No sole for Mojito shoe
London-based architect Julian Hakes has designed a pair of shoes with no sole. Called the Mojito, the design comprises a single piece of material that coils around the foot, providing support for the heel and ball of the foot. According to Mr Hakes, the foot itself provides the bridge between the two. The shoe is made from carbon fibre which is covered in leather on the side that touches the skin and rubber on the side that touches the floor.
“I wondered why there was the need for a foot plate in shoes such as high heels,” Mr Hakes says. “When I look at a foot print on sand it is very clear to see that the main force goes to the heel and ball. With a high heel providing the heel is supported, even by standing on a wooden block the foot naturally ’spans’ the gap naturally, with bones and tendons.”
He says he started off wrapping his foot in tracing paper and binding it up in masking tape. He then drew various shapes onto and over his foot. “The next stage was rather dangerous as I had to cut the shape off my foot with a scalpel and not damage the pattern or my foot,” he says.
This produced a single-piece wrapped design that starts under the ball of the foot and then over the bridge, then sweeps down below the heel before twisting back on itself to provide support for the heel and ankle.
“The material choice is simple,” says the designer. “The shoe is a laminate with carbon fibre for the core which gives the shoe its spring and strength, leather on the foot side and rubber on the walking wearing side. Three materials, each doing a specific job.”
Mr Hakes is currently in talks with various materials suppliers and says he interested in obtaining having the leather applied to the shoes by a furniture company in High Wycombe, UK, as its “stitching detailing is second to none”.
