Bio Mituri

Got an email from my boy HD last night informing me that he had won the Silver Medal Award at the Seoul Design Olympiad 2009 for his eco friendly footwear design called 'BioMituri 2009'.  His concept is " a modern interpretation of the Mituri with an environmental friendly solution".  

Well done Bro!!!

A little info from Yanko Design.

In this project, designer HoDong Sung took on the task of redesigning a two thousand year old shoe. A shoe design, I should say, not a old rotten shoe. The Bio Mituri is the 2009 re-design of the traditional Mituri straw shoe from Korea. Reducing pollution and increasing style points at the same time! Enjoy this and Sung’s fantastic industrial design travels and shoe-history in real sneaker comfort!
First let me tell you a tiny bit about HoDong Sung. Born and raised in Seoul, South Korea where vivid memories spring forth of low eco standards in high-quality athletic footwear factories (this was in the 1980s.) From there, Sung spent time developing industrial design skills in super-eco-clean Australia. Then Sung was a footwear designer for Nike in Oregon, USA. Then on to Adidas in Herzogenaurach, Germany.

This path, along with the changing and ever-greening times, Sung began designing an eco-friendly no-performance-sacrificed set of shoes. For the Bio Mituri the “main idea is combining Korean traditional Mituri upper design with western developed sole structure, which is the perfect marriage of natural material with ergonomics.”

 

 

 

A. Mituri twisted straw replaced with bamboo yarn for durability, eco-friendliness. (Anti-bacterial, non-allergenic)
B. Mituri adjustability improved upon with new upper structure with a string system that wraps top, bottom, heel together all at once.
C. Mituri weak points done away with using biodegradable foam midsole. This sole biodegrades 50 times faster than the average shoe.
D. Production reduction (combining toe cap, heel counter, insole, and midsole in to one injection-molded midsole) minimizes CO2 emissions. Also has recycled tire outsole.
E. Glue used to connect outsole and midsole is water-based cement, avoiding chemical bonds that pollute.