How can we think differently by listening to people outside our world?

Unfamiliar Shoes
by 3800 Films

There’s no shortage of information in the world. But much of it comes from the same places, told by the same people. Over time, the conversation flattens. Nothing really changes.

So if we want new thinking, we need to look elsewhere.
Unfamiliar Shoes is a documentary series about people whose lives and work sit outside the spotlight — those who’ve built a path around a craft, a place, or a way of working we rarely hear about.

We’re interested in them for a simple reason:
different lives produce different ways of seeing the world.

Each film explores not just what someone does, but why they do it — what draws a person to a particular path, and how that shapes the way they see the world. From stonemasons to archivists, violin makers to lighthouse keepers, the series shares perspectives shaped by purpose.

Episode 01

Beneath The Surface

With Steve Roche

In a digital world, we don’t often think about permanence. What we put out in the world — what we create and share online — it’s fleeting.

So it’s refreshing to hear from someone who thinks about the legacy of their work in decades and centuries, not days or weeks. Someone who literally sets their ideas in stone.

The first Unfamiliar Shoes we’re stepping into belong to Steve Roche. A sculptor and stonemason who creates public art inspired by people and place.

He tells us about the responsibility of creating something that will last generations, how he digs into the history of a place and works with communities to spark ideas, and how he uses stone to tell a story.

Episode 02

Preserving Memory

With Cheryl Bailey

In an age of easily accessible information, we don’t often stop to check our sources. Everything we read, share, or scroll past feels temporary, disposable. But archives remind us that some things should endure. That memory, identity, and truth aren’t guaranteed.

So it’s striking to hear from someone who spends her days wrestling with what survives, what we risk losing. Someone who understands the power in a single document.

Our second pair of Unfamiliar Shoes belong to Cheryl Bailey, Senior Archivist at Sheffield City Archives. She invites us into the world of hidden histories: from century-old hospital photographs to forgotten servants in stately homes, to a single frame of film that changed the entire direction of her work.

Cheryl talks about the responsibility of deciding what gets kept for the future, the detective work of searching for lives that history overlooked, and the importance of protecting truth in a moment when misinformation is so easily believed. She shows us how archives connect people to place and why, without them, we risk losing not just our past, but our sense of who we are today.

Episode 03

Shaping Sound

With Alina Ehret

In today's disposable world, it’s easy to forget that some crafts are only carried forward if someone chooses to continue them. Skills passed down over generations, shaped slowly by hand, risk being lost if they aren’t practised, adapted, and kept alive.

Violin making is one of them.

Our next pair of Unfamiliar Shoes belong to Alina Ehret, a violin maker and repairer who is part of a new generation stepping into a deeply traditional craft. Her work sits between preservation and change — learning from the past while finding ways to leave her own mark.

Alina reflects on the responsibility of keeping instruments in circulation, not just by making new ones, but by repairing those that already exist — so they can continue to be played, shared, and passed on. She talks about what it means to shape something that may outlive her, and how her identity as a musician guides every decision she makes.