Argento is one of the two clogs of the collaboration between the poetic Italian shoe brand Simona Vanth and the industrial designer and artisan Pablo Limon. The starting point of the collaboration is Simona Vanth’s signature clog shape, originally inspired by traditional Chinese rice farmer clogs, mixed together with Milanese architecture and the stories of Robert Louis Stevenson’s New Arabian Nights, manufactured in Italy from European beechwood.

Limon takes this naked shape and personally paints it in a specialized laboratory in Sabadell, Spain using a self-developed, chance-driven process. The clog is sprayed with numerous layers of Silver Nitrate paint. Subsequent to having sprayed each single layer Limon allows the clog to dry at 32°C before adding a chemical catalyst that induces the chrome finish. Having completed this process a total of three times Limon erodes the surface with wet sandpaper, working quickly and intuitively, letting the process guide him as he creates the final “camouflage” effect. The clogs are then assembled in Simona Vanth’s local factory in Italy. In this case only the simplest functional elements have been added: nylon meshs and white napa leather insole.