Country: United Kingdom What: Footwear | For: Women | Style: handcrafted, classy, petit luxe | Category: Established Brand
My inspiration mainly just pops out of my own head!
There is no particular source, I see things I love all the time and my mind is a constant jumble of creative thoughts!
I design shoes that I love!
Shoes I believe people would love to see on their feet rather than following a particular trend.
Wearable!! I really wanted to make shoes that are of the most beautiful materials and a bit of everyday luxury!
I dislike seeing fast throw away fashion all over the high street made of cheap materials that reguarly meet our landfills.
Equally I think that good quality shoes shouldn’t be saved for best, gathering dust under our beds!comfortable and stylish!
I have been a footwear designer for 18 years and mum to two fabulous children, one boy and one girl and I absolutely love working in shoes.
I took a career break after having the children as flying off to the Far East to source materials just didn’t really work with two under 4’s at home! So, I gave up my job to look after my family for a few years.
I still had the ideas, the passion and the drive for designing shoes but I wanted to change my direction.
Throughout my career I have always worked on a large scale. Big shoe orders, from big companies, with big factories, churning thousands of pairs of shoes out to far flung corners of the world.
Boxes heading to the high streets of Britain and cartons departing for supermarkets. And I loved it. The travel and the many fabulous people I worked with far and wide.
But…. I always knew that one day I’d work closer to home on a project that for me would be a little more special, something that would feel a little more personal.
I knew that one day I would work with smaller European family inherited factories. Within a less frantic environment, where beautiful materials and high quality workmanship combine to create something a bit special.
Ballerinas where an easy transition for me to make. I wear them regularly, I love them and I see so many women in fast paced lives wearing them. And I believe if you want to make a success of a product, you have to feel passionate about it!
Vine! Because I am a magpie at heart and I really do love shimmer and shine.
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It begins with materials. I love to rummage through all the new materials available and pull out ideas, collate moodboards and get creative!
The process is a mass of swatches, prit stick glue and lots and lots of handwritten notes and doodles!
Don’t think that just because you have ballerinas on you have to wear trousers!
The catwalks have been littered recently with ladies wearing short evening dresses and ballerinas and Emma Watson even turned up at the Baftas in flats!
I’d be a zoo keeper! With a household that currently homes 8 animals I love animals as much as I love shoes!
Hey, let’s have some 5MIN-READ with Cool Brand Stories & Founders’s interviews!
We met Yana & Imke from Tizz&Tonic, a sustainable lingerie emerging label from Bremen in Germany. Limited collection underwear for conscious minds.
We met Igor, co-Founder of Many Mornings an accessory brand from Poland designing original mismatched socks! Because life is too short for boring socks!
We met Sofiane, co-Founder of Sobo Concept a responsible fashion, French Clothing brand designing sustainable basics and denims for men & women.
We met ME.LAND’s founder Frédéric Robert in a short sneaker 5-min read. ME.LAND is a french sneaker brand offering unique, arty, comfy unisex sneakers.