Cubify launches free-to-download shoes you can "print overnight"
News: designer Janne Kyttanen has created a range of 3D-printed shoes for women that can be made at home overnight to be worn the next day.
Kyttanen, creative director at printing giant 3D Systems, has created four different styles of wedge shoes that can be made using 3D Systems' CubeX printer.
Consumers can download the free digital files for the shoes, select the size they require and print them in a colour of their choice.
The project is intended to attract new audiences to 3D printing, which has tended to be dominated by products aimed at men.
"I don't know what it is with women and shoes, but I like it," said Kyttanen, in a press release straight out of Mad Men. "I would like it even better if my girlfriend could wear a different pair every single day. Today this is a reality. Women can print this first collection of shoes overnight and wake up every morning to a new pair."
Each shoe takes upwards of six or seven hours to print, meaning a pair could be produced overnight, assuming two shoes could be printed simultaneously on one printer.
The digital files contain data for sizes 35 to 40 and customers can choose between the Macedonia style, which is riddled with holes, the Facet style, Leaf style and plain vanilla Classic style. Further size and customisation options will be added in future.
Kyttanen, founder of Amsterdam design studio Freedom of Creation and a pioneer of designing for 3D printers, told Dezeen last year that his goal was to create products that consumers could print at home as an alternative to going shopping. "Why go buy something when you could just make your own things?” he said.
"Janne is taking the convenience of online shopping to a whole new level," says 3D Systems. "There is no longer a need to spend hours in department stores looking for the perfect shoes to match that party dress. And if you want to get in the fashion design game yourself Janne has created the Class Shoes as a basic file you can add your own style to."
Kyttanen is also working on 3D printed food. "Food is the next frontier," he told us earlier this year. "One day we will be able to 3D-print a hamburger."
Read more about 3D printing in our Print Shift magazine.