Meet the Mojito shoe. It had quite a long journey from conception to production, but it’s finally going to be available to purchase.
The Mojito shoe is the creation of architect Julian Hakes. He says the design happened by accident when he was trying to figure out what parts of the shoe are needed to support and protect the foot. By wrapping tracing paper around his own foot and exploring different design options, he realized that a shoe really only needs to support the heel and the ball of the foot. Everything else is extra. And so the original mojito shoe was born, an ingenious design made from a single strip that wraps around the foot, named because the prototype resembled the spiral curl of lime found in a mojito cocktail (If you haven’t had one of those, I enthusiastically recommend it.)
The original Mojito shoe prototype, shown above, was possible because of the materials it was made from: carbon fiber laminated with rubber on the floor side and leather on the side that touches the foot. The carbon fiber gives it both the strength to support a person’s weight, and the springiness necessary for movement. Here is the view from above…
The response to the design was very enthusiastic, and Mr Hakes was besieged with requests to put the shoe into production. Fortunately, he bowed to pressure and spent the next year or so developing the shoe for production. The design was tweaked a bit; the elegant simplicity of the original has been turned into an exuberant brush stroke of a shoe.
Mr Hakes has upped the appeal even further by making the shoe available in a wide variety of luscious colors. Here is just a small selection:
UPDATE August 2012: The mojito shoes are now available to buy – check out the details here.
Please support independent shoe designers…and architects who design shoes!
All images used with kind permission of Julian Hakes and the Hakes Shoe Team.
Gorgeous design. Phenomenal. I’d put it in the same class as United Nude and Mohop. It’s amazing how many of great shoe designs come from architects…Any word on whether the mojitos are comfortable to walk in?
I agree wholeheartedly. I’m also fascinated by how many architects decide to design shoes; the results are almost always unusual and often very beautiful. Regarding comfort and the Mojito, I’ve read several accounts that indicate they are comfortable to stand in and to walk around in, but I haven’t found any reviews by people who have worn them for longer periods of time. If anyone out there has any information about this, please let me know and I will post it. I have to admit I’d still want a pair of the Mojitos even if they were reported to be tortuous to feet, but comfort would be a welcome bonus!
Adorei !!! Linduuuuuuuu
Encontro este sapato no Brasil???
I liked the original prototype one way better than the actual shoe.
Gorgeous! And fairly cheap too! When I saw them my first thought was “Oh damn, those look awesome, but I’ll never afford them. $200 is really very acceptable.
Now I know what my girlfriend will get for birthday present!
wow….I’m in love with those heels already!! where can i get those??
I’m in malaysia.
nice and amazing design!!!!
These are incredible! And for $200, I might have to just buy two pairs! I love the aqua/teal color
I just got my first pair of Mojito shoes , and I love them , wore the out to dinner , not uncomfortable , but will take a while to get use to them , not ideal for along distance walking , defiantly more of an entrance shoe and talking point , but if nothing else they also look great sitting on a shelf on there own like a piece of art !
I want the original one! Slightly lower heel and cleaner design. I’ve got small feet and the new bulkier design will look very chunky on my size 3s!
Love the shoes. But I will wait for comfort review. 4″ heels are way beyond my comfort zone. Wish they were available in low heel like the original prototype.
Love the style and the design bought them in black with lime inner but and it’s a big but….. They are such a wide fit ! I worry that comfort wise my feet will rub because unlike the photos of the feet in shoes whilst the right length in size my foot isn’t fat enough to fill the shoe in an upwards sense!! Only time will tell and we need the snow to depart first so I can try them out!