Diego Vanassibara

DESIGNER NAME: Diego Vanassibara

BACKGROUND: Having grown up in south Brazil, Vanassibara moved to the UK at the age of 22. He has a degree and a diploma from Cordwainers in footwear design and product development.

IDEAL CLIENT: “Our customer is an informed and urban man with a contemporary and individual attitude to dressing. He values honest products and excellent craftsmanship. He has a keen eye for aesthetics and is discerning enough to follow his own style and taste, but he is open to being a little bit adventurous, in particular with shoes and accessories. He enjoys being noticed, but is not an attention seeker.”

TRADEMARK PIECE: “It is actually not a piece, but a unique shoe construction that I created called hybrid construction, where I fuse both Oxford and Derby into one unit. And naturally, everything is permeated by a modern and contemporary take on artisanship.”

THE COLLECTION: “It is a spring/summer interpretation of the launching collection, which featured superbly hand crafted wooden accents. My inspiration was on adapting those shoes for my customers, discerning and individual men, to travel with them to a hot place. Somewhere urban and cosmopolitan like Rio, Singapore or Tokyo in the summer.”

IMPACT OF LONDON COLLECTIONS: MEN: “We launched our first full collection at London Collections in January 2013. We received fantastically positive response from the visitors, which has since lead to growing exposure in the media. It has been a great platform to promote and reaffirm the brand's philosophy that is to create genuinely innovative, individual, modern and amazingly well-crafted footwear.”

FIRST PIECE OF MENSWEAR DESIGNED: “If the act of just imagining an accessory or a garment count, then I had a whole wardrobe designed in my head at the age of 8. In fact, a Brazilian journalist once even wrote a story about my "imaginary wardrobe.”