Combining new and old, Ross Barber, at the London College of Fashion, has been stitching leather with 3D Printed pieces to create these absolutely superb ‘Future Noir‘ shoes. It’s beyond commercialization at this point, so it’s not going to be available at Target soon or something you could buy and rock out with at a Nine Inch Nails show. But of all the 3D Printed shoes we’ve seen percolate out of the interwebs, these are the most impressive (although, what’s up with the leg? Are these shoes for Zombies?)

These Shoes Are Growing On Me – Literally

One detail I wish we could find more info about is how these shoes were created. Rhino? MatLab? Something else? (We’ve reached out to Ross.) The only hints on the process is that generative CAD techniques were employed.

Edit: Got an email from Ross Barber himself – “I used an array of software: Rhino for the defining sole forms, Within Lab’s Software to populate the soles with a basic lattice, 3DS Max for the ‘skin’ deterioration and general post processing, and Magics for cleaning up the STL files pre-print.”

With this experiment, Ross wants to show the metamorphosis that occurs in the design process, in which each of the 8 “Metamorphosis” soles represents a different stage of the mutation.

The reticulate indeed resembles an acute acne breakout rising on the skin, engulfing and dominating it like a weed. To us it suggests not only the function which is not strictly decorative or the decadent effect of a vine, but also the ability to favor acoustic and thermal isolation.

I love the designs above the most. It’s almost like some insect burrowed into the soles and ate it from the inside out. Mmmm, delicious.

Via: NotCot
Source: Ross Barber

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