Puma K1 - Footwear Design - Academic and Technical Exploration
I was invited by two Argentinian state institutions — The University of Architecture, Design and Urbanization (FADU-UBA) and The National Institute of Industrial Technology (INTI) — to teach postgraduate courses on 2D and 3D footwear representation.
For these courses, I developed this rendered shoe model, chosen for its ability to showcase both innovative design and advanced material technologies. The concept emphasizes the expressive potential of high-performance materials and their complex, hi-tech morphology, while integrating the familiar elements of contemporary sports footwear.
The project also explored the full modeling capabilities of Rhinoceros 4, pushing the limits of precision and detail. This image was featured on the V-Ray for Rhino website during the plugin’s first release, and also highlighted by T-Splines (Sub-D Plugin for Rhino). In addition, I created a series of video tutorials for T-Splines in 2007 based on this model.
Video Tutorial 1
Video Tutorial 2
The original design credit is for Michael Schaeffer, who developed it for Puma in 2005.
Puma K1