One small step for Thingiverse.... by nicholas_b

Last crawled date: 3 years ago

This project is submitted as an entry to the New Museum Challenge. This project has yet to be printed or tested but it attempts to demonstrate the feasibility of printing a custom designed shoe. I do not presently own a 3D printer and this is the first prototype model so there is much experimentation to be done to work out the kinks.
The object, as it is shown, is a baby’s shoe or sandal which potentially could be scaled up to larger versions as a child grows up. My kids seem to be growing up and out of their shoes and sneakers everytime I turn my head. I am hoping 3d printers scale up and follow this same trend in time to print larger shoes.
The feet could be scanned using a standard flatbed scanner and then imported into a CAD program to scale shoe design to fit. The kids could take part in designing there own shoes adding color, embossments or cutouts to the sides or the treads. This printed shoe is a derivative of the conventional shoe which you need to settle for the design offered. This gives the power to the people to create their own when they need it.
I suppose the shoe or sandal could be entirely made with the 3D printer but if made with Sugru it gives the shoe traction and comfortable at the same time. Maybe a good name might be "Shoegru".
P.S. Baby needs a new pair of shoes ..... daddy needs a new 3D printer...