Molding bespoke ergonomic footwear from PU foam casting.

The Israeli designer Tidhar Zagagi makes bespoke footwear on the side of the road in a project called ‘Pixel Shoe’, this sees him take to the streets with his wooden cart, or what he calls his ‘one-man shoe factory’, and makes custom kicks for passersby. By leveraging the speed and plasticity of PU foam casting, within a few minutes the customer leaves with an affordable ergonomic shoe, molded to the exact shape of their sole and fused to their socks.

The project explores the past and the future of craft manufacturing while affording an intimate exchange between customer and manufacturer, giving the consumers the power to decide. Pixel Shoe embraces a low-tech approach to custom manufacturing to approximate scenarios in the near future when large factories and sweatshops will no longer be needed, and mass production will be replaced with mass customization.