Hochleistungskunststoffe

Winner of the contest

A total of 67 students from the School of Footwear Design and Technology enthusiastically participated in the XI edition of the competition that calls for the creation of a sneaker model to be proposed on a shape and a sole developed especially for the project and produced in collaboration with BASF Italia. The students, guided by design and modelling teachers, came up with their highly-creative interpretations for the sole project, designing and producing original and innovative sneaker models. A panel of professionals selected the three best footwear styles from a point of view of concept and design.

Prize Winner: Marco Degan

My name is Marco Degan, I’m 31 years old and I live in Camponogara, a small town in the Riviera del Brenta. I have been working in the footwear sector for 7 years and truly love what I do. I started out in a small prototyping workshop and after 4 years I had the opportunity to work for Diesel as an assistant modellist. This was a more structured working process. In the meantime, I decided to embark on a scholastic path with the Politecnico Calzaturiero to improve my technical skills. I had the opportunity to change jobs again, joining the Alberto Del Biondi, a footwear design company where I am working currently. I would like to thank all the companies that believed in me and are making it possible for me to express my passion for this career.

 

Reptile, my project, was born at night. I define it as a hybrid shoe. In seeking to create something new and different, I wanted to mix a sneaker with a boot and a sandal: this is the result. The use of reptile skin and feathers evokes a wild and animalesque dimension. The modern materials, like the polyurethane sole, the cubism of the high-frequency tank, and the microlite of the toe are linked to the urbanization of this planet and urban man. This is certainly today’s way of setting trends and modern designers like Ann Demeulemeester, Marcelo Burlon, Rick Owens, etc. were sources of inspiration and influencers in my project.

Eye af a crocodile
Photography of colorful bird feather animal wing close-up, extreme macro of several beautiful feather texture and reflection rainbow multi colors, with vibrant color spectrum light (blue, cyan, green, yellow, red, magenta etc...).

Second Place: Diego Turrin

My name is Diego Turrin, I’m 32 years old and currently work as a modellist in a shoe factory. I have been working in the footwear sector for several years. When I began, I didn’t know anything about making shoes, but observing the passion and dedication of master’s and the attention they paid to detail sparked the same passion in me as well. In this way, after years of working as a prototype and sample assembler, getting to know the various phases of production that go into making a shoe, I decided to enroll in the Politecnico Calzaturiero to expand and refine my know-how and embark on the only career I would ever want to have: being a shoe designer and modellist.

The idea to create the Blood Diamond sneaker came to me through the diamond wars in Africa and Sierra Leone. The detrimental meeting between man and nature causes the earth to be constantly violated and deprived of the precious fruits necessary to finance insurrections and fuel the power of the war lords, pitting whites and blacks against each other rather than facilitating the development of this continent devastated by wars and disease that obstruct progress. I sought to interpret this theme on the upper of the sneaker where the orange base is intended to exalt the magnificent colours of Africa, from the spectacular sunsets to the brush typical of the arid savannah. On the exterior there had to be a stylized African continent, red and crossed with the heartbeat to represent Africa as the heart of the planet. On the heel instead is an insert that depicts the blood diamond, the fruit of mother earth coveted by man who has no scruples and will do anything to obtain it. The upper is in the colours of white and black to represent the bond of brotherhood, for better or for worse, that unites men of different colours, all children of the same earth.

Diamond in the Rough
African landscape at sunset.

Third Place: Greta Concolato

My name is Greta Concolato and I am a determined young woman with a sunny disposition. I’m 21 and my greatest aspiration is to open my own brand name design! I earned a high school diploma as a Industrial and Trades Technician in women’s fashion at the Istituto E. Usuelli Ruzza. I then pursued my true passion by enrolling in the Politecnico Calzaturiero with a specialisation in Footwear Design.

This sneaker was inspired by a combination of urban art and eco-sustainability. It features two arrows that recall the graffiti done with modern paints that can attract smog, thereby purifying the air, and a quarter lining in the green of nature, the same that man should safeguard and conserve. The rear part in phosphorescent orange evokes human artificiality, while the heel and the toe are grey like the asphalt roadways that cover much of our planet. The objective of my creation was to bring man closer to ‘use and reuse’, awareness of existing materials and products to reawaken in him a connection with nature that has been lost.

abstract colorful painting over white brick wall
Road Running Through Fields.adobe rgb 1998 use...........

Third Place: Nicolò Guido

My name is Nicolò Guido, I’m 25 years old and I have been working in the world of footwear since 2011, beginning with my experience at the Louis Vuitton shoe manufacturing plant. Later a passion grew in me that urged me to undertaking a training course at the Politecnico Calzaturiero. I love the world of footwear because it offers me new challenges on a daily basis and stimulates me to improve continuously, to better understand how to develop and improve a shoe product. My future objective is to fulfil my professional aspirations in the technical development of footwear, increasing and consolidating my skills.

The theme I chose to represent in my project is the conflict between the evil of mankind in contrast with the force of nature: “metropolis vs. nature”. I sought to represent these two themes in the two parts of the sneaker, dedicating a theme to each side. In the external part I depict the “modernity” of our times, representing a series of intersecting skyscrapers, evoking a man-made forest. In the internal part instead I thought to recreate nature in its most spontaneous and natural form, simulating a large tree with leafy branches. The grenade on the toe indicates the power of modern man to decide to destroy what nature created in whatever way he pleases. Man is becoming the enemy of nature, when he would have the potential to preserve and enhance it.

Rays of sunlight and Green Forest
new years tradition of the pagara explosion

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