rooted

Hugh Turvey X-Ray images of flowers

contact me

If you're trying to email my info@helenfurber.com or design@helenfurber.com addresses they're temporarily out of order since my domain provider has largely messed up. So, please contact me at helenfurber@boxfordpark.co.uk, thanks!

project wedding shoes

in full swing

take your pick

living legend

BoF Fashion Pioneers Nick Knight in conversation with Imran Amed from The Business of Fashion on Vimeo.

play doh kicks!

core77 design competition..gutted have only just found! some awesome entries..

super lego

Postler Fergusson Microclimates: sustainable structural patterning

"Traditional Islamic architecture dealt sustainably with the harsh desert climate by careful control of light and airflow through elements such as the masharabiya, wind towers, and earthen walls. Using custom software, Microclimates is based on a three-dimensional interpretation of the masharabiya built from local clay with a complex internal structure whose large internal surface area efficiently conditions air passing through it by evaporative cooling.

Combining the principals behind these ancient building elements with the most advanced computer-aided manufacturing techniques, Microclimates is not just an installation, but a building language that can be reused again and again to create new public spaces."

Cooling system:Close-up rendering:

I like the way functionality is combined with patterning aesthetics and the ability to adapt each structure here, even though it does look a bit like real-life lego!

domain game

Apologies for the problems with my website at the moment, I'm having problems with my domain provider but am on the case. Hopefully up and running again soon.

Digital Craft Symposium

The DigitalCrafting research network invites everybody to take part at the first DigitalCrafting Symposium on the 10.December 2010 at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, School of Architecture in Copenhagen.

Hoping to go!

MMM

maison martin margiela paper shoes on jak jil

Merc(i) Auto extraordinare

Mercedes Benz Advanced Design "Exploring lightweight forms to play with strength, perspective, and transparency, the results resemble polygons, honeycombs (all sharing one central perspective point), string art, and woven chaos."

A bit of aggressive product design but how awesome are these concept cars. Be interesting to see how much can be applied to the real thing.

via Notcot

earily good

katie eary x nike lunar glide customisation via highsnobette

inkredible

how ink is made, via vectorvault

lessons from bernard rudofsky, circa 1944

looking into ergonomics and fundamentals of shoe shape and function I disovered this chap: photograph to show how modern shoes do not match the shape of the human foot.

From left to right: Plaster cast of an adult's deformed foot which has taken on the shape of a shoe; wooden last; present-day shoe; plaster model of an imaginary symmetrical foot which corresponds to the shoe manufacturer's idea of human anatomy." via Getty

updates

Rather excitingly I have some snippets of news I thought I should share..my work will be published in a new report to be featured on Mintel, as well as a new Footwear design book to be published next year! I have also found a sponsor interested in developing my sole unit for manufacture and will be hopefully be working with them from the new year to start some testing!

krak on

Reed Krakoff SS11 beauts via garance dore. So excited by some of the new season shoes from fashion week, especially the Nicholas Kirkwood collaborations.

heh

Lernert & Sander Selfridges window installation "shoes" - "A humorous take on fashion as an ideal escape from the daily grind." via blinkart

patricia please

I often look to architecture and furniture for inspiration and Patricia Urquiola is a Spanish designer who's products I really love. Fusing touches of craft and exactly the right amount of texture and detail to be interesting but not fussy, I've previously picked out many of her designs without realising but only just discovered the website bonluxat.com which makes it really easy to see all of them in one place. I especially enjoy her chairs..

barefoot forward?

"Barefoot Running promotes Front and Mid -strike which allows the runner to take more advantage of elastic energy stored in both the Achilles tendon and the longitudinal arch of the foot. This develops more calf and foot muscle strength, and avoids uncomfortable and potentially injurous impact."
William Jungers. Barefoot Running strikes back. Nature Journal. January 2010 via Terra Plana

Yet again I find myself looking to innovative Terra Plana products (previously the designed for dissasembly "pop" shoe) and now the vivobarefoot range and research which I find really fascinating. The idea that performance running shoes and cushioning could potentially be making it worse for us to run is both scary and revolutionary and I've been trying to find out more about the research behind it.

"Vivobarefoot is a revolutionary, back-to-basics design based on the simple principle that being barefoot is the healthiest way for you and your feet to be. An ultra thin puncture resistant sole allows your feet to be as millions of years of evolutionary design intended - Barefoot."

