Frog Design, the world leader in corporate and product branding, web site design, engineering, and product design services, unveiled the Prana shoe for the opening of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art's "Design Afoot: 1995 to 2000" exhibit. The exhibit, the first of its kind, showcased a collection of the best running shoes, athletic shoes and outdoor footwear designed in the last five years, as well as futuristic footwear for the year 2005. Frog's Prana is a prototype shoe which integrates state-of-the-art biotechnics with the ancient healing arts of acupressure, reflexology and shiatsu to blur the line between nature and technology.
"We believe that a new digitally-fueled environmentalism we call e-Cology will have surfaced in 2005" - said Steven Skov Holt, Frog Design vicepresident and co-curator of the exhibit, speaking on behalf of the Frog Design team. "This will result in hybrid digital/organic products that fuse technology and nature as never before. The new dream for designers will be to give biologically profound form, function, metaphor and meaning to the products and services of technology. Prana ushers in such an era of new organic syntheses".
The word Prana refers to "life-force", or more accurately "soul" in Sanskrit. It also alludes to two words - "p" for prototype and "rana" which is Latin for "frog". Frog Design has a long history of creating legendary concept products with its convergent design team, including the first fully-fairinged motorcycle (the Rana 750) and the eponymous experimental publication of design culture (Rana). The Prana shoe literally bonds its bioelectric delivery system to a phytovascular sock. Light and heat energy are collected photosynthetically by the sock and then transdermally distributed to key pressure points around the foot's vital meridian points via exothermic contact pads. Blockages in the body's molecular flow are released, restoring a balance of mind, body and spirit.
Specific Prana shoe features include: Phytovascular Sock (biomimetic leafy fabric collects and stores body heat), Exothermic Contact Pads (diatomic composite membrane directs energy to key pressure points), Self-healing Outsold/Transdermal Insole (ultradurable outer tread integrates herbally-infused inner layer), Bioelectric Delivery System (woven microwire framework distributes energy to exothermic contact pads).
Run The Planet thanks Frog Design (www.frogdesign.com) for the permission to reprint the article "Frog Design showcases futuristic footware at San Francisco Museum of Modern Art Exhibit". Founded in 1969 by design visionary Hartmut Esslinger, Frog Design has an unparalleled history of successfully applying its best-of-breed talent to address the challenges of companies competing in rapidly changing marketplaces. The company has distinguished itself by developing a process of concurrent, multidisciplinary innovation, which rapidly delivers high impact products, services and brand enhancements. Frog Design has designed some of the market's most significant products, including the Sony Trinitron, the Apple Computer, Lufthansa Airlines terminals, and Disney Cruise Lines. It is also the world leader in software user-interface design and e-commerce solutions, with work for Microsoft, CommerceOne, Sap, and Dell.com. Headquartered in California's Silicon Valley, Frog Design has additional offices in San Francisco, New York, Austin, and Altensteig (Germany).
