‘The art of hands making things’: footwear designer Tamara Toby on craft and community

Barcelona is not only the cultural backdrop of TAMA TOBY; it is its energy source. As one of the independent footwear brands shaped by the city’s creative spirit, TAMA TOBY reflects a commitment to craftsmanship, individuality and community. Its creative director, Tamara Toby, talks to hube about her loves: urbanity, imagery, and her TAMA TOBY girls.

The city is full of secrets, she says, of both darkness and endless light. Cities are places of multiplicity: togetherness through coexistence, creativity through exchange. The urbanites inspire her. Community is everything for Tamara, the heart of her process from production to product. With a made-to-order approach, she puts people first.

We have an open studio to look forward to in the coming months, the details of which are yet to be announced, an opportunity to see how it all comes together; a bridal collection and a men’s shoe are also under way, all projects prompted by conversations with customers. Ahead of these exciting new campaigns, Tamara expresses her commitment to authenticity, and the realness of wearing.

hube: TAMA TOBY is based in Barcelona. Spain continues to take pride in its history of artisanal shoemaking and leather craftsmanship. How conscious are you of these traditions when you design? Do you feel that this sense of place has given you a distinct point of view?

Tamara Toby: I’m a city girl. Big metro stations and car noises genuinely relax me. I’ve always been moved by the contrast between nightlife and daytime, the dark side and the bright side of life. TAMA TOBY comes from that feeling, endless long nights and fresh morning walks around big cities.

Spain in general and Barcelona in particular have definitely become part of this point of view: bold, classic and sensual, with clean lines and strong silhouettes. It’s such a deep city. You have to dig a little. It always surprises me. Barcelona has a little bit of danger in it and I like that. There are tons of talented people and creators around here—culture is a real thing. Barcelona has this strange ability to feel completely alive and completely secret at the same time.

h: ‘Craftsmanship’ should not just be a marker of luxury or quality, but of humanity. Your shoes are made to order. This process allows you to put people first. It’s about the interactions, exchanges, conversations and encounters that arise from thoughtfully and responsibly made goods. How important are the social aspects of making, workshopping and designing?

TT: A big part of my everyday life is the people and processes behind making the shoes, the absolutely insane world of craftsmanship, suppliers, endless steps, endless pieces, endless invoices [laughs], and all the tiny details that go into developing just one pair of shoes.

I know my suppliers, their kids and their secretaries by name. The teamwork behind a shoe this complex is everything. Without them, I simply couldn’t make it happen. In the beginning, when we just started, nobody wanted to work with the made-to-order system of an unknown brand, but we managed to convince so many different kinds of people to take a chance and bet on a young brand that is doing things differently. It’s real people doing real jobs with real skills.

As AI becomes a huge part of our lives, I find myself appreciating this even more. I’m definitely more into traditional techniques. For me, that’s the exciting part: the knowledge passed from one person to another, the conversations, the mistakes, the little tricks, the smell of leather.

All these things make this world feel alive. The art of hands making things has become especially important to me.

h: In a fashion industry increasingly powered by algorithms, trend cycles accelerate and compress; sustainability becomes an afterthought. Is it possible for brands to operate outside this new trend culture, or could resistance involve selective and critical participation?

TT: For me, it’s very simple. In order to exist within such a huge market, you have to bring a different point of view, a different story to the table. Otherwise, what you’re doing isn’t really relevant.

A small brand like ours walks along a very thin line between what everyone else is doing and what everyone wants. In that small space, I’m designing and creating my own story.

h: With time, a brand gets closer to its customers by observing the wearer’s experience, styling choices and contexts in which they choose to wear the designs. How have the people who wear your shoes expanded or altered your understanding of the TAMA TOBY audience?

TT: What still amazes me is that we’ve built TAMA TOBY around this contrast: on one side, luxury, handmade-to-order shoes, an obsessive focus on craftsmanship and detail, with leathers sourced from luxury houses like Dior, Loewe, Cavalli and more; on the other, a business that mostly sells online.

