Hey, Cool Shoes

The name of Japanese footwear manufacturer ASICS is an acronym for anima sana incorpore sano, a sound mind in a sound body. But how about a whole city in a single shoe? To kick off a promotional campaign for the Onitsuka Tiger, Janne Kyttänen designed a mini Tokyo in a mega-sneaker.

An alum of Belgian lighting innovator MGX, Kyttänen calls himself a digital sculptor—and now serves as the creative director of a studio called Freedom of Creation. "I don't feel I have to get my hands dirty," he says. Indeed, for the ASICS job, the entire modeling process took place in 3DS Max. The results included stripes that double as superhighways for sub-subcompact Toyotas, a flea market with flea-size billboards, and a downtown replete with a green toy lizard that's "not Godzilla," he says.

After a week spent honing every angle on-screen, he e-mailed a 39-inch-long version to a layer manufacturer for rapid prototyping. The company's three-dimensional digital printer painstakingly deposited tissue-thin layers of white polyamide powder that would then be hardened by a laser into two halves of the shoe. Once they were removed from the device, extra powder was blown away by compressed air. "It's a bit like archeology," Kyttänen says. Finished with a dirt-resistant coating, the polyamide became durable enough to go through the dishwasher. (The exact same material can also be tumbled in a rock polisher for a gemlike luster.)

When Kyttänen received the 19 ½-inch-long halves in the mail, he glued them together. The shoe was now ready for its lighting components. Under the guidance of an electrical engineer, Kyttänen screwed on the circuit boards that would connect to 300 feet of wire and control the LEDs spotlighting the un-Godzilla and the electroluminescent wire lining the highway. The only thing that remained to be done was to plug the shoe into a wall outlet, 110 or 220 volts.

The shoe began its world tour at the fashion trade show Bread & Butter in Barcelona, Spain. Meanwhile, the same basic data was employed to make dozens of smaller, slightly simplified shoes for retail locations and a zillion stainless-steel key-chain fobs—just for kicks.

From top: The shoe's framework is designed in 3DS Max. Dust is removed during 3-D printing. Circuit boards are screwed on to make the lights blink. The sole reveals some of the 300 feet of wiring used for the project. Electroluminescent wire is unspooled before application. Concealed LEDs spotlight the plastic lizard that ravages downtown Tokyo. The finished shoe measures 39 inches long and 16 high. A stainless-steel key fob derives from a simplified version of the digital file. Flash-drive versions are based on the same information.

Clockwise from top left: Miniature billboards advertise the "flea market" in the toe of the shoe. Cars race along the electroluminescent-lined highway around the tongue. The heel represents a Japanese shoe-vending machine. Downtown is populated by abstracted skyscrapers.