BA (Hons) Cordwainers Footwear: Product Design & Development
The complexity of shoe making fascinates me. As a designer during my time at college, I have been very motivated to learn and explore the use of untested and untried materials and applied them to fashion footwear. I enjoy the whole process of imagining a concept and discovering how I could bring those ideas to life. It is always such a learning curve. As a very outgoing and creative person, I find inspiration in every corner but lately after interning at Adidas (Germany), I was hugely interested in how science, technology and engineering could come in to the âfootwear equationâ to produce fit, comfort, stable shoes that look fashionable and innovative but also are aware of anatomy and functionality. As a final year project, I developed a concept footwear brand named RAIGHELT. The brand is a celebration of innovation and technology that meets a diversity of traditional known crafts, to create unique hybrid luxury products. It is a platform for exploration. By the use of edgy materials and the thoughtfulness of its designs, Raighelt latest collection communicates a rather powerful rebellious look with futuristic aesthetics that embodies the unexpected. The use of rapid prototyping was essential to the making of the sole units since it provided extreme accuracy and grounds for creativity. Each design was meant to be a statement piece and was very much inspired by geometric shapes, kaleidoscopes colour ways and the use of optical technology materials. Looking back over the final year I feel I was able to realise my vision for the brand and it will serve as a starting point for my career. After graduation on July 2012 I hope to get experience from the industry, so I intend to take on a full time job in either luxury footwear or sports footwear and I will continue to develop my brand as a side project. CONTACT: josefinamariajara@gmail.com