Wednesday, October 7, 2009

London Architect Julian Hakes Designs the Mojito Shoe

Mojito Shoe



London architect Julian Hakes has come up with this unusual design for the Mojito shoe, which is made of carbon fibre. There is a way for a foot to fit in this shoe if you look closely but there doesn't appear to be any foot support. Architect Julian Hakes doesn't think support is necessary.
With a high heel providing the heel is supported, even by standing on a wooden block the foot naturally 'spans' the gap naturally, with bones and tendons.

The foot has its own inbuilt strength and support so why duplicate this. You would not have a jumper with rigid arms between elbow and wrist.

So this raised the question, if the design of a shoe was an evolution of the early sandal and how can new materials and design techniques provide new solution?

So I set to exploring this question in a similar way to how I would design a bridge, examining the forces and looking at the most simple, elegant yet poetic expression of the forces at play within the materials used.

Any shoe that offers little or no support will eventually harm the wearer of the shoe. Fashion doesn't always consider pain and comfort. Models have worn crazier things on the runway before.

(via Dezeen, Gizmodo.com.au)