Mad Shoes & Octavia Chiru: a collaboration to keep an eye on

I have always admired Octavia’s pieces. So remarkable and creative, massive in a way that adds depth and unicity to an outfit, without being too much “in your face”. I knew we needed to work on a collection of accessories for the Mad Shoes.

Mad about Berlin

I reached out to her, saying that I’m dreaming of someday creating a collection of shoes that’s evocative of Berlin, my soul city, which was my home and ❤️ for 6 years. I couldn’t do Berlin wrong, too much was at stake!

I didn’t know at the time what the collection should be like.

The assignment read like this: Berlin is a city of contrasts, of aesthetic contradictions, which somehow blend effortlessly in. Nothing more. No details, no specific colours or textures, no models or shapes in my mind at all.

Reimagining the urban: Mad about Opulence

Octavia understood the challenge and took it to the next level.

🌟She not only suggested potential accessory ideas but also identified texture and colour associations characteristic of the city.

🌟When thinking of Berlin, Octavia operated with concepts that are relevant to the Berlin ethos: the piercing, the overall grey architectonic, the cube, cement, etc.

🌟Which she then reimagined in otherwise unusual associations: lace, leather, velvet.

This is how The Mad about Opulence was born: our typical 7 cm heel shaft, comfortable thanks to the included memory foam, only this time made of lace, army green leather, and (soon enough) velvet.