Toronto artist Bryan Espiritu has had an interesting career trajectory. With 12-years between solo shows, he put his artistic talent on display again – reminding the community of his sheer talent, his commitment to his creative practice and the themes of mental health and trauma embedded in his work. While always important, his latest project is especially gigantic, massively merging into the fashion industry – and being sure to add his signature to the work.
Bryan Espiritu’s latest partnership
Holt Renfrew x Birkenstock Activation: Celebrating 250-years
Espiritu partnered with retail giant Holt Renfrew and shoe brand Birkenstocks to create a weekend capsule of customizable shoes with intricate, fun and true-to-Espiritu designs. To commemorate Birkenstock’s 250th anniversary, he spent the weekend at Holt Renfrew‘s Bloor Street location, designing shoes for visitors as they explored the activation. He designed a colourful mural specifically for the event, too, located on the second floor in the women’s shoes section.
“It meant the world to see you all, get to hang, chop it up, take pics, talk life, explain designs, and spend some time just being humans,” Espiritu wrote in an Instagram post. “I’m forever grateful for you all, and the love you’ve continued to show me.”
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The Bloor Street pop-up wasn’t the first time Espiritu hosted an activation with Birkenstock, but it was by far his largest. “In one day, we outsold every local retail Birkenstock customization program they’ve done so far, and we still have one more day to go,” he wrote in a second Instagram post. And it’s easy to see why: to get the artist’s unique work put on a shoe was completely free; all customers had to pay for was the cost of the Birkenstock shoe.
The result was many one-of-a-kind shoes given to tons of customers, with details including peace signs, black 8-balls, slogans like “we’re not alright, but we’ll be fine” and more lasered onto the tops of Birkenstock shoes.
We can’t wait to see what’s next for Bryan Espiritu.
