Dezeen Magazine

Geology of Shoes by Barbora Veselá

London College of Fashion graduate Barbora Veselá has layered-up leftover scraps of leather to create striations based on rock formations on the surface of these shoes (+ movie).

Geology of Shoes by Barbora Vesela

Barbora Veselá looked to the patterns of eroded sedimentary rocks at the Prokopské údolí nature reserve in the Czech Republic when creating her Geology of Shoes footwear.

Geology of Shoes by Barbora Vesela

"The project takes inspiration from sediment layers and from effects of erosive processes in nature as well as from traditional shoe making techniques," said Veselá.

Geology of Shoes by Barbora Vesela

By overlapping spare strips of leather suede-side-up around a traditional last, she built up the shape of the shoes piece by piece.

Geology of Shoes by Barbora Vesela

Veselá then sanded down the scraps to create the final forms and reveal the rippled layers. As the odds and ends of material are always different shapes, each shoe is unique.

Geology of Shoes by Barbora Vesela

The colours of the stripes were influenced by shaded contours found on old geological maps. The footwear formed Veselá's final project at Cordwainers College, part of the London College of Fashion.

Shoe lasts used for Geology of Shoes by Barbora Vesela
Shoe lasts

Striations also feature in Zaha Hadid's chrome-plated shoes with cantilevered heels for United Nude and we recently compiled a roundup of our stories about strata in architecture and design.

Colourful geological map
Old geological maps

Film and photography are by Petr Krejčí.

Sedimentary rock formations at the Prokopské údolí nature reserve in the Czech Republic
Sedimentary rock formations at the Prokopské údolí nature reserve in the Czech Republic