Whilst being barefoot millions of years ago was as nature intends it, I'm sure there are various arguments against now - for one given the man-made often tarmacked environments we've created for ourselves - but it's interesting to see the professor in this video running barefoot in city streets. One thing's for sure given all of my foot and back problems, I'm really tempted to have a go!

body laboratory

Last friday I attended the Kingston MA Fashion Futures show "Body Laboratory", a new course led by Nancy Tilbury who has worked with a number of companies including Philips on research-led design work fusing fashion and technology to explore new product concepts. Unfortunately I missed the static exhibition there so have been trying to find out more about the students display of work and stumbled on this video detailing digital draping and print manipulation. I've always been partial to a good print, especially one engineered for a specific product (as Jonathan Saunders first collections did or McQueen has done fantastically in recent years) and had never thought about using projection to do so, but what a great idea. It's also exciting to see a fashion course happening in a university with such a diversity of fields - from architecture to product design and engineering and I'm sure there will be exciting things to come from this course in the future.

Jonathan Saunders SS05

Alexander Mcqueen SS10

bodyworks

Researching for a new project I'm doing I discovered the work of Marilene Oliver, an artist and researcher exploring the relationship between the newly developing digital environment and representation of the body:

"The virtual world created by the computer is one that provides no place for the physical body. As communications technology and the use of the Internet is becoming an integral part of our lives, the absence of the physical in the virtual space is destined to provoke changes in the physical body and in our relationship to it in the real world. My work centres around this relationship, seeking to explore and create ways of intimately representing the physical body."

Although the underlying motivations for the work are quite conceptual and really interesting, the physical pieces she produces use technology to produce really beautiful installation type displays, all focussing around depictions of the human form, and often using MRI scanning to produce sculptures which appear in slices. I really like this idea of collections of different things, or slices which on their own would mean nothing, but when pieced together create an interesting image or creation. I also think it would be really interesting to see how products could be developed around some of the ideas and technology here.

its a bit of an animal

Boucheron pink gold ring with black diamond snout and ruby eyes, via blushless

Milk it

Some magazine press in Milk X magazine - rather excitingly I've been asked to do an interview for the next issue!

feline fancy

Not one to repost something on a friends blog I couldn't resist having seen this on fellow cordwainer the last taylor blog...I give you - The Catorialist. Love it!

not your normal commuter attire

8.45am waiting for a bus outside kings x: air jordan heel boots

cute boot

See by Chloe boots £330 new on net-a-porter, liking the mix of velet with tumbled leather.

Chau for now

I was put in contact with Chau Har Lee recently and having a root around to see what I could find about her work, discovered this sample which was developed as part of the Camper 2009 workshop: Natural By Design. It's a simple but interesting take on more sustainable construction whilst also remaining commercial, camper, and I think really wearable. It's also my favourite of the bunch and I think the girl done good! Nice to see some work which is different to her signature range as well.

"This shoe is made up of three interconnecting parts: the uppers, made up of two pattern pieces, moulded to shape and attached to the sole with a few stitches, the opening cut out of the middle becomes the backstrap. The foot bed slots into the sole and moulds to the wearer’s foot providing support for the arch. The sole shape provides protection where the foot has most contact with the ground. All 3 parts can be made of different materials and interchanged as required without the need for adhesives. All the pattern pieces tessellate ensuring minimum waste of materials."

blog roll

Having regoogled myself today it's nice to see my shoes are still recieving more coverage so thank you all! I also hope to be able to talk about a few new projects which are hopefully in the pipeline soon so please bear with me..

WGSN feature

I was surprised and happy to be contacted by one of the big sports footwear companies last week who had seen my work via WGSN and invited me for interview. Having not realised I was on WGSN this was (fantastic) news to me! and I have now managed to get hold of a copy of the report Emerging UK Talent: Graduate Footwear Analysis and am ecstatic to be in the top 5! Unfortunately the email address is wrong, so if anyone has sent any enquiries to that email address, please re-send to info@helenfurber.com. Thankyou! and thanks WGSN!

Eonnagata

photograph from Eonnagata theatre production at sadlers wells, costumes by alexander mcqueen via stylebubble