Sweet Designer: Atheist Shoes

Atheist Shoes is a collective of, well, atheists. Who make really cool shoes. Based in Berlin, a city that is around 2/3 atheist (fun fact!), they design beautifully crafted Bauhaus-y shoes created with the modern atheist in mind. The simple, high quality design of the shoes is enough to make me want a pair – and the fact that the designers are innovative, creatively pithy, and prone to explaining concepts with the help of vintage film screencaps doesn’t hurt. And no, you don’t have to be an atheist to wear Atheist Shoes.

How did Atheist Shoes come about?

One of us had the peculiar idea to make an ‘atheist shoe’, and we thought that sounded endearing and fun. We refined the designs and developed a plan of action – a couple of us as shoemakers, a couple as designers, one lending marketing experience, another her knowledge in textile production and one chap his genius at making sandwiches. The idea went gangbusters on reddit.com, and soon we were ready to take the atheist shoe to Kickstarter. Our humble and somewhat naive attempt to launch a shoe business has culminated in a room full of 100s of shoes, in all manner of colours.

So, shoes for stylish atheists.

Whether you’re an atheist looking to tickle the world with a foot-first declaration of godlessness, or someone who’s just keen on the aesthetics and craftsmanship of our shoes, we really do hope you’ll enjoy them. We’ve aimed for a timeless, distinguishing shoe, inspired by the Bauhaus, with premium materials and a very natural fit. Something Indiana Jones may have worn to a 1930s Berlin cabaret, or something we might yet dance in at the Vatican’s closing party in 2039.

Why shoes in particular?

The sneaker market is dominated by behemoth corporations, pumping out safe, over-designed product, covered in meaningless badges of allegiance, and it’s years since we’ve seen a perfect sneaker… simple, slight, elegant, well-made. We fell for the bauhausy, 1930s look of the shoes and we thought they’d be a welcome antidote to the cheap, samey designs belched out by the big sneaker corporations.

There’s a bit of a social justice side to Atheist Shoes too.

If we manage to make any money out of selling atheist shoes, we’d like to do something worthwhile with it. One cause we’re seriously interested in supporting is the fight against Female Genital Mutilation – a particularly disgusting practice, often coupled with religious tradition and seeking to deprive young women of the capacity to enjoy sex. And we’d also like to support the wonderful work of Medecins Sans Frontieres. If you can think of other causes we should consider supporting, please get in touch!

What’s the deal with the black hole logo?

Our logo is inspired by a Christian friend who accused us of having god-shaped-holes. And we think a gaping black hole is absolutely perfect! Just like atheism, a black hole is an inviting void, an exquisite blank canvas begging to be filled with something uniquely meaningful to you. And what says “I believe in nothing” better than nothing?

(Chloe’s Note: check out their black hole inspiration gallery!)

What are your plans for the future?

We want to go toe-to-toe with the big brands, making a sustainable  difference in the world as we do. We welcome would-be investors to get in touch… big ones and little ones.

Atheist Shoes are designed by David Bonney and Julia Shumacher, built by Julia Shumacher, Fernando Garcia, Hugo Melo, and Ricardo Domingues, and the soles are designed by Maurice Redmond and Mick Burman.

www.atheistberlin.com

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