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SHAHAR LIVNE
CONCEPTUAL MATERIAL DESIGNER

IN COLLABORATION WITH nat-2™
2018-2019

BLOOD SNEAKERS

As part of the ongoing research project Meat Factory – in which Shahar Livne explores the tension between attraction and repulsion, the natural and the industrial – her collaboration with nat-2™ created the world’s first sneakers made from real blood, drawing attention to urgent international matters of sustainability in animal-based industries by using nature-given resources and up-cycling leftovers from those industries.

The collaboration with nat-2™gave that research physical form. Working with waste streams from slaughterhouses in the Netherlands, Livne developed a handmade bio-leather derived from fat and bone byproducts, with cast-off blood used as both colorant and plasticizer – producing a material that sparks discourse while highlighting the wasteful and disrespectful treatment of animals and natural resources.

The shoes were produced entirely by hand in Italy, with materials sourced from the same region. Alongside the bio-leather, the construction incorporates finest Nappa leather, glass, cork and natural rubber – a material language that is at once artisanal and entirely singular.

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