February 24, 2026 |
What happens when two visionary architects cross borders and cultures to craft a shoe? The result is like a piece of art, and it’s one you can shop now at Dover Street Market Paris.
London-based British-Ghanaian multidisciplinary artist and architect Giles Tettey Nartey has paired up with Italian heritage brand Demon Footwear, headed by Nartey’s college pal Alberto Deon, to create the GTN mule – a sculptural leather design perfectly blending utility and artefact.
Slim, sporty yet quintessentially chic and easy to slip on, these mules are a small gem of craft-based engineering. The architectural silhouette, taking shape from three different locally sourced black leathers with the unique property to record textures, becomes a tactile vessel for Nartey’s storytelling.
Photography courtesy Giles Tettey Nartey
The artist’s practice revolves around Afro-Atlantic material cultures, investigating the relationship between craft and ritual. A core question: how do objects carry cultural memory and social meaning? The answers are plentiful, and have been explored by Nartey through film, creative direction, installation, performance and object design.
The outset of the GTN collaboration dates back to Nartey’s university days at Politecnico di Milano, where the artist came across fellow architecture student, Deon. It was only after 2020, however, when Deon took over the family footwear business to relaunch Demon Footwear, that the conditions for the artistic dialogue were created. Weaving together Nartey’s Afro-Atlantic research focus with Demon’s Northern Italian craftsmanship, the project is a synergy of engineering and cultural inscription.
Talking about the campaign, shot on the streets of the Ghanian capital of Accra, Nartey said: “Shooting there placed the GTN Mule back into a context that already contains the logic I’m working with: improvisation, repair, craft, street style, and the choreography of daily movement.” Inscribed within the everyday life of Accra, inhabited and enriched by its local characters, the campaign becomes a celebration of West African heritage in its beautiful and resourceful complexity.
Inspired by the urban poetry of the street, finely engineered for the daily hustle and bustle, these techy mules were made for walking and looking great while doing it.
Photography courtesy of Giles Tettey Nartey and Natālija Gormaļova.
Giles Tettey Nartey; photography by Christian Cassiel
