- Natural Selection, a new footwear collection by Liz Ciokajlo, was inspired by advances in synthetic biology and 3-D printing. Photo: Stephanie Potter Corwin[3]
- Ciokajlo's collection shows that shoes can be high concept, high fashion, and high tech simultaneously. Photo: Stephanie Potter Corwin[7]
- The shoes are made from a combination of bespoke materials comprised of coconut fibers, flax, wool, and environmentally friendly resins. Photo: Stephanie Potter Corwin[11]
- The environmental bona fides of the collection are clear, but are subordinate to the shoe's style and comfort. Photo: Stephanie Potter Corwin[15]
- The novel materials and production processes create new design spaces, like the idea of mixing and matching components. Photo: Stephanie Potter Corwin[19]
- Portions of the shoes are made with 3-D printers, but the designer was adamant not to leave her models with sweaty feet caused by impermeable plastic parts. Photo: Stephanie Potter Corwin[23]
- Ciokajlo's collection is environmentally friendly but also focused on being fashionable. Photo: Stephanie Potter Corwin[27]
- Materials have strong emotional connections as well as functional specifications. Ciokajlo tried to balance both and wasn't afraid to use low tech materials like leather when it made sense for a design. Photo: Stephanie Potter Corwin[31]
- Ciokajlo was experimenting with new materials, but she has over a decade of experience. She knew to make a chunky heel work, she needed to build it with a cavity, which does double duty as a way to bring fresh air to the wearer's feet. Photo: Stephanie Potter Corwin[35]
- Liz Ciokajlo hopes that one day shoes will be "grown" instead of manufactured and is working on fabricating new biologically inspired materials until scientists catch up. Photo: Stephanie Potter Corwin[39]
- The manufacturing process used to make these shoes is very similar to the one used to manufacture IKEA furniture, but the results couldn't be more different. Photo: Stephanie Potter Corwin[42]
Natural Selection, a new footwear collection by Liz Ciokajlo, was inspired by advances in synthetic biology and 3-D printing. Photo: Stephanie Potter Corwin[43]
Ciokajlo's collection shows that shoes can be high concept, high fashion, and high tech simultaneously. Photo: Stephanie Potter Corwin[44]
The shoes are made from a combination of bespoke materials comprised of coconut fibers, flax, wool, and environmentally friendly resins. Photo: Stephanie Potter Corwin[45]
The environmental bona fides of the collection are clear, but are subordinate to the shoe's style and comfort. Photo: Stephanie Potter Corwin[46]
The novel materials and production processes create new design spaces, like the idea of mixing and matching components. Photo: Stephanie Potter Corwin[47]
Portions of the shoes are made with 3-D printers, but the designer was adamant not to leave her models with sweaty feet caused by impermeable plastic parts. Photo: Stephanie Potter Corwin[48]
Ciokajlo's collection is environmentally friendly but also focused on being fashionable. Photo: Stephanie Potter Corwin[49]
Materials have strong emotional connections as well as functional specifications. Ciokajlo tried to balance both and wasn't afraid to use low tech materials like leather when it made sense for a design. Photo: Stephanie Potter Corwin[50]
Ciokajlo was experimenting with new materials, but she has over a decade of experience. She knew to make a chunky heel work, she needed to build it with a cavity, which does double duty as a way to bring fresh air to the wearer's feet. Photo: Stephanie Potter Corwin[51]
Liz Ciokajlo hopes that one day shoes will be "grown" instead of manufactured and is working on fabricating new biologically inspired materials until scientists catch up. Photo: Stephanie Potter Corwin[52]
The manufacturing process used to make these shoes is very similar to the one used to manufacture IKEA furniture, but the results couldn't be more different. Photo: Stephanie Potter Corwin[53]
Anna Kalsø was born off the coast of Denmark in 1905, but lived a thoroughly modern and cosmopolitan life. In 1952, the lifelong practitioner of yoga embarked on a quest to Brazil to practice what was then an arcane art. She was struck with the idea of designing a shoe that would force wearers to walk around in the “mountain” position. Her design, dubbed the Earth Shoe, became an icon of the 1970s and ultimately paved the way for companies like Lululemon that have turned yoga apparel into an $8 billion dollar business. Designer Liz Ciokajlo[54] , inspired by Kalsø’s footsteps, has developed a collection of Earthy footwear that transforms her intellectual passions into stylish, sustainable shoes.
Called Natural Selection[55] , the collection was inspired by advances in synthetic biology and 3-D printing technology. Ciokajlo has a dream of one day being able to “grow” shoes, but realizes there are many experiments still to be conducted before Jimmy Choo’s can be produced from cultured cells.
Despite all the recent advances, 3-D printing still remains just out of reach as a practical tool for commercially minded cobblers. “I recognize all the potential benefits of 3-D printing and loved the singular elegance of the forms as objects,” says Ciokajlo. “But I kept thinking of sweaty feet encased in synthetic, nylon type materials.”
