Making its debut on the international design stage, Global Footwear Awards (GFA) has begun its global search to identify the most innovative design in footwear. City Glider was awarded the best in performance category for student level.
City Glider empowers us to explore more and cover longer distances through walking. Taking people off crowded trains, buses and lowering vehicle usage. Reducing congestion, accidents and carbon emissions. A step toward an efficient, sustainable mobility future.
It augments the walking experience by extending our stride and walking threshold. Lightweight, human powered, and requiring almost no effort, the pneumatic mechanical system within the footwear harnesses force expended from the heel strike and releases it in the mid-stance position to propel the user forward by up to 11.6%.
Frederick’s Background
Growing up in multicultural, multilingual Singapore and living in countries like Japan and the United Kingdom, Frederick always had respect for others and developed a deep appreciation for, and highly value the importance of a multicultural design sense.
He believes that design is not just about solving a problem, but also about creating drive and emotion. This reflects very clearly in his works where he strikes a balance between needs and desires.
Frederick graduated from the Nagoya University of Arts, with a BA(1st) in industrial design. Upon graduation, he joined Yamaha Motor, Japan, a tier 1 automotive company. He quickly rose from being an industrial designer to a design lead. Some of his designs include production and advanced concepts such as the Yamaha X-Max, MT- 15, Janus 125, Glorious, E0I, Gear 125 et cetera. All of which have attracted international attention.
In 2018, he was awarded a full scholarship by Yamaha to do a postgraduate programme at the Royal College of Art and Imperial College London. Where he attained his MA/MSc (Distinction) in Innovation Design Engineering.
Apart from vehicle design, Frederick has also worked on many projects in other fields such as healthcare, social design, furniture, and footwear. Garnering him with the James Dyson Award, IF Talent Award, Global Footwear Award, and featured on Nikkei news, the Evening Standard London and Yahoo Sports UK to name a few.
He is currently back in Singapore, aiming to create a stir in the mobility sector with a start-up company, ION Mobility.
GFA talks with Frederick about his winning project.
What is your design mantra you live by?
I am always fascinated with mobility, with “Innovating Freedom” at the core of all of my work.
How/when did you discover that you wanted to work in design?
My hands are always moving. Using scraps of materials I can get my hands on to build things. I was convinced I would go into engineering until my grand aunt introduced me to Industrial Design. That changed the course of my life.
Where do you start when tackling innovative design solutions?
Questions. It is all about asking questions.
What was most important for you when working on this project and what were the biggest challenges you faced?
What’s your creative process and what creative software do you use?
My creative process is rather simple. I like to think “within the box”. It is where innovation truly lies. I would always start with the value or meaning I want to create. Do a lot of research to know the constraints surrounding the topic. Knowing what I do not want to do and finally creating more problems. These 4 boundaries help form a box in which I think. My creative software is my hands, a pen, and paper.
How do you deal with feedback?
In all honesty, I do not do very well with negative feedback. But I always take a step back and try to understand where the other person is coming from. Over time, I have built an immunity toward it. I can now identify the constructive and non-constructive ones.
How do you handle pressure in design?
Focus. Know your end point and just keep working towards it.
What would you tell your younger self seeing you winning the awards?
One’s only regret can only be, “not trying”.
What advice would you give to future aspiring footwear designers?
No story is too wild to be told.
Where do you get motivation and inspiration from for your work?
Motivation comes from breaking the rules and inspiration comes from the littlest, unglorified things in life.
Making its debut on the international design stage, Global Footwear Awards (GFA) has begun its global search to identify the most innovative design in footwear. Voroni Runners was awarded the best in sustainable category for student level.
Voroni Runnersare sneakers made using only 100% biodegradable materials, constructed without the use of any adhesives so material can be seperated and composted individually. Biodegradable alternatives accommodate proactive waste management targeting the source of the issue as opposed to dealing with materials after production. Implementing the latest in 3D printing and scanning technologies, combining additive manufacturing with injection molding for a specialized outcome to ensure a comfortable fit, prompting healthy exercise.
GFA talks with Rik about his background and his winning project.
What is your background?
Industrial Design graduate from Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand. Completed a Bachelor of Design with Honours in Industrial Design and a minor in Marketing. I have a passion for designing products that improve environmental, social and experiential factors. Within footwear I look to examine the product lifecycle and use innovative materials and constructions, employing developing technologies such as scanning and 3D printing to offer environmentally focused designs.
What does this award mean to you personally?
To me the Global Footwear Awards provides validation, not just as a designer but in footwear specifically. Footwear is a huge market and it’s difficult to know where you stand. The Global Footwear Awards have helped ground my work and see that this exploration is seen and valued.
What was most important for you when working on this project and what were the biggest challenges you faced?
Most important to me was ensuring that the work I produced I was proud of and to a high enough standard. I wanted to push and challenge myself when developing the project brief. I had been told developing a pair of shoes would be difficult and to make sure its achievable by cutting back in areas that would be too difficult. This made me want to showcase my skills to have a resolved functional pair of shoes that will reflect my work and abilities. The biggest challenges came around learning completely new areas, as an industrial designer I had a lot to learn around soft fabrics, these have a completely different form and movement.
How/when did you discover that you wanted to work in design?
Throughout my studies I tended to find that industrial design blended my range of skill rather perfectly, I was able to showcase my problem solving, creativity, craftsmanship, ingenuity, mathematics even physics. These were all subjects I enjoyed, being able to bring together all these skills together made me love design even more. Footwear specifically was something I had always had an interest in. With a wide background in sports, it became a clear link between being active and healthy and my developing design passion.
How do you think your own culture and environment has shaped your personal and professional creative vision?