It’s still incredible to see how powerful the image of a small brand can be—someone can discover us online and order a pair from the other side of the world. Our customer services and sizing support systems have also helped to create personal relationships with our clients.

We always receive messages about how they wear them, how they style them, and even how excited they are to buy their own pair of shoes for Christmas! I love that connection because it lets me see TAMA TOBY through their eyes—that constantly influences how I think about the brand.

h: A TAMA TOBY open studio is in the works. In the coming months, the public will be invited into your Barcelona studio to discover the processes behind the shoes—from research, prototyping and iteration to the sourcing of deadstock leathers. What do you hope visitors will think or feel during their time in the studio? How might these new insights change their perspectives on labour and value?

TT: I think it’s really interesting to see a real designer’s studio, the moodboards, the little notes, the books on the desk. You can actually see how decisions are made and feel the materials. It’s almost like inviting people to enter inside your brain.

For years, I’ve been getting messages from people asking if they can come and see the shoes, visit the studio or just meet. Since we’re right in the centre of Barcelona, people used to stand outside the window and watch us work until we had to change the glass [laughs]. So, I feel like it’s about time we make it happen. And of course, I want everyone to be able to try the shoes on.

h: Having previously worked as a fashion designer, founding TAMA TOBY marked your move into footwear. Shoes have the power to alter a wearer’s physicality, influencing posture, stride and demeanour. What inspired you to make this shift? How do the mindsets and responsibilities of footwear and clothing designers differ?

TT: Before anything, I’m a fashion designer at heart [laughs]! Stitching and unstitching are in my DNA. I’m obsessed with things like construction, proportions and how a piece sits on the body.

After working at Alexander McQueen and Viktor & Rolf, I met a Catalan accessories designer, Dorotea Valls, who introduced me to this new world. She literally took me by the hand and opened the door for me into the world of footwear.

Moving from designing clothes into footwear completely changed the way I think. It’s a whole new world of materials, techniques, construction and proportions. A whole and brave new world, period.

You’re not just designing how something looks. You’re designing how someone stands, walks and moves. You’re basically designing someone’s inner attitude, the core of the core. I fell in love with that feeling.

h: Tama Toby was founded only three years ago. So much can change during these formative years. What is something you wish you had known at the start? And what would you like to say to your future self?

TT: We’re celebrating three years of TAMA TOBY, which means three years of making, basically, every mistake possible, listening to way too much advice, learning the hard way, but also winning so much.

My biggest win is the TAMA TOBY GIRL, coming from all over the world. Hearing how they wear the shoes, what they love, what they ask for and what they connect with has really shaped the brand. It made me want to focus more and more on the people actually wearing TAMA TOBY.

There’s always pressure to grow, especially through wholesale. Instead of lowering the quality just to get better numbers, we decided to do the opposite: make the quality as high as possible and focus on our girls (and boys).

I think that’s what I’d tell my future self. I’d give myself a huge hug and tell myself how proud I am. It can be hard sometimes to see the full picture when you’re so deep inside it. It’s like constantly zooming in and zooming out at the same time.

h: You have some exciting ventures coming up in fields that TAMA TOBY has not previously stepped into: a bridal collection and a men’s shoe. What can you tell us about these new projects? What do these new areas of interest reveal about your ambitions for the brand?

TT: Of course, I’m interested in building a whole world around the TAMA TOBY woman, a pure, clean view of how she dresses, wears her shoes, carries her bag, wears her jewellery, sleeps in her bedsheets, moves and lives. I’m even interested in her bookmark or which vase she puts her flowers in.

The bridal mini collection grew out of all the special orders we’ve made for brides. The men’s line (also coming in smaller sizes for my girls) is another step in that direction. My dream is to connect with her through everything we create. It’s not just about what she wears on her feet, but about everything around her. And actually, you might find out that ‘she’ is probably you!