Profile: Heidi Walmsley – Real Leather Design Competitions

Heidi Walmsley

De Montfort University

I am Heidi Walmsley and I am a final year footwear design student at De Montfort University. I have a particular interest in women’s luxury, contemporary footwear. I like to take traditional silhouettes and put my own twist on them to make them more interesting. Despite a lack of access to footwear machinery during my fine Art A-Level and Foundation Art Diploma that I achieved before university, I often found ways to link my work to footwear, experimenting with alternative materials like Modroc and clay to create models of shoes. I would always find myself rushing to the shoe section in stores like Selridges and this started my ambition to become a successful footwear designer. I enjoy traditional pencil sketching as well as digital rendering on Pro Create and Photoshop. A skill I developed in a university project with Adidas and Gravity Sketch was using a VR headset to create 3D models of designs, facilitating the magic of 3D printing. Winning a Biomechanics award and presenting to the Adidas design team at their headquarters in Germany, have been incredible course highlights. More recently, I had the honour of being announced as the winner of the Graduate Fashion Week Accessories Award, supported by YKK. Beyond my studies, I'm a committee member for the university snow sports society. We train once a week, enjoy weekly socials and embark on annual ski trips.

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Biomorphism

Category: Footwear

Competitions: International

Inspired by the artistic and architectural mastery of Andreas Palfinger, this footwear collection explores biomorphic shapes and innovative design. Featuring striking silhouettes and forward-thinking aesthetics, each piece is crafted to make a bold statement. The collection’s signature extended soles serve as a distinctive element, adding both height and modernity. A carefully curated palette of black and taupe enhances its sophisticated and contemporary allure. Blending avant-garde creativity with wearability, this collection redefines modern footwear, making it a true standout in high-fashion design. Biomorphism is an art and design movement that focuses on organic shapes and patterns, predominantly found within nature. It drains from the natural world including plant life, animal forms and human anatomy. My project focuses on the use of leather and how this material can be manipulated to create visually striking designs. Three distinctive leather techniques are used including ruching, moulding and twisting. I explored each technique in detail, practicing different methods to see which would be most effective before I produced my actual prototypes. Leather is a natural material that is often overlooked. I wanted to create this collection to show that leather can be used in lots of creative ways and can be a fun material to work with. I am excited to continue exploring new techniques with this material.