Get Back On Your Feet!
Limb Prosthetic & Custom Software, Typography
From the Artist:“We decided to explore the idea of the prosthetic leg by limiting ourselves to using type. We gave one typeface the feet from another typeface - a kind of typographic prosthetic. Because the prosthetic leg is made from recycled material, we used cut up bits and pieces of type to express recyclable material. To create the piece we created the prosthetic typeface using Adobe Illustrator. For the recycled materials, we wrote a piece of software to cut up and arrange chunks of letters for us.”
—Clement Valla and Megan Feehan
The Science
In 2010, the Brazilian Government announced that approximately one million Brazilians were waiting to receive artificial limbs, but that they were having trouble funding the program due to the high costs of prosthetics. To solve this issue, Brazilian scientists Eduardo Trierweiler and Lucas Strasburg Ferriera designed Revo Foot II, a prosthetic limb made out of sustainable recyclable materials that costs significantly less than today’s prosthetics. Their design also has a higher resistance and impact absorption than traditional prosthetics made from carbon fiber.
The cost to produce the Revo Foot is about US$80.00. Thus, this innovative product becomes accessible to most low income patients and can positively impact the lives of amputees, improving their self-esteem, promoting independence and social reintegration.
The Artist
Clement Valla is an artist based in Brooklyn, NY who specializes in typography and graphic design. Valla received an Masters of Fine Art from Rhode Island School of Design and has been designing for approximately 5 years. His work has been written about in the Huffington Post, Wired, The Guardian and Le Figaro. To create this piece he worked with artist Megan Feehan to bring this idea to life.
