untitlab® at London Fashion Week
Amid a ribald collection unveiled at LFW, creative director Sans Peng reveals an astonishing 3D clog made in partnership with HILOS Studio.
At London Fashion Week, untitlab® unveiled their first 3D-printed shoe during Abyss1 at the Institute of Contemporary Arts. The launch is a dramatic representation of extensive 3D printing possibilities, drawing on organic textures and form to bring a futuristic, high-comfort shoe to life. All3DP just featured the clog alongside the latest 3D printed shoes by Adidas and Puma.
Abyss draws upon Georges Bataille's description in Erotism: Death and Sensuality as its overview, and offers a visceral exploration of desire, mortality, and the liminal spaces between:
“How sweet it is to gaze long upon the object of our desire, to live on in our desire, instead of dying by going the whole way, by yielding to the excessive violence of desire! We know that possession of the object we are afire for is out of the question.
It is one thing or another: either desire will consume us entirely, or its object will cease to fire us with longing. We can possess it on one condition only, that gradually the desire it arouses will fade. Better for desire to die than for us to die, though! We can make do with an illusion. If we possess its object we shall seem to achieve our desire without dying. Not only do we renounce death, but also we let our desire, really the desire to die, lay hold of its object and we keep it while we live on. We enrich our life instead of losing it.”2
Within this chaotic atmosphere of creation and loss emerges a striking clog, inspired by the organic and generative design of a sponge. 3D printed from TPU and vapor-smoothed for a glossy finish, it houses a drop-in latticed footbed and 2.5D knit sock upper — it’s a lot of shoe, but it doesn’t feel like it.
“We chose to partner with HILOS because their full 3D printing technology allows us to push the boundaries of design, creating completely new shapes that were previously impossible.
Their approach aligns with our commitment to sustainability, producing on-demand with no waste, using recycled materials, and delivering products that are not only innovative but also incredibly comfortable.”
Sans (Xin Peng)
untitlab® Creative Director
Concept and directed by Nicolas Tian, with music composition by Oscar B. Morgan and choreography by Lewis Walker, in collaboration with performers Alex Thirkle and Andrew Lennox Scott.
untitlab® Presents: Abyss. SS25 London Fashion Week Performance Press Release