Are We On The Cusp Of Science Becoming the Future Designer’s Toolbox?

We get to know Shamees Aden, an innovator using emerging technologies in future designs to create new materials derived from protocells.

I am not ashamed to say loud and proud that I have an innovation crush on Shamees Aden. She is a London born researcher and a multidisciplinary designer who has found exciting ways, via science, to potentially impact the future of design thinking.

Shamees Aden
Shamees Aden, Footwear Innovation Designer is one of the 14 women behind the Nike project chosen by Footwear Director Andy Caine who wanted her to “make some cool shit” | Photo Credit: Nike

Revolution Led By Emerging Living Technologies

Shamees, whose resume reads like a whos who of fashion, trained as a Womenswear Designer at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design. Her project, which was titled: ‘The Amoeba Trainer’ caught my attention. The surface-adapting trainer is a conceptual prototype that seeks to probe the future of new materials derived from protocells. “The study of protocells is a new and emerging science that has the potential to drastically revolutionise the way we make materials. Essentially, protocells blur the gap between the non-living and the living. Engineering the emergence of life from lifeless liquid chemicals manufactured artificially in the laboratory could provide the building blocks to create a new man-made nature”, explains thisisalive.com.

Photo Credit: Shamees Aden via Thisisalive.com

Collaboration seems to be key for Shamees, who once worked for work for high profile designers like Alexander McQueen, Jonathan Saunders and Deryck Walker. She is currently seeking to envisage and propose product concepts that communicate the complex research subject matter. Believing that we are on the cusp of a material revolution, Shamee is currently working with scientist Dr Martin Hanczyc from the University of Southern Denmark to explore the potential of how new scientific practices could play a role in helping her fabricate a tangible protocell shoe for 2050.

Share Your Tips & Corrections

Founding Editor in Chief at FashNerd.com | editor@fashnerd.com | Website

Founding editor-in-chief of FashNerd.com, Muchaneta is currently one of the leading influencers writing about the merger of fashion with technology and wearable technology. She has also given talks at Premiere Vision, Munich Fabric Start and Pure London, to name a few. Besides working as a fashion innovation consultant for various fashion companies like LVMH Atelier, Muchaneta has also contributed to Vogue Business, is a senior contributor at The Interline and an associate lecturer at London College of Fashion, UAL.