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Penguin pop: A woman's passion to paint, one shoe at a time

Penguin pop: A woman's passion to paint, one shoe at a time

It takes Saadia Gardezi a thousand painstaking brushstrokes to turn white canvas shoes into something special and quirky
Updated 26 Nov, 2015

In a world where ‘penguins pop’, there are bald-headed minions standing in assembly lines, hot-air balloons floating up into a blue sky, Japanese geishas, multi-colored umbrellas and a voracious, roaring Lannister lion.

Customized shoes are a great way to set yourself apart from the crowd
Customized shoes are a great way to set yourself apart from the crowd

It takes about a thousand painstaking brushstrokes to create these images, transforming staid white canvas shoes into something special, quirky and utterly fashionable.

‘Penguin Pop’, journalist Saadia Gardezi’s brainchild, is a true labor of love where orders for customized shoes are taken and then diligently created. The artwork is all done by Saadia herself, in the evenings when she returns home from her day-job and over weekends.

These Adventure Times tennis shoes are sure to make an otherwise blah outfit pop
These Adventure Times tennis shoes are sure to make an otherwise blah outfit pop

“Things just took off by sheer accident,” she recalls. “I had some old canvas shoes lying about and I decided to paint them for myself. Some of my friends admired them and I made similar shoes for them. Then, friends of friends began to place orders and before I knew it, things had taken off.”

Just a year old, Penguin Pop’s success can easily be attributed to Saadia’s flair for art. With a seasoned gimlet eye she may create a rendition of Van Gogh’s ‘Starry Nights’, an Avengers comic strip, a menagerie of Disney characters or an endearing Cookie monster on a pair of shoes.

Van Gogh shoes
Van Gogh shoes

“Orders are fulfilled within two to four weeks and I prefer painting canvas shoes because they are durable. I use fabric and acrylic paints treated with varnishes that allow the shoes to be scrubbed clean without damaging the paint. On special order, I have painted wedged heels and even constructed a very tricky paper collage on shoes. Canvas, though, works best. I paint the shoes myself because I can’t trust anybody else to follow my vision to the tee,” says Saadia. “It often takes as long as 15 hours to create a single shoe."

Some of the heels Saadia has painted
Some of the heels Saadia has painted

This means that only about a maximum of 30 orders can be accepted per month and prices rise high, beginning at about Rs 5000 and rocketing to Rs 12,000. “It is hard grueling work and my customers appreciate that their shoes are uniquely their own. Most of them don’t mind the high prices.”

Sales are undoubtedly augmented thanks to the vestiges of social media, when happy clients or popular blogs post images of Penguin Pop shoes on Instagram.

Prices range from Rs 5000 and can go up till Rs 12, 000
Prices range from Rs 5000 and can go up till Rs 12, 000

“Orders definitely filter in right after an image is posted on Instagram. Suddenly, there are about a hundred e-mails in my inbox,” laughs Saadia.

In this era of paid online content, how often does a fledgling brand like Penguin Pop pay bloggers to boost its popularity? “Not once,” says Saadia, “although I have had bloggers calling me up, asking for free shoes in return for online advertising. I have had to tell them that it doesn’t work that way; that many hours are invested into creating a single pair and I can only invest that kind of effort into an actual order. Fortunately for me, online magazines and bloggers that I don’t even know personally have liked my work and posted repetitively about it.”

Each shoe is a labour of love for Saadia
Each shoe is a labour of love for Saadia

It’s almost a beatific fairy tale; amidst the unnecessary online lauding of mediocre designers and copycat fashion, a small-scale but exceptionally creative concept like Penguin Pop gets appreciated on the merit of its design.

“A few days ago, actor Osman Khalid Butt called me, placed an order and told me that he was a huge fan of my work. I was completely taken aback because I am a big fan of his. I had never expected this to happen!” relates Saadia.

Where does she see the penguins popping to in the future? “I am just going with the flow,” she says. “I am a journalist and a professional cartoonist and this is the most I can do at the moment. Let’s see where it goes.”

