London Design Festival: these shoes by British designer Dominic Wilcox have LEDs in the toes that will guide you home no matter where you are (+ movie). Above movie is by Liam Saint-Pierre
One of the No Place Like Home shoes has GPS technology embedded in the heel and an antenna in the red ankle tag. It communicates wirelessly with the other shoe.
Custom-made software plots the location of home on a map before the data is uploaded to the shoe through a USB cable that plugs into the insole.
The ring of LEDs in the left toe points the wearer in the right direction while those on the right toe show the journey's progress.
"I had done a doodle about a month previously on my 'Sounds of Making in East London' record cover of a shoe with a switch on the front," Wilcox told Dezeen. "I think this was in my mind somehow, but I also thought about the Wizard of Oz and Dorothy's shoes to take her home. Mostly it was just an idea for a pair of shoes that I wanted to own myself," he added.
Dorothy's red shoes are referenced in the red calf-leather lining, while Wilcox's illustrations of different homes are etched on the soles.
Wilcox worked with technology expert Becky Stewart from Codasign and Northampton shoe makers Stamp Shoes. The project was commissioned by the Global Footprint project in Northamptonshire, an English county famous for shoe making.
The shoes are being shown at Wilcox's solo exhibition during the London Design Festival at KK Outlet, 42 Hoxton Square, N1 6PB – scroll down for a map.
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London Design Festival map
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The map above is taken from Dezeen's guide to the London Design Festival, which lists all the events going on across the city this week. We'll be updating it over the coming days with extra information on our highlights so keep checking back. Explore the larger version of this map here.
Dominic Wilcox will be speaking on Thursday 20 September at Dezeen Live, our series of live daily shows featuring talks with designers and critics during the 100% Design trade fair at Earls Court, west London.
Dominic Wilcox features in our book, Dezeen Book of Ideas. Buy it now for just £12.