Jui Chi Chang

Womenswear RCA Footwear graduate Rachel Jui Chi Chang is creating a new visual language for the foot with her graduate collection Foot space. She approaches footwear design as an engineer, analysing the fixtures and fittings of contemporary chairs to inform sleek structures and forms for the foot.

Materials include maple brass bronze, rose gold and veg tan leather. Rachel has worked with the latest technology 3D CAD software and printing as well as collaborating with traditional master craftsmen to achieve these monumental foot forms.

Following in the footsteps of Chau Har Lee, and spirit of Chalayan, her collection explores heel forms and focuses on engineering frameworks to fit the space around the foot. The shapes and lines are inspired by skeletal structures of human bone as well as architectural space frames. Her research has extended to references from Luigi Nervi, Dieter Rams and Charles and Ray Eames to create purist avant-garde shoes. Stripped to the core the essential structural elements of the shoe that remain are employed as design features.