Spanish performance-artist Alicia Framis initiated the "Moon Life" project which is about space travel and the speculation of future living in space. She invited a select group of artists, architects and designers to create futuristic, radical and even political but humane concepts for the lunar environment. United Nude was invited to design a shoe. Other than the shoe being suitable for outer space, the brief was left open.
By choosing to create a piece for indoor use, United Nude, was able to craft a high-heeled shoe both elegant and sexy while not be limited by the extreme conditions of space such as temperature and pressure. Additionally, United Nude's goal was to create a shoe that can also function in a gravity rich environment.
The further the journey, the more it will cost to transport by weight and volume. Therefore United Nude formulated their own criteria for their Moon Life Shoe: to create something as light and compact as possible while remaining fashionable. The outcome is the United Nude Flat Pack shoe: A shoe that customers can assemble themselves, while the uppers of the shoes are interchangeable and suitable for customizing.
The base of the shoe is built from flat carbon fiber pieces, molded foot-bed pieces and 3-dimensional sole pieces that simply slot into each other. These parts are all adjoined by a thin wire span on the sides. The upper of the shoe is a lace with 2 leather pieces. The assembly takes no longer than 10 minutes for each shoe.
United Nude is developing a final version of this product that will be available for purchase in very limited numbers.