Michael Cutini: Designing Beyond Footwear
Alice Bouju
Michael Cutini, from industrial footwear to cultural experimentation
Michael Cutini is an Italian designer and co-founder of RAL7000STUDIO, a footwear design and development studio. It has grown from an independent project into an internationally recognized partner for major brands in fashion, sportswear, and contemporary culture.
What started as a small studio focused on footwear has evolved into a multidisciplinary platform working on concept creation, product development, and material innovation. Over the years, RAL7000STUDIO has collaborated with brands such as Air Jordan, UGG, Kith, Fear of God, On Running, Salomon, ASICS, or Reebok.
Between footwear design and culture
At RAL7000STUDIO, Michael Cutini’s approach to design goes beyond functionality. In fact, footwear is treated as a cultural object, shaped by identity, storytelling, and contemporary visual languages.
Therefore, each project becomes a translation of ideas into material form, where technical development meets cultural references. As a result, his work sits between performance, fashion, and design experimentation.
RAL Legacy founded by Michael Cutini
Alongside the studio, Michael Cutini founded RAL Legacy, an e-commerce platform dedicated to limited drops and custom pieces. Indeed, this space allows him to move away from industrial constraints and explore a more direct relationship between design and audience.
RAL Legacy often produces custom works for artists and musicians such as Salmo, Lazza, and J. Cole. These pieces exist between product and collectible, and function as a more instinctive extension of his practice.
A more personal direction
Today, Michael Cutini’s practice is less defined by a single style than by constant evolution. While footwear remains central, he focuses on expanding into other types of objects and developing a more personal design language.
Outside of structured projects, he shares experimental works on social media. These “side” projects allow him to test ideas freely, explore materials, and work without commercial constraints.
Visual influences
One of his current inspirations comes from manga and anime. He is drawn to their strong character design, exaggerated forms, and narrative energy.
Rather than referencing them literally, he translates this visual intensity into design thinking. He uses it to inform shape, proportion, and storytelling within his work.
Expanding a language
Overall, Michael Cutini’s practice reflects a contemporary approach to design: fluid, collaborative, and open-ended. Between studio work, independent experimentation, and cultural influences, he continues to build a language that moves beyond footwear into a broader exploration of objects and ideas.
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Alice is a Paris based photograper with a passion for fashion. Based in Paris, she develops an approach that brings together photography and writing, often mixing the two within her projects.
Her work is deeply rooted in reality. She is particularly drawn to documentary practices, using images and text as complementary tools to observe, question, and reinterpret the world around her. Whether through visual series or written pieces, she seeks to capture fragments of the everyday and give them a new narrative dimension.
She has developed a strong interest in research and editorial work. Writing articles, exploring contexts, and building stories from real-life subjects naturally extend her creative process. This intersection between documentation and storytelling reflects a field she has long been eager to explore.
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