Prague, Aug 11 (CTK) – Spanish fashion designer Manolo Blahnik with Czech roots planted a Japanese cherry tree as the 76th personality within the project Roots of Personalities in the Prague botanical garden on Friday.
Blahnik said the small tree had inspired his creation, as exemplified by the sateen fashion boots he designed for the exhibition The Art of Shoes. It was opened at the Kampa Museum in Prague on Friday and Blahnik came to Prague for the occasion.
“I love Czech culture and it is my fulfilled dream to return to the country of which I am also a part,” Blahnik said.
“For me, the return is a sort of personal road on which I learn my roots and I also have a chance of replanting them in the Czech land in the form of my favourite tree,” he added.
“I would like to dedicate it to my father,” Blahnik said.
The tree is called Prunus ‘Okame’, which refers to the goddess of dawn, mirth and revelry, often depicted in the Japanese art.
It is popular especially in China, Taiwan and Japan.
Born in 1942, Blahnik, founder of a famous high-end shoe brand, has his roots in Prague, from where his father originated. He emigrated from the former Czechoslovakia to escape its Nazi occupation in 1939.
Manolo Blahnik was born in Santa Cruz de la Palma in the Canary Islands.
In the project Roots of Personalities, trees have been planted by former president Vaclav Havel, the Tibetan Dalai Lama, former U.S. secretary of state of Czech extraction Madeleine Albright, film director Milos Forman and conductor Jiri Belohlavek.
