We have been following the possibilities and developments of 3D printing for roughly four years on this site. In between technological pioneers, experimental projects by students, prototypes, exhibitions and books about 3D printing, a few innovators emerged, among them United Nude. The shoe company often came up with avant-garde footwear designs, at times created in collaboration with maverick figures such as Iris van Herpen.
The Dutch company is currently back on the 3D printed path with a special exhibition during Milan Design Week. The event opened yesterday (and will continue until 19th April) at Teatro Arsenale and revolves around five different pair of shoes designed by five creators - architects Zaha Hadid, Ben van Berkel and Fernando Romero, and designers Ross Lovegrove and Michael Young.
The exhibit also includes a selection of United Nude's previous designs such as Iris van Herpen's 3D-printed "Fang", and a display detailing the evolution of the Möbius shoe, United Nude's trademark footwear.
Technology-wise the shoes prove that things have progressed a lot from the first prototypes of 3D printed footwear that were heavy, rigid, prone to break into pieces and therefore completely inadequate to walk in. The five shoes on display in Milan are indeed more flexible and softer with uppers made from thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) and soles printed in hard nylon. It took 24 hours to print each pair of shoes with an sPro 60 Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) machine by specialised company 3D Systems Corporation.
The result of this new project by United Nude is at times quite interesting: British designer Ross Lovegrove worked for example with Grasshopper software expert Arturo Tedeschi. Verticality was the starting point for his mint green "Ilabo" shoe and Grasshopper helped them creating a thin polygon mesh structure that covers the sole and foot, leaving open the toe and heel.
In most cases, though, the designs look a bit questionable as if the creators were more focused on the technology than on creating anything extremely innovative on a visual level: Zaha Hadid's "Flames" look like high-heeled Louboutin shoes covered in flickering tongues of fire-like thorns embracing the foot (for that Maleficent touch...); Ben van Berkel's curved hoof-shaped "UNX2" looks instead like a crossover between the "Armadillo" shoes from Alexander McQueen's Spring/Summer 2010 collection and the first designs created by Iris van Herpen for United Nude.
Focusing on stability Mexican architect Fernando Romero came up with the red "Ammonite" shoes, while Hong Kong-based Michael Young focused on the possibilities of exploring a sculptural dimension in a boot. The former is based on the spiral fossil and locks the foot and ankle in a pentagonal casing that again evokes the shape of early 3D printed experiments produced by Freedom Of Creation (think about Andreia Chaves' "Invisible Shoe"). Young's shoes is formed by a solid base topped with a mille-feuille-like latticed block that, though dynamically positioned at an angle to the ground, seems to trap the foot in a static and squarish box, without offering much sense of movement.
The problem with most of these designs is indeed that they draw too much from architectural and sculptural inspirations (or from previous existing designs that have now entered the collective imagination, but haven't entered our wardrobes...), forgetting not just ergonomics and comfort, but also aesthetic values and the possibility of complimenting the wearer's body, walk and figure (consider that four of these designs erase the ankle area, something that usually doesn't help elongating the figure, but makes the wearer look shorter).
So, while it's great to know that technology and manufacturing of 3D printed wearable products and accessories, has progressed, now we must make sure that creators and designers truly focus on innovative forms that can help enhancing the wearer's body.
There is indeed no point in creating intricate architectural blocs and sculptures for your feet if they are only made for static design exhibits or brief catwalk shows, if you can't properly walk in them, and if they do not offer technically advanced comfort.
Maybe the next project should consider teaming up a designer/architect with a 3D printing company, an artisan and an orthopedic expert, making sure they coordinate each stage of the design with the wearers, listening to their needs and suggestions. Failing that, the words "sculpture walk" will stop being used to describe a walkway through open-air galleries of outdoor sculptures, and start defining the inelegant and impaired walk of a poor fashionista.
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