Instead of waiting for these technologies to mature, she built molds with 3-D printers and filled them with customized compounds made of biological materials. The resulting collection of heels and clogs are made of flax, coconut fiber, and wool fibers that have been combined with environmentally friendly resins and molded into fashionable forms.
The unmistakably organic origins of her materials will lead many to believe they’re products of an ardent environmentalist—in reality, Ciokajlo’s thinks biological materials can expand design’s frontiers, rather than just conserving resources. “If handled right, it will change the way our footwear looks, feels and is purchased—it could even change our perceptions of what our shoes are,” she says.
Ciokajlo has over a decade of design experience and wasn’t willing to sacrifice comfort while pushing the conceptual boundaries. The chunky heels are oh so stylish, but hollow, making them lightweight. Some designers use lasers to etch fashionable filigree onto a shoe’s surface—she used the high power tool to cut air holes into the sole, making them breathable. A leather ring around the base of a pair of shoes gives the material structural integrity.
Soles are made of coarse coconut fibers, while areas that touch the feet are made of wool felt. She even incorporates traditional materials where appropriate. “Leather is really an unbeatable material in footwear on an emotional and comfort level,” says Ciokajlo. “Synthetics can match the performance level, but do not have the same emotional resonance as natural materials.”
Ciokajlo’s shoes didn’t walk out of a petri dish or come fully formed from a 3-D printer, yet the collection demonstrates how these disruptive technologies can be artfully employed without sacrificing style or comfort. A footwear studio may seem like an odd laboratory for material science experiments, but for these materials to reach their full potential, designers as well as Ph.D.s will need to collaborate. “We communicate through the things we make in a language of materials and arrangements,” says Ciokajlo. “It’s important to me what we are saying.”
References
- ^ Next >> (www.wired.com)
- ^ View all (www.wired.com)
- ^ Stephanie Potter Corwin (www.stephaniepottercorwin.com)
- ^ (www.wired.com)
- ^ Next >> (www.wired.com)
- ^ View all (www.wired.com)
- ^ Stephanie Potter Corwin (www.stephaniepottercorwin.com)
- ^ (www.wired.com)
- ^ Next >> (www.wired.com)
- ^ View all (www.wired.com)
- ^ Stephanie Potter Corwin (www.stephaniepottercorwin.com)
- ^ (www.wired.com)
- ^ Next >> (www.wired.com)
- ^ View all (www.wired.com)
- ^ Stephanie Potter Corwin (www.stephaniepottercorwin.com)
- ^ (www.wired.com)
- ^ Next >> (www.wired.com)
- ^ View all (www.wired.com)
- ^ Stephanie Potter Corwin (www.stephaniepottercorwin.com)
- ^ (www.wired.com)
- ^ Next >> (www.wired.com)
- ^ View all (www.wired.com)
- ^ Stephanie Potter Corwin (www.stephaniepottercorwin.com)
- ^ (www.wired.com)
- ^ Next >> (www.wired.com)
- ^ View all (www.wired.com)
- ^ Stephanie Potter Corwin (www.stephaniepottercorwin.com)
- ^ (www.wired.com)
- ^ Next >> (www.wired.com)
- ^ View all (www.wired.com)
- ^ Stephanie Potter Corwin (www.stephaniepottercorwin.com)
- ^ (www.wired.com)
- ^ Next >> (www.wired.com)
- ^ View all (www.wired.com)
- ^ Stephanie Potter Corwin (www.stephaniepottercorwin.com)
- ^ (www.wired.com)
- ^ Next >> (www.wired.com)
- ^ View all (www.wired.com)
- ^ Stephanie Potter Corwin (www.stephaniepottercorwin.com)
- ^ (www.wired.com)
- ^ View all (www.wired.com)
- ^ Stephanie Potter Corwin (www.stephaniepottercorwin.com)
- ^ Stephanie Potter Corwin (www.stephaniepottercorwin.com)
- ^ Stephanie Potter Corwin (www.stephaniepottercorwin.com)
- ^ Stephanie Potter Corwin (www.stephaniepottercorwin.com)
- ^ Stephanie Potter Corwin (www.stephaniepottercorwin.com)
- ^ Stephanie Potter Corwin (www.stephaniepottercorwin.com)
- ^ Stephanie Potter Corwin (www.stephaniepottercorwin.com)
- ^ Stephanie Potter Corwin (www.stephaniepottercorwin.com)
- ^ Stephanie Potter Corwin (www.stephaniepottercorwin.com)
- ^ Stephanie Potter Corwin (www.stephaniepottercorwin.com)
- ^ Stephanie Potter Corwin (www.stephaniepottercorwin.com)
- ^ Stephanie Potter Corwin (www.stephaniepottercorwin.com)
- ^ Liz Ciokajlo (lizciokajlo.co.uk)
- ^ Natural Selection (showtime.arts.ac.uk)
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