Footwear Design Bundle

Kedar Benjamin, aka Benjometry, is a computational designer, AI for footwear, and DFAM expert with a background in industrial design. Kedar has 5 years of experience with Houdini and 2 years of experience as an independent computational designer in the footwear industry. In 2022, he created the world’s first AI-designed 3D-printed shoe, Basilisk, printed by Zellerfeld. Kedar has taught workflows at CD: Next and with Designmorphine in the past, as well as courses elsewhere for additive footwear modelling

Nolan Kim is a computational designer who will deliver his explorations in highly-functional parametric structures and additive manufacturing. Drawing from nature and procedural patterns, his work explores how complex geometries can re-imagine commonplace products. Beyond appealing aesthetics, his projects encourage the discovery of heightened function within the interplay between efficient material usage and conscious structural forms. Much of his early work investigated the correlation between 3D-printed geometries and long-distance running performance. He went on to head many of the computational design projects at Desktop Metal, leveraging his knowledge of parametric structures and access to a wide array of additive manufacturing resources to develop applications for automotive components, sports products, industrial tools, and interior designs.

David is a multidisciplinary Computational Design Leader from the PNW working across a broad spectrum of disciplines including Footwear, Apparel, Consumer Goods, Automotive, Medical, and Architectural Industries. He has delivered Advanced Computational Design, strategy, and training for companies such as Nike, FILA, PUMA, General Motors, EQLZ, Harry’s Razors, and more. He has over a decade of experience with a variety of products and projects in the market as evidence to the efficacy and broad applicability of his approach, methodology, creativity, and design thinking capabilities. He has built a variety of tools, workflows, and processes, used both internally and externally, for several of these companies. Originally an Architectural Designer, David holds a Master of Architecture from the University of Southern California. He worked in the highrise and supertall domains with projects in Jakarta, the Philippines, China, as well as domestically in Los Angeles and greater Seattle areas. He leveraged Computational Design broadly in the Architectural industry on projects ranging from 1000+ foot tall towers, both built and speculative work for competitions, small installations, key architectural features, and many others. David has a personal interest in biomimicry, generative and emergent systems, and bio-algorithmic design. He seeks to leverage advanced Computational Design to drive innovation in pursuit of realizing high-performance, creative, and sustainable solutions to the profound ecological and social challenges of our time. David is currently an independent Computational Designer and guest lecturer at the University of Washington MArch program.