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Collaboration with Tong Ren, footwear project for VF Innovation Centre, 2017
Concept for indestructible footwear for freestyle longboard skating.
Inspired by lattice structures, the movement of seaweed underwater and Korean freestyle skater girls, the material exploration seeked to find softness and flexibility in traditionally hard materials and strength and rigidity in seemingly soft materials. The result is a detachable, fully 3D-printed ballerina skating shoe, made almost entirely from bio-plastics.
The upper is a minimalist, transluscent ballerina slipper that is extremely lightweight and envelops the foot softly. Detachable straps allow the user to wrap around the foot and ankle for a stronger hold and for the shoe to truly become an extension of the body.
The detachable sole is a complex 3D-printed lattice structure that varies in thickness throughout to allow full range of movement of the foot when skating.
It combines airiness, lightness and flexibility to create a super strong structure that protects the foot by absorbing shock in case of impact. The clear silicone on the bottom gives it weight and traction, allowing it to stay flat on the moving skateboard, without restricting the movement of the lattice structure.
Trying to mimic the properties and aesthetics of the visual research and inspiration, the colour and material research and experimentation was mainly concerned with playing with different materials and enhancing their inherent properties, as well as challenging them by imposing structures that would change the way we perceive and relate to them.
By combining materials, like foam and delicate embroideries and encasing them in silicone, we seek to play with the eye and create playful illusions as aesthetic details.
