A mere glimpse into the enthralling mind of clothing designer, sculptor, and master constructor Sruli Recht is like a psychedelic three-dimensional tour of the Louve, African Safari, and outer space combined. His ability to communicate through design is super-natural and highly unique.  And if his clothing, shoes, and various other creations are his way of sharing his inner thoughts with the world, then it is safe to say that he is pure genius.

Jerusalem born Recht is an artist in every aspect of the word, to simply describe him as a clothing designer, would be a bold faced lie.  His versatile background includes projects in fashion and industrial design, illustration, and tailoring.  A self proclaimed “maker of things” Recht, crafts all things fashion from The Ubruster, a sleek umbrella that doubles as a weapon with a brass knuckle handle, ideal for any spy, secret agent, or fashion icon; to bullet proof handkerchiefs made out of Kevlar, and <!– /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:”Cambria Math”; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:1; mso-generic-font-family:roman; mso-font-format:other; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:0 0 0 0 0 0;} @font-face {font-family:Cambria; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:roman; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-1610611985 1073741899 0 0 159 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:”"; margin-top:0in; margin-right:0in; margin-bottom:10.0pt; margin-left:0in; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:”Cambria”,”serif”; mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family:”Times New Roman”;} .MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; mso-default-props:yes; font-size:10.0pt; mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} –> ~ Elt, the first buckle-less water-cut leather belt.

Sruli Recht is a combination of natural talent, self-teaching, and institutionalized training. A former fashion design student at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, in Australia, he launched a design career in Melborne, and then migrated to London to work alongside Alexander McQueen, constructing catwalk pieces. In December of 2005, he relocated to Reykjavik, the capital city of Iceland; where he formally launched Sruli Recht in 2007 with release of his first shoe collection.

An innovator whose “own sweat and blood” gets on everything that he makes, Sruli Recht is a hands on man who like many great artists – has mastered the relationship between mental and physical labor. Recht says, “My hands mostly have taught me to follow both instinct and instance, for in most cases the honesty of mistake and accident leads to the most unique of developments.  So in this case hands are both slave and master – slave in that they do as they are told, and master in that they lead me so often into new areas.  They play both the bit part ham role and relentless story-driving arson-cum-protagonist.  We are very, very good friends, co-dependent even.  We have been friends for so long it’s hard to remember a time when were not together.”

Sruli Recht’s hands do the manual labor, however; it is his choice to combine unlikely combinations of materials and fabric that are not only distinctive and natural, but on some occasion controversial.  He manipulates and reconstructs all natural hides from horse skin, cow, and even whale. His past shoe collection features Hvalsforhúðsskór, high fashion and industrial ankle boots made of Minke Dork (Minke Whale foreskin), a material Recht describes as “very soft and agile”.  He goes on to say, ”The qualities achievable from the natural properties of the different skins differ greatly across the animal kingdom…” “These materials are largely unexplored and in essence require much experimentation and for the most part are a challenge.  It allows me to work in new areas and problem solve in ways that really just haven’t been done by anyone else.” Although his choice in materials may seem unethical to some critics, his architecturally influenced clothing, shoes, and boots are obscure and unlike anything the fashion/art industry has ever seen.

Sruli Recht is solely available online at Srulirecht.com.  Although Sruli Recht may not be an American Household name according to Recht, “95% of our export goes to the US and about 50% to the same postcode in NYC”.   Sruli Recht and his team are working hard on new projects, that “are made from horse and concrete, new dying techniques we have developed using animal by-products, solid carbon, optical frames, diamonds, and the second collection of shoes…” For more on Sruli Recht go to Srulirecht.com.