At last: a guide to shoemaking
by Lucy Lethbridge
Making shoes is one of the oldest and most skilful crafts in Europe. No wonder shoemakers, cobblers or cordwainers (leatherworkers) feature so often in European fairytales as the guardians of secrets and the makers of magical objects. And the allure of a pair of shoes has not dimmed: a recent survey by Harpers Bazaar found that in the wardrobe of one in two women there are more than 30 pairs of shoes; what is more, 8% of women own more than 100 pairs each. One in 10 of the women surveyed said she had spent more than £1,000 on shoes in the past year. So the skill of shoemaking and design magically combines consumer appeal with artistic satisfaction.
Nowadays, despite a niche market in bespoke cobbling, most shoes are mass produced in factories. But Europe is still the home of the best leatherwork design in the world. Spanish and Italian shoes, belts and bags are rightly prized; designers look to Britain and northern Europe for innovation and creativity. Italy in particular has made the art of the shoe as prized as any other masterpiece. Take the region of Le Marche, for example, on the east coast of central Italy: nestling among hills covered with olive groves and fruit orchards in an area of Le Marche that covers barely 50 sq km are more than 2,700 small factories dedicated to the art of shoemaking that supply shoes for brands like Prada, Gucci, Pierre Cardin, Calvin Klein, Versace, Roberto Cavalli and Claude Montana, to name just a few. Local legend Diego della Valle is the founder of J.P Tod's. In Sant 'Elpidio there is even a Museum of the Shoe.
So if you are moved to train in the shoemakers' arts, there are a few places in Europe that stand out.
Cordwainers, London College of Fashion. Some of the biggest names in contemporary shoe design trained here, including Jimmy Choo, Emma Hope, Linda (LK) Bennett and Joseph Azagury. Situated in London's East End, Cordwainers comprises a collection of buzzing workshops which train students in every area of the design and creation of beautiful shoes. The college offers a range of courses from intensive summer schools, foundations courses and full diplomas. There is also a London College of Fashion Masters degree majoring in shoemaking. www.cordwainers.org
De Montfort University, Leicester, offers a BA in Footwear Design, the only single honours in the subject in the UK. The course is able to provide helpful contacts with the industry for graduates - including placements during vacation with commercial shoe producers. Japanese de Montfort graduate Yoko Nakayama recently won the prestigious Best Footwear Design Award at Lineapelle Young Designers Competition. www.dmu.ac.uk
Shoe devotees must at some point come to pay homage at the Florentine shrine of Salvatore Ferragamo, the emperor of Italian shoemaking. Founded in 1927, in Florence, the home of the finest Italian leatherworking, it was Ferragamo who invented the stiletto heel. Now the company (still 100 percent owned by the Ferragamo family) is closely involved with the Polimoda fashion college in Florence and Ferruccio Ferragamo is Polimoda's president. You can't get closer to the heart of shoemaking than this. The college offers an intensive and astonishingly comprehensive 3-year Masters degree in footwear design, which incorporates the opportunity for close working relationships with producers, workshops and leather tanneries. www.polimoda.com
For those with less time to spare, the Prescott and Mackay School of Fashion and Accessory Design in London offer evening classes in shoe design, pattern cutting and making. A course of ten sessions of two and a half hours each costs £435. The school is based at the Black Truffle boutique, 74 Broadway Market, London, England E8 4QJ. www.prescottandmackay.co.uk
Back in Florence, the Accademia Riaci, which offers courses in all the arts, says that its teaching style is unique with an impressively low student-teacher ratio: "Just like how Da Vinci and his assistants learned from each other during the Renaissance" is their large claim. It is the stated aim of the Riaci to teach and preserve the craftsmanship and skills of Tuscany. They have a one-year course or a Masters degree in leatherworking - which covers not only shoemaking but working with accessories, belts and bags. www.accademiariaci.info
Gloucestershire is the attractive rural setting for the workshop of Valerie Michael and Neil MacGregor who run leatherworking courses. With 30 years experience in the craft, the couple offer short (one or two days) courses that might provide a taster for someone wondering whether to go on to further studies in shoemaking or leatherwork. The maximum number of students they will accept is five and the courses on offer include making "hand-stitched leather goods (bags, belts etc), "Decorated leather" and "leather boxes and containers". www.leathercourses.co.uk
© Lucy Lethbridge. All views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to the European Commission.