A Shoemaker's blog... or something like that

Maybe it is not the right place to talk about my professional life - until now I thought this. If I start a blog in a popular blog area, most probably nobody will read that and I will loose my interest to continue. Here there are many shoe-fan, so why not talk about my beloved profession here?

So I do so..

Let's start with a sneak peak picture. I made it today, when I was about leaving. I thought some people would be interested to see what I am working on..



These are my actual orders.. Some of them are just laying on the last, without stiffners, some are lasted, waiting for welting and finishing.

First in the row: a new adlaide (I hope it is the name in English). Nothing special...except its material, which is VERY special. The leather has been tanned in Soviet Union, many years ago. Half veg-tannad, hal chrome. Most probably this leather is made for the high ranked army officals' boot. Almost 2 mm thick, very durable, perfect for bespoke shoes. I have only a few hides from an old shoemaker, no more will come or appear on the market most probably.

Second is a chukka - for myself. Winter is coming.

Then a straight cut oxford, and an other wholecut from the mentioned material.

This one:





This is the method for fixing the upper to the insole, without synthetic (or any) glue. This method is really ancient (I will teach it in my NY course). If someone wants to have something really special - he can have it. Goes to pegged shoes.

(There are anyone here who thought about why shoemaker prefers pegged shoes, instead of sewn?
I met many old masters in the last few years, and almost all of them wear pegged shoes.. hmm.

Finally a nice story about my calf-stingray oxford I posted before:


The customer of this shoes didn't take it on yet. Actually he keeps it in the display cabinet (?). Very nice from him, very low efficient advertisement for me...

Thanks! I am just working on that, but I think this is the mistake of my provider.. I cannot reach them at all. ... I am after a long fight. I won. It works again. New post comes tomorrow - some interesting things happened today.

Yesterday I got a "meeting" with an old shoemaker master. When he decided to stop his workshop (He is around 80), I was the first who called him, for the tools, materials, and everything what he doesn't need anymore. This is what I do in the last few years - maybe I will publicate more stories about it later.. I have some. When we met first, he sold me some leathers, we talked a few minutes (I couldn't afford more that time). He called me a half year later, that if I want to buy more thing, what he sells. I visited his shop again, and besides the very few thing I bought, he gave me present "what he doesn't need anymore". Unbelievable beauties... Just one of them: By marcellhun, shot with DSC-T9 at 2008-10-04 This tool is measuring the thickness of the leather. Very expensive, very useful thing. By marcellhun, shot with DSC-T9 at 2008-10-04 And a book. These old books are also very useful, and you cannot reach them anymore (not just because I buy them immediately if they appear ). This piece is a fifty years old copy. He "didn't needed that anymore". By MarcellHUN at 2008-10-04 By marcellhun, shot with DSC-T9 at 2008-10-05 I made this photo, when I was walking on the street: By marcellhun, shot with E51 at 2008-10-04 KALAPOS = hat maker, Alapítva = founded in Yes in 1870. Maybe it is nothing special in UK or Italy, but in Hungary, where we had two destroying world war, some revolution, dictators, 50 years communism, 40 years soviet domination - it is something unbelievable. Budapest looks like this now: By MarcellHUN at 2008-10-04 In the afternoon I went back to my workshop with my new treasures from my old friend (I invited him there - I hope he will visit me soon). Actually I convienced him to be a part-time teacher in my apprenticeship course I offer. He is really a great master - it worth to learn from him. So, in the afternoon one of my shoemaker-classmate visited me in the workshop. We were there almost 3 hours, didn't even sit down, just running up an down, talking about my treasures (I have a smaller museum now ), old (and new) stories, and for sure: shoes, shoes, shoes...

A sad episode: My grandma and I have visited my beloved gradfather's grave. He passed 25 years ago, and born in 1909. I decided to name a few limited model after him, and other great family member craftsmen, who played important role in Koronya's history. My grandpa had a favourite shoe model, which looks almost like wingcut derby, but has some light differences. OK, I know: fashion 50-60 years ago isn't the same then now - but as I make modern designs also, maybe sometimes I can make something really traditional, no? Decided: this will be Koronya Limited 2009. I will post a design about it soon. Something else... This is from Skanzen, Szentendre (close to Budapest - a lovely, small city - practically a village). It is a muzeum room, showing how a shoemaker workshop was 100 years ago. This tool - I still use it every day - is a treasure of my workshop. When I get it and started to clean, I recognised some numbers on it: 1914. It is hard to imagine, how much stories these old tools can say. Unfortunately this one is silent and makes its job, day after day in my hand.