3D printed shoes, 2018.
The Mycelium shoe challenges the usual conventions of footwear, expanding from the parameters of the foot to create a form limited only by physics. In creating the Mycelium shoe we explore a computational design approach to emulating biologically grown structures. The design process consists of manipulating the growth direction of the rigid branching filaments that make up the mycelium architecture. The form of the network, its direction and variation, are informed by the physical location of the ground and foot: in areas where the shoe contacts the ground, the network is occupied with compact cells for greater wear resistance; in areas where the interior covers the skeletal muscles of the foot, the network is filled with softer, more flexible cells, providing for muscular flexibility to enhance and augment movement within the inner shoe cavity.
Materials: Combination of a lightweight metal shell exterior, laser-sintered Nylon 12 electroplated with copper, nickel, and chromium, and an intricate cellular skin made of a flexible high impact absorbing material, TPU.
© Ica & Kostika, photography by Kendra Barber.
