Laceless Challenge 2019

The goal was to use @sergey_karlin's design (shown above), and create a render that includes some aspect of 3D knitting and 3D printing. Having little rendering experience, I opted to work in the physical realm and produce a realistic concept. I wanted to capture the contrast of old world shoemaking (handlasted veg-tan) juxtaposed with the future (3D printing). The perforated quarter panels are meant to represent something similar to a 3D knit panel.

The ideation phase consisted of some quick and dirty sketches, as well as some quick "schematics" of how the leather sole would lay up on the last.

For the 3D printing, I had to create a buck to mold the sole leather around, which uses bolts and nuts to secure the leather while it is wet-molding. The grid piece is meant to fit inside the molded leather once dried. While in a real-world setting, the 3D printed material would be TPU or some other flexible material, I just used regular PLA for simplicity's sake.

A few shots of the construction shoe the leather shaping process, and a few of the many, many hand punched holes.

The finished product features a unique lacing system with infinite combinations, as well as pops of color in the laces themselves, and the pull tabs. While not necessarily wearable, the veg-tan leather will continue to develop a nice patina that will look good for years to come.