Francis Bitonti is arguably one of the most well-known names on the 3D printing fashion scene, partly owed to his unusual, futuristic creations and also probably something to do with dressing Dita Von Teese up in what has become one of the most iconic feats of 3D printed art.
Now the New York designer has teamed up with United Nude and 3D Systems to launch a new collection of 3D printed shoes and accessories, Mutatio. The project is a speculation on the future of customisation and each shoe in the edition is unique generated by an algorithm developed by the designer.
“It’s not so much about making something customisable. I wanted to think of a product as an algorithm,” Bitonti, commented.
Each shoe heel is created by varying inputs into a computer application to create a unique design. The same software and algorithms were used to generate an accessories collection to be manufactured by 3D Systems and released later this year. Mixing both new and traditional crafting techniques, the heel of the shoe is 3D printed, plated with gold and finished with a leather upper.
The designer has applied this mathematical “growth” technique in past projects like his colourful pixelated shoe creations developed with Adobe using the Game of Life mathematical model by John Conway.
United Nude is one of the most recognised brands in the 3D printed shoe world due to its off-the-wall, geometric shapes and creating a lot of attention with live 3D printing its famous 'float shoe' design in its New York store. The company has collaborated with several designers including architect Zaha Hadid, founder of UNStudio Ben Van Berkel and Iris van Herpen to produce some really powerful shoe concepts that have challenged the boundaries of design and embraced the advantages of 3D printing.