I think I come from a unique background, born in New Zealand with a full Dutch heritage I have a connection with natural and lush green backyards along with the experience of the European lifestyle. I understand well that innovation and technological advancements help build great communities while also valueing sustainability appreciating how the natural experience can really enrich health and wellbeing.
How do you feel footwear design has evolved over the past years and how do you see it evolving in the future?
Over the past decades footwear has become incredibly specialized employing new and unseen technologies, resulting in the average consumer owning many pairs of shoes. This has ramped up production and demand for more niche footwear. I think the future holds potential for a more streamlined production where products are able to be made specialized without large production expenses. A unified manufacturing means where energy consumption and biproducts can be evaluated and managed more effectively.
What do you think are the biggest challenges and opportunities in your career and the industry now?
Manufacturing means have been established and set in their ways, if it’s not broken don’t fix it. Our behavior around product use and consumption has set a standard. Environmental threat is asking for alternatives, this is a big change and one to be done over time. Finding and introducing these alternative methods will be a challenging and exciting process to improve our consumption culture.
Design has become so accessible, more people are able to express their thoughts working towards an overall improvement of the products we build relationships with, I see this as the opportunity. However it remains difficult to separate your ideas from the many others. The already competitive industry is flooded with designs and when evaluated are most often reduced down to just aesthetic and price.
What’s your creative process and what creative software do you use?
I always start with the bare stripped-down mediums. Theres a rawness to sketching and an ability to separate cognitive thought to the lines and marks that are made resulting in a real freeness of design, this is where I also tend to mix mediums built up from my experience with pencils, pastels, pens and paint. In the next stages I work towards digital refinement using the adobe creative cloud suite. When moving down the process I always think 3D modelling is invaluable and provides endless detail that is lost in imagery alone. A lecturer of mine used to say a picture is worth a thousand words, and a model is worth a thousand pictures. Once experimented with model making and testing I move to 3D modelling where my strengths lay with Rhinoceroses and Solidworks. From here I am able to present ideas through rendering software’s such as Solidworks Visualize and Keyshot. With a set of plans and research and testing behind me I can begin crafting and machining the final work that best represents the development process, proposing a strong solution to the initial problem.
What kind of questions do you ask before beginning a shoe design? What piece of information is of utmost value?
I think its most important to know what or who are you designing for and to not lose sight of this. Keep referencing back to your original issue and ask yourself if this will help improve the situation and overall way of life.
How do you feel about the topic of sustainability in regards to footwear design in general?
I think sustainability is definitely on the rise in terms of awareness and even execution in the footwear industry but it can be a difficult concept in design. We design products and footwear to meet consumer needs which are largely driven by wants, resulting in a fast fashion mindset. I think importance has been placed on sustainability but we don’t have a clear answer yet, the more exploration the better. It’s the most exciting part of designing as it is the way of the future and has the potential to solve all problems, they just need to be valued and explored to be able to meet and even surpass more traditional production methods.
What do you wish to see more of in the footwear industries?
I wish to see more young minds so passionate about advancing and improving these design sectors. I do think it’s happening but I wish I could just see more of it as well as the outcome right now.
Global Footwear Awards Best Overall Designs Announced
Los Angeles, CA –Farmani Group launched The Global Footwear Design Awards (GFA) for the first time as a sister awards alongside IDA International Design Award. The GFA recognizes visionary design talent from around the world with an ambition to provide the highest recognition to footwear designers in all categories including sustainability and medical footwear.
The GFA jury panel consists of leading industry professionals coming from different disciplines within the footwear industry, including publications, retailers, institutions and the footwear guru in the industry, providing an overall industry perspective towards the selection of the best designs. Here are some of our jury’s words:
“Having judged the awards and really investigated what each brand/trainer was about, it was so great to see a dedication to sustainability and ethical practices on so many fronts. It’s one thing designing and manufacturing great-looking shoes, but to do so and achieve a high-level of sustainable awareness at the same time is applaudable.” Zak Maoui, British GQ Style Editor.
“The GlobalFootwearAwards is a great competition for both, young and aspiring designers to showcase their concepts and also for established brands to let their work compete against each other.” Timon Kuhlenkamp, On Running Footwear Designer.
“Apart from enjoying the variety in creativity I was most happy to see that more and more designers start to think of footwear as an area to tackle socio-political issues and so plays a part in taking the discipline beyond only reproducing styles of fashion, and playing with technology, and engaging with real-life issues.”Eelko Moorer, LCF MA footwear course leader.
Congratulations to all winners on their outstanding works!
The Global Footwear Design Award’s Founder, Hossein Farmani, commented, “Our esteemed jury members have worked hard to select the best projects. We are proud to present the Winners of our inaugural year, celebrating the creativity and talent of incredible design Footwear from around the world, giving them the global exposure they deserve.”
To learn more about GFA’s submission criteria and award structure, winner benefits, and more, click here. For any press enquiries, email team@globalfootwearawards
Global Footwear Awards is proud to present beautiful handmade trophies. Standing 20 cm tall, made of black crystal and high-quality glass. These trophies will be awarded to the overall- designs in the following categories:
Art Footwear
Fashion: Pro
Fashion: Non-Pro
Sneakers: Pro
Sneakers: Non Pro
Sustainability: Pro
Sustainability: Non-Pro
Kids: Pro
Kids: Non Pro
Medical: Pro
Medical: Non-Pro
Performance Footwear: Pro
Performance Footwear: Non-Pro
Special Awards: Pro
Special Awards: Non-Pro
Also, trophies are presented to designers nominated by our jury panel in Sustainability, Social Impact, Innovation, and Lifetime Achievement in Footwear Design.
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