Hiding your inner child at work for your cooperate job? These shoes are made for you. They are the ideal combination between fun and fancyness, between playful and posh, between wonder and work. Vier Shoes designs classical brogues but adds a little twist. The Pac Man collection is made with the young, aspiring wall street guy in mind – a skateboard under his feet and his briefcase under the arm. The shoe is created to perfection: It is handcrafted by a family-owned business in Portugal, which has perfected the art of Goodyear Welted shoes, the most traditional and lasting stitching technique. Its' leather is French box calfskin leather from Tannery du Puy or suede leather from the United Kingdom. And the details are laser-cut. Vier Shoes combines two allegedly opposite worlds by bringing the 80s gaming culture and therefor a smile into your work routine.

The founder of the brand, Sophia Castell-Rüdenhausen, tells us all about her passion, the brand and her cooperation with Freiraum:

Freiraum: What does it mean to you to be part of the Freiraum Brand community?
Sophia Castell-Rüdenhausen: When I first stumbled upon Freiraum I absolutely loved the concept. It fits so well to the time we live in and to me it’s the future of the customer retail experience. People shop mostly online, but there are many products you do want to touch, feel and try on before making the actual purchase so I think Freiraum is genius. As a shoe designer, online shopping is a very difficult point of entry, because shoe sizes differ greatly around the world between brands and usually people tend to buy online once they get to know the brand and know their sizing. Personally, I am so happy to be part of Freiraum and to be among so many talented young designers and brands.

F: What do you hope to achieve with your participation at Freiraum?
SCR: Hopefully more people get to know VIER GmbH and have an opportunity to try on our shoes.

F: Which opportunities arise with Freiraum?
SCR: The curation of the products and brands is really fun and stylish. People get to know many young designers that try to do something different. Often people are hesitant to buy online, because many online shopping experiences can be disappointing. The colour is off, the quality is very different than portrayed, etc. What is so great about Freiraum, is that it brings an otherwise virtual shopping experience into a physical space, which makes it so much more accessible for the first-time shopper. It provides exactly what online shops are missing, but still having the convenience of ordering products online.

"Vier Shoes is for people who like to incorporate a bit of fun into their day to day life, but without being extremely bold about it. It’s supposed to make people happy."

F: What is different about your brand? What's the uniqueness of your brand or product?
SCR: VIER GmbH is different in the sense that we do something very classical, but with an unexpected, yet subtle twist. It’s for people who like to incorporate a bit of fun into their day to day life, but without being extremely bold about it. It’s supposed to make people happy.

F: Did you create the brand out of a personal need? What was your intention for establishing your own business, your reason to kick-off?
SCR: While studying footwear design in London I was watching all the young bankers on their way to work every day while I was heading out to the workshop. Many friends of mine were starting out in finance or other very serious corporate jobs. Seeing them in their office uniform of suit and tie always made me smile because many of them were still very young at heart and not at all that conservative. That inspired me to design a shoe that they could, in good consciousness, wear to the office, but still satisfy their inner rebel.

F: What's your ultimate source of inspiration?
SCR: I have many sources of inspiration. Sometimes it’s as easy as listening to a song, sometimes it’s going to a museum. What always helps is exploring new places, being it through physical travel or just reading a book. Mostly however it’s in combination with music.

You can find out more about Vier Shoes on their Instagram account.