But a new project from Horatio Yuxin Han, a recent graduate of the Pratt Institute, and his professor Kevin Crowley, is totally re-imagining how shoes could be manufactured. Called Unifold, Han used the principles of origami to build a cheap and relatively sturdy pair of shoes.
From a single piece of ethylene vinyl acetate (foam rubber), people can cut out a pattern and fold it up into a wearable pair of shoes. This eliminates the need for the expensive machinery that’s usually required to produce footwear. “I tried to figure out how to make them with the simplest tool possible,” explains Han. “With the Unifold, all you need is die-cut machine and a die, and then you could start a production line.”
via Wired
Image: Horatio Yuxin Han
