Avant-garde shoe designer Marloes ten Bhömer has created an innovative 3D shoe featuring a modular design that allows for dismantling and reassembling, for the purpose of replacing parts.
The shoe was constructed utilizing Objet Ltd.’s technology, a leader in 3D printing and rapid prototyping and additive manufacturing.
ten Bhömer commented: “My work is very much about liberating design – I use new materials and methods because this helps to break away from conventional approaches.
“The rapid prototyping process stimulated the idea for this shoe, as the name suggests. I explored the technology and saw that rapid prototyping – adding materials in layers – rather than traditional shoe manufacturing methods – could help me create something entirely new within just a few hours.”
The shoe is further noteworthy for its differing structure; a hard heel with a flexible upper, impossible to create employing previous 3D printing technology.
“The shoe is printed as a single entity so the parts come off the printer already assembled, and you can still take the shoe apart later on. It is inspiring and opens up the possibility of interchangeable heels and creating customized designs,” ten Bhömer elaborates.
“Also, the possibility of repairs allows for a more realistic product and changes the idea of rapid prototyping into rapid manufacturing.”
The “Rapidprototypedshoe” features in an exhibition entitled ‘Power of Making’, at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London from 6 September to 2 January 2012.
The technology behind 3D printing has recently undergone steady advances, with flight-capable drones, potential in space travel, Mario Kart, 3D printing utilising the power of the sun, affordable 3D printer kits and, most importantly, chocolate.