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.
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
