Common Projects started back in 2004, when co-creators Peter Poopat and Flavio Girolami decided to make a couple of shoes that they’d like to wear. Now, with no advertising or marketing campaign, Common Projects have become a staple item in the wardrobes of minimalistic trainer lovers worldwide.

As one half of the Common Projects duo, Peter (also known as Prathan) Poopat was formerly an art editor for Visionaire and V magazine. Now that Common Projects are branching out as a company, we catch up with Peter to see how Common Projects came about, where it’s going and the design approach at the company.

First things first, is it Peter or Prathan? Did you start using Peter to stop people mispronouncing Prathan?

PP: Haha. No, Prathan is my given name but I was born in the States and was given Peter as my middle name. I have always been called Peter. This is a whole other story maybe for another time.

Why did your name the brand Common Projects?

PP: It's really pretty straight forward. It's a collaboration between me and my partner Flavio. We always planned on doing something together and we needed a name. We intended to do several diverse "projects" and since he's in Italy and I'm in New York we called it Common Projects. The name also worked out theoretically as we wanted to have a open venue for outside collaboration.

You’ve said before that you just planned on making a couple of shoes and wearing them around, tell me all about how Common Projects grew from that into the company it is today?

PP: Yes, since there was a hole in the market at the time for simple well made sneakers we initially had the idea to make our own just to wear around for the summer. We made them as samples and the factory loved them and wanted to partner in producing them. We just happened to have the samples ready the day before men's sales started in New York. We showed them to a couple stores and showrooms, all of which were immediately interested in carrying the line. We ended up leaving the shoes with our current showroom and the next day we started getting orders. We've been taking the same approach ever since, just making things we would like to see and the business has really grown and here i am doing this interview.