In 2006 Carin Goldberg, then president of the New York AIGA, dreamed up a holiday event to raise money for the organization, involving her designer friends and a corporate sponsor. Collaborate/Celebrate gave a pair of rubber boots from Target to designers to, well, collaborate and celebrate and have fun while turning them into auction-able, fundraising items.

Carin and I created FOREVER*.
Both a tongue-in-cheek reference to ‘concrete overshoes’ of Mafia fame and to bronzed baby shoes as culture’s oddest memorial of youth.

And it is, of course, about keeping a matched pair together at all costs; as much about relationships as shoes.

FOREVER is an experiment in temporality and commitment. At the event held at Pentagram we purchased David Weeks and Georgie Stout’s boots turned into light fixtures (bidding against Emily Oberman to the 'bidder end'). Our boots were purchased by Armin Vit and Bryony Gomez-Palacio.

Perhaps it was a round robin of designers purchasing other designers work, but in the end it was all for an institution we care about supporting.
Or maybe it was about creating work that only our peers really understand.
For us it was about taking a break and having some fun making something with our hands.


*actually my team made the piece