At this party, everyone is the same height

By Lily Hautau, CNN

(CNN) — How’s the weather up there?

Standing at nearly 5 feet 2 inches tall, I’ve rarely been able to reach the highest shelves at the library or in my kitchen without a step stool, if at all. Standing in a crowd at a concert, I quickly learned that the standing room only section was not for me, since all I could see when I looked straight ahead were people’s backs.

I’ve always wondered how my perspective and confidence would change if I were as tall as my dad, who stands at 6 feet 4 inches. Or if I were even just a few inches taller than I am without having my feet ache wearing heels that only give me a few inches, if that.

Then came the same height party: an event built around a simple, slightly crazy idea that everyone in the room, no matter their actual height, could meet at eye level.

The idea traces back to the late German artist Hans Hemmert’s creation of “Level” in 1997.

His participatory art installation is best known for using custom platform footwear to equalize participants’ heights, turning a physical difference into something you can step in and out of.

Decades later, Lucian Novosel hosted his own same-height party in a warehouse-style artist space in Oakland with about 15 people. Novosel has a reputation among his friends for projects that may sound crazy until you see them. One project was a human-size gerbil feeder and another a life-size origami horse. With a new goal, he set out to recreate that “leveling” effect as a wearable social experiment. This is one project that I wish I got to experience myself, however, I did talk with Novosel and a few of his guests about their experiences at the party.

It wasn’t just the idea “make tall shoes” to make people taller. He wanted to see how he could get his shortest friend — around 4 feet 11 inches — standing eye to eye with the tallest — about 6 feet 5 inches. Novosel used his tallest friend, Spencer, who did not want his last name published for privacy reasons, as the anchor height: “I know the tallest guy coming, and now everyone else will have to have shoes made for them,” he said.

So he made his version using a 3D printer.

How to make everyone the same height

Novosel started months before the party because the leveling effect only worked if the math and the materials held up under practical use. He said he needed time to create prototypes first and enough time to convince himself he could build platforms people could walk on safely before he felt comfortable inviting friends.

Roughly three months out, the event started to come together. He locked down the guest list, gathered measurements and secured a venue designed for stability. “It was hard,” he said — partly because a shifting guest list can mean rebuilding shoes from scratch — so he finalized the guest list about three months ahead.

Then it was time to gather data. Guests were asked for their barefoot height, shoe size and the lift of their everyday shoes. Next came the task of building those shoes, which involved nearly four weeks of cutting, stacking and reinforcing. Novosel used 1-inch foam in large sheets to build up platforms that widened progressively toward the ground.

The pyramid shape wasn’t designed for aesthetics but instead for balance to prevent “teeter-tottering.” “Imagine an elephant walking on a very small area,” Novosel said. “It’s not going to work.”

He used custom, 3D-printed brackets and zip ties in the assembly and kept the pattern adaptable enough to cover a wide range of shoe sizes.

He recommended the “Pink Panther” brand of rigid 1-inch foam insulation for anyone trying to recreate the build, as well as a hot blade and respirators for cutting the foam.

The tallest shoes? 18 inches.

Even when the shoe itself resolved the height differential, balance was its own challenge. The higher the lift, the more a person’s center of gravity shifts, potentially creating coordination difficulties, so he made walking sticks to help. For a low-cost version, he said, get one by two, 8-foot planks of wood and wrap the grip with painter’s tape, or use hiking sticks if you have them around. He also recommended marking potential trip hazards with hazard tape and choosing a space with no stairs.

Standing tall at the party

Matilde Miranda, who was the second-shortest person at the event at 5 feet 2 inches, said she knew Novosel through dodgeball. At the party, she had a full foot, along with some foam beneath her feet and a stick in hand.

Novosel calls the sticks essential for anyone who wants to recreate the concept. Miranda said she felt like Gandalf (from “Lord of the Rings”).

“It’s a very different sensation because I’m usually looking up at people at any kind of networking event or party,” Miranda said. “I have never been that tall in my life.”

The first few minutes of the party focused on recalibration —how wide turns need to be, how to carefully place the foot, how the body hesitates before it trusts the stack beneath. Miranda said the group also used that early time to get oriented: testing steps, shifting weight, and learning how to walk with the cane before the room got crowded.

Once the room settled, the social part kicked in: the strange relief of talking to someone without craning your neck, the novelty of looking straight ahead and meeting eyes instead of chins.

Guests played games and tested what their bodies could do at their new height. They squatted down to grab something with their teeth and then stood back up again, a move that became a balancing challenge. In one version of the game, guests took turns squatting to grab a paper bag or box with their teeth. If everyone succeeded, the box got shorter for the next round, while the other participants hovered nearby to catch anyone who wobbled. At one point, guests also played pool, relearning their stance from a new vantage point, said guest Xitlalli Zavala, who is 5 feet 4 inches tall.

Spencer, the tallest person there, said he was used to moving through the world a little taller than most. In high school, he grew from 5 feet 8 inches to his current height of 6 feet 5 inches in about a year, he said. “All of a sudden I was really tall and lanky and uncomfortable standing out so much.”

At the party, he said that pressure eased in a way he didn’t fully expect.

“I definitely felt like I blended in,” Spencer said. In most social settings, he’ll “try to make myself a little smaller,” even widening his stance to bring himself closer to other people’s eye level. Here, he didn’t have to make that adjustment. “It was really nice to not have to be aware of my height.”

That sense of relief wasn’t limited to tall guests.

Miranda said she only knew two other people there, but the format itself seemed to break the ice. At one point, guests lined up from shortest to tallest, and their new footwear made the differences visible in a way their normal height alone didn’t.

The moment the perspective flips

Zavala described the moment her perspective shifted as “Oh wow, this is how other people see the world,” she said. Zavala said she attended as a friend’s plus-one and was nervous at first because she didn’t know others in the room, but the format became an instant conversation starter.

During the event, she recalled that some taller men took off their platform shoes to try the opposite angle, switching between viewpoints and comparing how it felt.

“I can see why maybe taller people have more confidence just seeing the world at that point of view,” Zavala said. “But I can see why it can also be a pain too because you have to reach a bit lower to grab something.”

Her favorite moment was the lineup — watching the height of the shoes increase down the line.

Novosel built the night around safety, starting with renting a very flat space so people could mingle without stairs and then marking potential trip hazards. For the host, the whole premise had a psychological edge as well as a technical one.

He described the sudden lift — 8 inches, a foot — as a “power trip.” People start bumping into things and take up space differently. He said he’s curious how attraction and confidence shift once everyone is forced, for a few hours, into a shared eye line.

After the party, the shoes lived on, some were given to a schoolteacher in Berkeley, and others were donated so they could be reused.

“The coolest thing about the shoes is that platform approach allows you to remix them so that other people can use them,” he said.

How to throw a same-height party

One thing that everyone had in common was that they would be interested in doing it again. Novosel shared some pointers in his guide:

Start early: finalize a guest list at least three months ahead.

Collect measurements: barefoot height, shoe size and current shoe lift. Novosel shared this spreadsheet to help.

Plan resources: about $25 in materials per guest and more than an hour per pair (often more with custom fitting).

Materials/tools: 1-inch foam, space to store and work on 4×8 sheet, hot blade and respirator.

Stability-first design: widen toward the base (e.g., 5.5 inches wide at the top increasing incrementally to 8.5 inches at bottom) and keep the bottom pyramid-shaped to reduce tipping.

Safety gear for guests: provide walking sticks. Novosel suggests 8-foot poles with taped grips); clearly mark trip hazards.

Choose the right venue: flat floors, no stairs.

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