GENERATIVE SHOES
An Exploration of Machine Learning as a Design Tool
This project is a continuation of a previous project. I'll give a brief overview here, but below is a link to that project's dedicated page.
WHY SHOES?
This piece was created using machine learning to generate an image of a shoe that's never existed before, then attempting to create a 3D representation of that design by hand. I wanted to explore the field of product design through the lens of the ICAM Major, which focuses on using new media technologies to create works that couldn't otherwise exist. Below is the abridged process of designing and fabricating my shoe, where I found myself exploring visual design, sculpture, and working with a lot of materials I had no experience with only a few months ago.
THE DATASET
I began with a set of ~1500 images I scraped from Nike.com and Stockx.com, which I then used to train a GAN (aka a Generative Adversarial Network), in order to generate images of shoes based on my set of images.
GENERATED IMAGES
This output data took some tweaking, but eventually I got it to a point where the outputs resembled shoes closely enough that I could continue on to building a physical shoe.
SELECTED DESIGN
I found this particular design to fulfill my own personal requirements: It doesn't closely resemble a preexisting Nike shoe, it is visually appealing, and I believed it would be possible to construct given the limited resources at my disposal due to the need to self quarantine in the face of COVID-19.
HANDS ON RESEARCH
The First thing I did was cut apart a pair of Nike Air force 1's I had gotten at a thrift store. This taught me an invaluable amount about how Nike puts together their patterns and assembles such complex shapes from foam, rubber, and leather.
MOLDING THE SOLE
I began my physical model by outlining the shape of the sole using paper. I then used this as a guide when I cut my Sole out of air-dry modeling clay.
CARVING THE UPPER
I then carved the shape of the upper out of foam and fit it in to the sole.
CUTTING UPPER PATTERN
Using my original image as a reference, I created paper patterns for the shoe's upper.
SCULPTING FINAL UPPER
I then cut sheets of the air dry clay using my pattern as a guide, and smoothed and sealed any seams by hand.
PAINTING SHOE
I then painted the upper, outsole, and swooshes using my generated image as a guide.
POSTERS
In the spirit of my original generative poster project, I decided to present my shoes as real products in a print advertisement. While the project itself didn't turn out as polished as I had hoped it would, mostly due to quarantine, I found the act of designing something with the aid of new media, then using more traditional sculpting techniques to realize that design in real life to be incredibly rewarding.