![]() The team at Lyf now has five printers, and hopes to add seven more in the coming year. That original ZPrinter allowed the team to go from design to prototype in three days. “For the shoes, we’re using a lot of 3-D printing to do sustainable footwear.” It’s amazing what we paid for the first one, and what a pain it was compared to new technology, which has become a lot simpler,” Khalifa says. “For more than a decade we’ve had a 3-D printer working for clients. These days, Designbox rests atop Cafe Helios, and it’s where the Khalifas refine their newest endeavor: a line of custom 3-D-printed shoes. Since 2003, Designbox has supported local startups with a collaborative workspace and small retail store. It all began at Designbox, the Khalifas’ creative incubator that, until this year, was located in the Warehouse District. This year, as the 11th annual festival gears up for its run from September 15 through 18, Lyf is poised for larger-scale production. ![]() Alumni include Raleigh Denim Workshop, Holly Aiken, and Lumina Clothing, putting Lyf in good company.įinding himself on the other side of the planning equation for the first time, Khalifa had to ask himself new quesions: What would Lyf’s models look like? How should they represent themselves as a company? “It was the first time we got to present the real package,” he says, “and it was great for us. Lyf was selected to become the first footwear company to debut in the Triangle’s largest annual fashion exhibition, which has emerged as a showcase for the area’s best up-and-coming jewelry, clothing, and accessories. Their status as festival founders gave them no free ride into the event’s Wear What You Are fashion show. Meanwhile, the Khalifas are fully focused on launching Lyf, their own 3-D printed, custom-made, eco-shoe company in the heart of downtown Raleigh. These days, the once-modest event transforms downtown Raleigh into a weekend-long hive of creative expression, with a pop-up bazaar, runway show with a sprawling City Plaza catwalk, improv comedians, and chalk art that stretches for as far as the eye can see. After the first five hectic, successful years of running it – inventing and designing all the while – the pair relinquished management to the Visual Art Exchange, but not before expanding SPARKcon far beyond fashion to encompass film and technology, food and music, art and commerce. Which is how the couple designed it in 2006, when they began the festival to celebrate Raleigh’s fashion week. “SPARKcon is all open-source and run by the people who organize it, so I had no say whatsoever.” ![]() “We weren’t sure we would get in,” Khalifa says, with a hearty laugh. ![]() The couple had that in common with 30 other hopeful applicants, but none of those folks also had “SPARKcon co-founders” on their resumes. Last year at SPARKcon, downtown Raleigh’s annual festival of innovation and creativity, Aly and Beth Khalifa, local designers and entrepreneurs, had to apply to participate. Special thanks to our host CAM Raleigh and sponsors Loading Dock, Myriad Media, Counter Culture Coffee, who generously provided us with complimentary coffee, and Alimentaire, who provided the tasty breakfast snacks.Aly Khalifa, owner and director of innovation, at Lyf Shoes at Designbox in Raleigh Trailblazing shoe designer In 2009 Paul became the National Hockey League’s first-ever official cartoonist with the launch of Stormy the Pig’s CUP OF AWESOME comic strip and animated commercials with the Carolina Hurricanes. Paul is the co-founder of the SPARKcon, the South’s preeminent conference on creativity, member of the award-winning DesignBox, created the graffiti mural at Marbles Kids Museum and artwork for the CAT Bus Art-on-the-Move project, editor of HellCar Magazine, two-time champion of the Xtreme Suburban Endurance Event, as well as author/illustrator of several books, including “101 Ways to Add Stress to Your Life,” “Sleepwalking Batman in Plaid Pajamas,” and “Man V Liver.” Known for his humorous paintings with characteristic bold colors and steady lines based on his Eisner Award-nominated graphic novel “Onion Head Monster Attacks,” Paul Friedrich is one of the artists-writers in the forefront of the LowPop art movement. November 2015 CreativeMornings/Raleigh event (global theme: Work) with guest speaker Paul Friedrich.
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