Darja Malešič

CORN DOLLY

Hours

WED 17.00-22.00

THU-SUN 11.00-22.00

Project

Corn Dolly Shoes fuses traditional wicker craft with a modern circular design to create a brand-new concept in contemporary footwear. It uses a modular design to enable the replacement of individual damaged elements, which can then be composted or recycled. The shoes consist of 3 elements: Upper material: artisanal hand-woven 100 % natural corn leaves; Sole: Vibram rubber unit; String and laces.

The hand-woven wicker part is fixed with the Vibram sole only with a string (no glue needed). The use of corn husk wicker is a simple example of a circular economy, where waste (corn husk is a by-product of the agricultural industry) is the basic raw material for a product and it can be composted when its life cycle is completed.

Corn Dolly footwear uses a Vibram rubber sole. It is a high-quality rubber sole that is made from 90% natural ingredients and uses 100% natural pigments. This sole can be recycled within Vibram's industrial process. This concept challenges the throw-away produced footwear. Corn Dolly Shoes are designed to be repaired. It makes fixes that are user-friendly, with affordable replacement parts. This Guilt-free modular footwear aims to promote biodiversity by using corn leaves from an indigenous Slovenian (non-GM) maize.

Author

After completing a Master's degree at the Royal College of Art in London, Darja Malešič spent many years as a Womenswear designer in the Fashion industry working for luxury brands such as Dolce & Gabbana and John Richmond. In recent years, however, Darja has made a dramatic change in direction. Under her own ethical lifestyle brand Flowe Craft, Darja has embraced circular design to make contemporary lifestyle products with a particular focus on traditional wicker craft and sustainable local materials. Collaborating directly with Slovenian artisans they created diverse products that have earned Design Awards and have been exhibited internet

Project name Corn Dolly

Year 2023.

Client Co Production with Centre for Creativity (MAO)

Design Darja Malešič