This brief was inspired by the 200th anniversary of Grimm’s Fairy tales. After choosing to focus on one tale – The Elves and the Shoemaker – I explored the child’s shoe as a narrative object. Influenced by ancient fairy folklore, I subverted the concept of the new shoe as a symbol of nurture and growth, instead considering darker themes such as loss, damage and fear. Ceramics, natural materials and found objects were used to reflect this contradiction and those often found in nature, which can be both kind and cruel.