The Egg Drop Challenge was the first module of Footwear Design Studio, tasking us with exploring new cushioning systems that would protect an egg from breaking when dropped from shoulder height.
Inspiration
My inspiration came from my culinary expertise and wanted a porous, yet dense structure that could collapse on itself when experiencing impact. Furthermore, during this time of crisis I had to get a bit creative with my construction.
Step 1: Prepare (Overcooked) Rice
Overcooking the rice ensured the structure would be soft enough to absorb impact like it does water, but still be able to collapse on itself upon impact.
Step 2: Prepare Jell-O
For the Jell-O I decided to make it 3x stronger, both in flavor and firmness, to allow for better impact absorption. I was worried that from 5-6ft up, the egg would shoot straight through normal Jell-O consistency.
Testing
After the baseline rice drop, I wanted to experiment with the combination of both rice and jello. This would literally bring the two concepts together, and create ultimate egg absorbing material that could one day be implemented in footwear.