Comments

Harry Nov 25, 2015 05:10pm
Its so good to See her perusing her passion she is a gem of a person and a good teacher as well :)
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Qamar Valliani Nov 25, 2015 05:20pm
Ms.Saadia should sale her designs to the big names like Nike, Addidas, Reenoke etc. through some agency.
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Syed Nov 25, 2015 05:33pm
Impressive and Creative! Please register your idea....soon you will be seeing more and more companies misusing this idea of yours.. ask for royalty !!
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NO ONE Nov 25, 2015 06:19pm
Nice transformation!
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Suraab Nov 25, 2015 06:50pm
Someone point this lady to etsy.com. Forget thousands of rupees per shoe. She'll be able to charge hundreds of thousands per shoe.
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Miraal Nov 25, 2015 06:56pm
Brilliant work! Wish you the best of luck. You're extremely talented m.A
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Kamran Quraishi Nov 25, 2015 07:37pm
Talented young artist. Love her Marvel & DC comics drawings. The facial expressions of the characters are so accurately drawn. My kinda gal!!! Keep up the good work young lady.
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ramesh manghirmalani Nov 25, 2015 08:20pm
Fantastic- she has great ideas
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Fatima Nov 25, 2015 09:31pm
Beautiful work indeed. The attention to detail is immaculate! Wishing you continued success.
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fareed.ashraf@gmail Nov 25, 2015 09:39pm
How to place an order? My daughter would love to have her shoes painted.
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kamraan Nov 25, 2015 11:04pm
She should contract with some high end stores in Beverly Hills, California to supply them with custom products. Also get financing and expand business.
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farr Nov 26, 2015 12:26am
Excellent creative work. Great scope for expanding business and creating job opportunities for new talent in Pakistan. I recommend setting up a web site and open up for international orders
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Hassan Nov 26, 2015 12:35am
Wonderful. Keep up the good work......
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mehkan Nov 26, 2015 12:42am
Her canvas design is a copy of TOMS! Or is she designing the TOMS? Anywho! she has some awesome talent!
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Haseena302 Nov 26, 2015 02:06am
Brilliant work, Saadia. Keep it up! Proud of you!
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RT Nov 26, 2015 04:01am
Wow! This is awesome. This is the Pakistan the world should see; the one of talented, innovative hard working women!! Keep it up!
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Mohammad Asim Nov 26, 2015 05:39am
@Syed I am only afraid her work may need major licensing contracts form the character owners like Marvel, Disney etc. etc. first having her going commercial.
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Mohammad Asim Nov 26, 2015 05:42am
@kamraan But first get licensing to use those character... Right?
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Goutham Nov 26, 2015 08:13am
Talent is a beautiful thing!
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Ummul Baneen Nov 26, 2015 04:34pm
Interesting < I met Saadia during my Training with Thomson Reuters here in Islamabad and I was thinking at that time "This lady is creative and interesting may someone highlight her works" Thankyou Maliha Rehaman for such a nice write up to that demonstrated Saadia's work
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Free will Nov 26, 2015 09:58pm
What's your take on different copyrights that might have been encroached?
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meharali Nov 27, 2015 06:06am
@mehkan you are right but she is more creative. I think down the road she should get her own canvas shoes made as it could be a potential problem using shoes from other companies and reselling them after artwork as your own.
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mohsin raza malik Nov 27, 2015 11:06pm
I don't think she's infringing on copyright as she's clearly not saying any characters are her own. Nor is she being lazy. she's actually painting it individually and redesigning some acccoring to what hr customer wants. I guess she can stop it she takes it commercial and mass produces or get liscences. Even marvel doesn't punish one off fan art often available for purchase. I doubt she has time to do more than one shoe on a specific character since she takes such few orders. And I don't mind that she buys a shoe and adds value to it. Good for local shoe retailers no? Every designer buys something whether cloth or buttons or thread and in Pakistani cases all the artwork is bought too. Artists are paid for their skill right? You and me couldn't paint captain america on a shoe even if we had the liscence to.
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