'Lucy' plimsolls. White cotton with rubber soles, 2015. Made for Atelier E.B. in the Czech Republic

Pair of white cotton plimsoll pumps with rubber soles, a small blue tag with a white Greek key motif

© Atelier E.B.

Atelier E.B (Edinburgh Brussels) is the company name under which the designer Beca Lipscombe and the artist Lucy McKenzie sign their collaborative projects. Based between Edinburgh and Brussels, their work blends historical research, design and art, creating fashion collections, commissioned displays and interiors, textiles and publications. McKenzie studied Art at University of Dundee's Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design, and Lipscombe studied Fashion/Print at Central Saint Martins, London. They formed Atelier E.B in 2007 and since 2011 the pair have operated as a fashion label which, where possible, uses local production methods in Scotland and Belgium; and also focuses on alternative forms of distribution and display. Lipscombe and McKenzie place art and design on an equal footing, applying methodologies from both spheres.

McKenzie said about these shoes in her diary in 2015:

"I started wearing local plimsoles (sic) while travelling and working in the Czech Republic and Poland in the late 1990s. Known locally as 'Jarmilky' or 'Cvičky', they typically feature a Czech flag on their tab, and were originally designed for the 1965 'Spartakiade' - an inter-Soviet sport competition. The shoes gave my Cxzech girlfriends shivers, associating them with gym classes in uncomfortable bloomers. To me, they represent the freedom of those first travels in the post-Soviet countries and cultures."

T.18:1&2-2023