Veló by Zin was born from the encounter of two architects, Niccolo Di Paola and Zaida Mañas. In 2013, their shared wish to create and make shoes using a traditional process pushed them to establish their own workshop in the El Born neighborhood of Barcelona.
Photo credits: Lucia Meler
“This city is a continuum bombing of stimulus that you need to hush if you are trying to make something new.” Together, they design unique shoes made mainly from wood and leather sourced from local Catalan tanneries or from Italy, and recycled bicycle tires. “We make shoes in thousand different ways, we always seek or invent the best technique depending on the situation, model, design, materials, shapes…”
Photo credits: Veló By Zin – Niccolo
Niccolo studied architecture in Venice, where he gained his experience making shoes with Venitian master Rolando Segalin, after also working in Florence, London and Barcelona. “In 2010 I decided to move to Barcelona and dedicate more time to my passion: shoemaking. The passion became a real work. I felt in love with shoemaking because the process of designing and making behind the shoes is very similar to the architecture one. The shoes are small buildings that you can create by yourself.”
Photo credits: Lucia Meler
Zaida also devoted herself to architecture, design, and lighting before her life took a major turn in 2011 after the loss of a loved one. “In that moment of change and awareness, I met Niccolò, and soon after we decided to begin a new journey together in this exciting adventure that is Veló by Zin.”
Their experience as architects truly resonates in their collections. “We keep designing architecture, we think in terms of spaces, shapes and relations. And we always try to simplify more and more.”
Photo credits: Veló By Zin – Zaida
