BAZAAR Showcase: Behind The Scenes Of Tod's Latest Project, 'The Art Of Craftsmanship'

Italian craftsmanship and English creativity come together in the most brilliant of ways in Tod’s latest project, “The Art of Craftsmanship,” as envisioned by the photographer, Tim Walker. The work is a visual story that spotlights artisanal know-how—a key pillar for the House, which has always prided itself on its Made in Italy credentials. With his distinctive style—a blend of humour, fashion and fantasy—Walker showcases a new facet to the creation of the brand’s signature products, namely, the Di bag (named after and made famous by Princess Diana) and the Gommino loafer, a pebble-soled driving shoe that has been an icon since its introduction in the Seventies. With a Surrealist approach that focuses on proportion play, the series of images foregrounds the tools and techniques that go into the making of these pieces. 

Walker is, of course, fashion’s preeminent storyteller. More than any other photographer working today, he understands the magic and transformative potential at the heart of the most compelling of clothes, and captures this essence in shoots that are like fairytales come to life. The spectacular sets of his past work are mini wonderlands unto themselves, though his more recent work has focused on studio portraiture—more stripped back, but equally spellbinding in the way character, costuming and narrative come together. His photographs aren’t just published in the most prestigious magazines, they are also collected by the world’s most renowned institutions such as London’s National Portrait Gallery and the Victoria & Albert Museum. 

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Photo: Tod's

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The “Art of Craftsmanship” was unveiled via an exhibition during April’s Salone del Mobile, the world’s leading design fair, and will spend the rest of the year travelling the globe. Here, Walker tells us all about his creative process and why he takes being playful very seriously. 

Related article: Tod’s Short Film ‘Sounds of a Planet’ is Straight Out of a Daydream

What do you think is the value of craftsmanship and the importance of safeguarding its know-how and manual skills today? 

In this increasingly digital world, where so much is being created on an industrial scale by machines and robots, the value of craftsmanship is more and more precious. Detecting the hand of a skilled craftsperson in a product gives it a unique quality and a very particular beauty. 

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Photo: Tod's

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This project aims to celebrate craftsmanship and its values. How did you translate this concept into imagery?

I spent a fascinating day at the Tod’s factory where I was able to witness the craftsmanship and skills that go into the products for myself, along with my set designer, Gary Card, and we both drew inspiration from this. We wanted to let the specialist tools and methods play a starring role in the photographs—the artisan tools are so specific to the creation of Tod’s iconic products; we wanted to find a way to celebrate them in a slightly surreal manner in the photographs, playing with perspective, and hopefully with some wit. 

What was your own creative process like? Can you draw any parallels between your craft and process with what you’ve witnessed at the Tod’s factory? How did the set for your shoot come about? 

The creative process always starts with a meeting and discussion with my key collaborators—in this instance, set designer, Gary Card, and stylist and costume designer, Gerry O’Kane. We discuss the elements of the shoot, our inspirations, and we think about how to respond to the client’s brief; in this case, with surreal portraits. There is a huge difference however between the processes we witnessed at the Tod’s factory and the way we executed the ideas for the shoot—we were largely experimenting with scale and perspective and with playful scenarios, using 2D cut-out props of the tools and models to create the images. The disposable and temporary nature of the props we created for the shoot contrasts greatly with the creation of the Tod’s products, which have a feeling of great quality and longevity, made using highly specialised skills, acquired over many decades that we witnessed at the factory. 

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You are celebrated for your imaginative, surreal and playful images, spectacular settings and passion for detail and quality. What was your inspiration behind these pictures? 

The inspiration all comes from the people we met at the Tod’s factory, the associations we have with the brand, the craftsmanship that we witnessed, and the desire to create images that show these things in a humorous and arresting way. I have no interest in creating anything too literal—it’s much more interesting to me to elevate these elements with something a little unexpected. 

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You have worked with the most iconic models in the world, while this project presents a cast of different people, from all ages and backgrounds. What did you want to express? 

Whilst I have had the privilege of photographing some truly iconic models in the course of my career, I greatly enjoy the freshness and unpredictability of working with very diverse talent of all ages and backgrounds— you get a particular thrill as a photographer establishing a connection with and coaxing a performance out of a subject who may not be very experienced in front of the camera, but they nonetheless bring a vitality and immediacy to the pictures.