Designer Portrait: Katrien Herdewyn, High-fashion footwear designer

Learn more about i.materialise: https://i.materialise.com
Learn more about Elegnano: http://www.elegnano.com

Katrien Herdewyn, a shoe designer with a background in engineering, material sciences, and nanotechnology, is blurring the lines between science and fashion. This talented Belgian designer started creating stunning footwear by relying on her traditional craftsmanship skills. That’s why we met up with Katrien to learn more about the passion that drives her in our latest video interview.

Katrien Herdewyn’s fascination for shoes started at a very young age. At four years old, Katrien built a shoe shop in front of her garage and spent hours underneath tables in aisles to look at the shoes of people walking by. In 2010 she graduated as a civil engineer with a Master’s degree in Nanoscience and Nanotechnology at the University of Leuven. After her studies, she started a Ph.D. in Sciences, in combination with studies in Footwear Design at the Academy of Fine Arts in Sint-Niklaas.

In 2014, Katrien decided to start her own commercial shoe label, Elegnano, after being featured in countless exhibitions, fairs, and fashion shows. The starting phase was a mix of fun, excitement, and uncertainty: “Everything was new and at the same time you have to make decisions that really matter. And if you make a mistake, there’s no one else to solve it.” Nevertheless, the Belgian shoe designer never regretted her decision: “For me, this is really my dream. It is rewarding to see the whole process from design to selecting the materials to see the first finished shoes.”