Studio Wolfs

Sneakers tell stories. You wear them, you live in them, and one day they are worn out. For many, that is the end. For Isabel Wolfs, it is the beginning.

As a designer, Isabel is fascinated by material, technique and especially by what an object goes through. In her practice, Studio Wolfs, she dives deep into the world of sneakers. She cuts them open, takes them apart, studies their soles, their air cushions, their scars, because every bit of damage tells a story. About use. About time. About people.

What she does with these insights is as technical as it is poetic. Isabel builds new shoes from old parts. Not just recycled, but reinvented. In projects like Sole and Valorun, discarded sneakers are given a second life, complete with the memories of their previous owners. A summer at a festival, a long journey, a job in a dishwashing kitchen, it is all still in there.

She does not call it upcycling. It is her way of paying attention to what we usually toss aside without thinking. Isabel studied as both a maker and a designer. That dual perspective makes her work both precise and sensitive. Her love for sports, movement and nature is embedded in everything she creates. And because she works with existing materials, sustainability is not a separate focus for her, it is simply part of the process.

In addition to her studio work, she leads workshops where she shares her knowledge. Like at Sneakerlab, where participants learn how a shoe is constructed, how to care for it and how to give it new value. She also worked in the shoe workshop at La Monnaie, where she helped produce sixty pairs of opera shoes.

With her work, Isabel invites us to look differently. Not only at sneakers, but at everything we use and often discard too quickly. She shows that every piece, no matter how small, carries a story and deserves a second chance.