A Soleful Collaboration is held at !Khwa ttu

The month of May saw a unique, ‘soleful’ collaboration at !Khwa ttu: Cobbleration 2025, a global gathering hosted in collaboration with the Future Footwear Foundation. The workshop brought together Indigenous artisans, researchers, and designers from across the world to share their ancestral knowledge of barefoot biomechanics and the role shoes play in shaping how we move through our environment. The guest list included San cobblers from Namibia and South Africa, Dine makers from the Navajo Nation, Saami shoemakers from Finland, Kohapuri artisans from India, and more. 

The week opened with a beautiful performance by artist Moya Michael, whose movement-based storytelling set the tone for a gathering built on respect, memory, and embodied knowledge. Participants were then welcomed into the Heritage Centre, where Magdalena, Nunke, and Nashada shared stories of the San. These moments of exchange laid a strong foundation for the hands (or feet!)-on work that followed. 

One of the most profound moments came during the San-Dal workshop, led by Ju|’hoansi cobblers who passed on traditional shoemaking methods. A little magic happened when Pieter, a Ju|’hoansi cobbler from Nhoma, and Devika Krishnan, a craft designer from Bangalore, discovered that they used the exact same stitching method, though mirrored in direction, thousands of kilometres apart. This serendipitous encounter reminded everyone present that ancestral knowledge often travels through unseen threads, connecting people across continents and generations.