In wake of opening of his new store in Miami, Creative Director and Founder of United Nude, Rem D. Koolhaas took some time to talk to Crane.tv about the journey that led him from architecture to design.
It has been a busy year for the brand, this being their fifth international store opening. Functioning for now as a pop-sup space, the store nevertheless has a permanent look about it, set up like a gallery and even including an art exhibition. The style of the shop is thus reflective of the brand's aesthetic; straddling the line between art, fashion and design United Nude's incorporates the mixed roots of both Koolhaas and his partner Galahad Clark.
Koolhaas explains how the initial concept started with a broken heart, and taking his architectural background in a new direction the design of the first shoe was intended to win back the girl he lost. Downsizing the idea of architecture to create an object that encapsulated it in its smallest and most vulnerable form, the 'Möbius' shoe was thus born. With the creation of the shoe, spawned from this romantic idea United Nude became a very real project that at once caught the eye of Galahad Clark. Clark as the seventh in the generation of the eponymous shoe-making dynasty, together with Koolhaas, made the company what it is today.
The name is described as an incorporation of a single word with several different meanings, and these combined explore the notions of femininity and contemporary design. Since the launch of the Möbius Shoe in 2003, the label has been at the forefront of exploring new themes with countless other products, all of which are intended to extend and reinvent the classic design. The Autumn/Winter 2010 collection displayed a further twenty styles utilizing new materials and constantly challenging the boundary between design and fashion. This has led to a distinctive aesthetic, allowing for international growth and universal appeal with the exclusivity limited to the quality of design but not the price.
Now, with the footwear as an established trademark of the brand, other projects include exciting explorations into further areas of design and promise a glittering future.
Text by Shekha Vyas for Crane.tv