Shi Yuan’s Reactive Paint Projects

Heat-reactive wallpaper, hacker survival kits, Barcelona's museum of inventions and more in this week's web round-up

London-based designer Shi Yuan recently posed two new concepts for home decor, “A Painting with Feelings” and “Heat Sensitive Wallpaper.” The painting reacts to the human touch by changing color, while the floral wallpaper responds to heat by growing blossoms.

Havaianas Soul Collection

The renowned Brazilian flip-flop maker steps into slip-ons and sneakers

Before Havaianas was born, its parent company Alpargatas, founded in 1907, exclusively sold espadrilles. (Alpargatas actually means espadrilles in Spanish.) Going back to these roots, the Brazilian maker of the popular flip-flops will introduce espadrilles, ballet flats and sneakers next Monday. While the soles use the Brazilian company’s same ultra-soft rubber (a top-secret formula) that make their sandals so comfy, different materials for the uppers …

Oat Shoes

Biodegradable sneakers with looks good enough to literally wear into the ground

While sustainable shoes up until now tended to either look suited for Middle Earth or were limited to recyclable and repurposed options, Oat Shoes signals a welcome leap forward in the market with their cleanly-styled, fully biodegradable sneakers. Founder Christiaan Maats took on the seemingly-impossible challenge of designing and fabricating decomposable footwear as a continuation of his graduation project in product design. After over two …