Signing sessions and lectures


Book launch ‘Do You want your Feet Back? Barefoot Cobblers’

30/01/2019

<p>What makes Catherine Willems’ work on “future footwear” so appealing is its promise to leapfrog more than 150 years of industrialization, with all its attendant afflictions—environmental des­truc­tion, depletion of natural resources, extreme global inequality—and bring us straight into a cleaner and fairer future, while taking cues from ancient knowledge and craft. The research brings three disparate fields together: traditional footwear in very different indigenous cultures (Kolhapuri in India, Sami in Finland, and Ju|’hoansi in Namibia), the biomechanics of the human foot, and advanced technology for 3D measur­ing and printing. The depth and seriousness of the exploration in each field results in a richness of data and information which has only just started to yield its first outcomes.</p>
<p>Christine De Baan</p>

What makes Catherine Willems’ work on “future footwear” so appealing is its promise to leapfrog more than 150 years of industrialization, with all its attendant afflictions—environmental des­truc­tion, depletion of natural resources, extreme global inequality—and bring us straight into a cleaner and fairer future, while taking cues from ancient knowledge and craft. The research brings three disparate fields together: traditional footwear in very different indigenous cultures (Kolhapuri in India, Sami in Finland, and Ju|’hoansi in Namibia), the biomechanics of the human foot, and advanced technology for 3D measur­ing and printing. The depth and seriousness of the exploration in each field results in a richness of data and information which has only just started to yield its first outcomes.

Christine De Baan

<p>Vase and flower arrangement by Ronald van der Hilst and samples of  3D prototypes of Barefoot Cobblers</p>

Vase and flower arrangement by Ronald van der Hilst and samples of  3D prototypes of Barefoot Cobblers

<p>Left: Els Roelandt, editor of the book, right: Catherine Willmes, author</p>

Left: Els Roelandt, editor of the book, right: Catherine Willmes, author

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