Maria Nina Vaclavek, a Czech fashion designer, made these blocky shoes while she was a student at the University of West Bohemia in Pilsen, Czech Republic. They're a modern-looking design, but Vaclavek's inspiration was actually the earliest shoes worn by humans. In 2014, she told Dezeen that she wrapped leather around a form, as Stone Age humans did when they invented shoes:
"The caveman hunted down an animal, skinned it and wrapped the leather – still raw and warm – around his foot where he tightened it with bast," she continued. "The leather adapts the shape of the user's foot. I found this technology very interesting and decided to work with it further."
Adapting this method, Vaclavek wrapped a piece of wet vegetable-tanned leather around a platform and a shoemaker's last. When it dried, the leather became rigid and formed the solid shape of the shoes.
-via Fubiz