The Shoe Galleries at Selfridges Oxford Street store in London offer a prestigious show case opportunity for some of the great and the good shoe designers of our time. One such up and coming young British footwear designer is Kerrie Luft who won the Fashion Fringe accessories platform back in 2011 for her original and contemporary footwear range that features 3D printed heels.
After winning the award and prior to the Selfridges gallery display, Kerrie spent six months in Paris as an intern at Roger Vivier’s Paris office. And some of her shoes were presented at Paris Fashion Week last month. All of this experience and talent is now being channelled into Kerrie building her first complete collection of shoes with which to launch her own label.
Kerrie’s designs, particularly the heels, are inspired by art nouveau influences — and they are produced using EOS’s laser sintering process. Obviously, killer heels like this will come under severe stress and needs to withstand the extreme pressures exerted when being worn — this is testament to the strength and functionality of some of the materials available with laser sintering, even considering the complexity of the shapes involved in Kerrie’s designs.
So from the Nike and New Balance end of the shoe spectrum utilising 3D printing for manufacturing, today we have a different type of shoe — one that I would wear!! Haven’t dared look at the price yet though — I still haven’t saved enough for the hat.
(Hat Tip to Stuart)
Image Credit: Kerrie Luft
