Ok so…a few months ago I introduced a very talented shoe designer friend, who I adore, to a second friend. Then my second friend’s friend asked what I did; was I also a shoe designer at which point my shoe designer friend said no you are really a product designer. This sat a bit uneasy…
Originally I wanted to make a combination of banana fibres and tussle and latex. But the laminating process would prove to be problematic and long in this time frame. So I stumbled upon a made sheet material called Cocolok. This is coconut fibres and latex. I found it on a blog called Hello Materials http://hellomaterialsblog.ddc.dk/2012/06/11/a-design-boost-for-natural-fibre-composites/…
From when I was in school doing my Bsc in industrial design I was fascinated by design in which the engineering and the function were in equal balance. In fact where the design was on the edge of “non-design” and the engineering was stretched to become foreign. I first noticed this when an old boyfriend…
“Luxury is not consumerism. It is educating the eyes to see that special quality.” -Louboutin Yesterday I received in the post samples of Hemp fibre sheets look here. Fascinating stuff, all natural composites. These fibres sheets come from the German company J. Dittrich & Söhne Vliesstoffwerk GmbH. I intend to form these sheets into the shoe…
So the key to getting started was first to source and identify potential non-wovens and binders. I really was in the dark… My first stop was to go to the peaceful shop Handweavers in the no so peaceful location Seven Sisters Road. I collected a sampling of fibres both cellulose (plant based) and protein (animal). Selection…
Overview and introduction The aim of this major project is to rethink how we can use natural materials in innovative ways and to showcase how beautiful these materials can be when applied to a footwear collection. I believe true innovation in footwear will come from biological development of materials and processes. My Unit 1 and…
Trends are interesting, trends are like a collective expression of thoughts, words, actions and artefacts. Trends can be engineered and imposed or can emerge. The latter proves to be lasting or significant. I long ago stopped “seeing” things I liked and now see things which are “fresh”. Then I spend time trying to unpick the…
Can Indigenous Cultures Teach Tomorrow’s Footwear Designers How to Innovate? Introduction There are issues today surrounding how footwear designers will use new technologies to evolve tomorrow’s footwear industry. How is the footwear paradigm redefined by the use of these new technologies? By what criteria are materials chosen and what are the implications on us the…