Dutch footwear brand United Nude has created a pair of sneakers with 3D-printed heels designed to look as if they have been sculpted from a block of ice .
The eight-inch-tall white platform soles of the Ice footwear were printed on a 3D Techniques CubePro desktop printer making use of plastic PLA filament.
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The shoes feature a partial triangular-shaped heel, with the form of the soles developed to spread help across the framework.
The front black leather strap of the shoe is threaded by way of an angled opening in the sole, even though the upper strap wraps under and around the centre. The two pieces of the shoe’s upper can be fully detached from the base.
“The 3D-printing engineering allows us to experiment with new shapes much faster than prior to, without having big improvement fees and for extremely small quantities,” stated United Nude inventive director Rem D Koolhaas.
United Nude is turning out to be recognized for its experiments with 3D-printed footwear. For Milan 2015 the brand collaborated with Zaha Hadid, Ben van Berkel, Fernando Romero, Ross Lovegrove and Michael Young to produce pairs of women’s sneakers that had been produced solely employing 3D-printing. This collection is now on display at the brand’s Covent Garden keep to coincide with London Design and style Festival 2015.
Trend designer Iris van Herpen also partnered with the brand to develop a shoe that resembled the twisting types of tree roots. Meanwhile, Francis Bitonti provided a slightly different consider on the approach with a set of footwear that featured 3D-printed gold-plated heels.
Connected story: United Nude and Iris van Herpen style sculptural sneakers for her Biopiracy vogue collection
In 2013 interview, Koolhaas informed Dezeen that the brand’s shows “have been the very first to cross amongst industrial layout and fashion”.
Launched throughout Vogue’s Fashion’s Evening Out in Taiwan, the Ice shoes were unveiled at the opening of the brand’s new pop-up store in Taipei’s Shin Kong Mitsukoshi shopping mall, and will be on display right up until 28 September. The store will also be internet hosting a reside 3D-printing installation.
“Designing and producing a exclusive shoe for a unique occasion was never this simple before. The display is a genuine showpiece with a solid wow aspect,” explained Koolhaas.
Other designers have also experimented with substitute materials and methods of production for footwear. Studio Swine constructed meteor-shaped shoes out of aluminium foam, while Dutch designer Jólan van der Wiel utilizing magnets and iron filings to develop spiky footwear for van Herpen.
