beautiful half-knit, half-leather bags by Laura Queening, who uses a Nepali women’s co-operative to produce her creations and has already won the Emap Students Accessories Designer of the Year 2007. Laura Villasenin’s incredible shoes were inspired by African culture and constructed unusually from Ugandan bark- cloth.”

Read more about the Cordwainers exhibition here.