Shoes as algorithms

Francis Bitonti Studio has teamed up with the brand of shoes founded by Rem D Koolhas (grandson of the famous architect) United Nude and 3D Systems for the release of their collection Mutatio. The project is a speculation on the future of customization -- each shoe in the edition is unique generated by an algorithm developed by the designer. “It’s not so much about making something customizable. I wanted to think of a product as an algorithm,” says Francis Bitonti. Each shoe in the edition is uniquely generated by varying inputs to a computer application we developed in the studio. The heel of the shoe is 3D Printed so that each one can be unique and plated with gold and finished with a leather upper. The same software and algorithms were used to generate an accessories collection to be manufactured by 3D Systems and released this fall.