The platform heels of these shoes by graduate fashion designer Laura Papp are moulded from porcelain (+ slideshow).
"Textiles and laces were dipped into porcelain and then burnt, so the shape remains but the materials are destroyed," Papp told Dezeen.
Three different gauzes were used to create patterns influenced by stalactites and the stonework of the Sagrada Familia by Gaudí, whose birthday was celebrated with a Google doodle not long ago.
The Porcelain Shoes are each as light as one kilogram due to the half-centimetre-thick heel walls and a pair can withstand weights over 160 kilograms.
Contrasting with the rough heels, smooth white leather is used for the vamps. Each has a different style of opening and slashes up the ankle at various offsets.
The platforms are angled inward from the heel and toe to create smaller soles, which are formed from rubber.
Papp recently graduated from Budapest's Moholy–Nagy University of Art and Design with a bachelor degree from the Faculty of Accessory Design.
We've previously published shoes based on furniture and engineering, and filmed a movie with the designer of a pair of high heels you wear back to front. See more shoe design »
The text below was sent to us by the designer:
This experimental project was for my bachelor degree. My inspirations were the stone surfaces of dripstones and Antoni Gaudí's Sagrada Familia. My goal was that the rustic features would show up in the heels. I imagined it in white, because it shows the plastics best. The right material was porcelain as it is able to imitate any fine surface, and one of the strongest materials.
The shoes could hold more than 160 kilograms but the platform is not heavy, only one kilogram, because the heel wall is only half a centimetre thick. Finally, three pairs of shoes are made from different gauzes. The vamp is made of leather, which contrasts with the platform. The homogeny and the rustic reinforce each other. The sole of the shoes are made of rubber.