IO, Surabaya – A student of the Sepuluh Nopember Institute of Technology (ITS), Surabaya, East Java, has made another achievement in the national arena. Gede Arya Daiva Daniswara transformed leather waste into slick and attractive casual shoes, thus taking first place in the prestigious Indonesia Footwear Creative Competition (IFCC) 2020 event.
IFCC is a competition held by the Indonesian Footwear Industry Development Center (BPIPI) under the Ministry of Industry. The competition aims to provide space for creative industry players in Indonesia to work in the footwear sector, as well as introducing the general public to the development of fashion and the footwear industry.
Daiva, Gede Arya Daiva Daniswara’s nickname, carries the concept of recycling in the design of his product entitled Revive Runner, the Upcycled Leather Waste Casual Sneaker. The student of 2018 ITS Industrial Product Design Department has been involved in the world of shoe design since he was in High School.
He admitted that he received inspiration from the results of his exploration of the leather waste from the Indonesian shoe industry. “Leather waste that ends up accumulating in landfills or being destroyed by burning can be a threat to the environment,” he said in a release received by the Independent Observer, Wednesday (9/23/2020).
Departing from these problems, Daiva is trying to increase the life cycle of leather waste and revive the material into functional products through this project. “The leather waste is cut into modular shapes without using glue or stitches for joining,” said the young man from Surabaya.
Revive Runner has a sleek, minimalist, and simple design. This product is considered suitable for users who are looking for quality environmentally-friendly shoes, in addition to being suitable for daily activities, because it has a neat and minimalist model.
In the five months of the competition that took place last March, Daiva had to face various challenges that were sometimes beyond his expectations, starting from how the application of leather waste matches the design, to various mentoring activities to improve Daiva’s ability as a designer.
In front of a panel of judges who are experts in the shoe industry, such as PUMA Footwear Designer, Yadi Aditya; Indonesia Trend Forecasting, Isti Dhaniswari; and CEO of Pijak Bumi, Rowland Asfales, Daiva tries to give the impression and purpose of the design he makes. “At that time the presentation was broadcast live on YouTube; I felt extremely nervous,” said the eldest of two siblings.
Announced as the first winner via the YouTube channel in early September, Daiva said he was happy with his achievement. Thanks to this competition, he began to understand how the mindset of expert designers, from how he looks for ideas, the correct research, to how to present designs.
In the future, the owner of the @ halftoothdesigns Instagram account hopes to continue making designs that are better and more meaningful for a wider audience. He also wants to be able to enter the international-level competition at the next opportunity.
To fellow students, he advised, “Show your work, with that we will be able to get a lot of experience and also input that can make our work better in the future.” (est)