I read a very interesting article in the Wall Street Journal - i am not seeing that the article is online - but it was from the last week or so.
The article was about ballet dancers and the cobblers who make their toe shoes. It was very interesting - talking about how it may take years for the dancer to find a shoe that they like, and they would even go as far as to only wear shoes that were made at the table of a specific shoemaker at that company/maker.
The issue is that many of the older shoemakers are retiring and when they retire, the dancer has to find another shoemaker that they like and more often than not its another oldtimer who would be a peer or just within less than a decade of age of the first shoemaker - and then THEY would retire. Dancers rather wear tattered shoes than wear something that doesn't work with them which is understandable but the dilemma is that the younger shoemakers aren't as plentiful or experienced.
I at first thought that maybe the old craft wasn't taught anymore and that's why - but i am more thinking that it just takes years of experience to get it just right and many of the younger ones will in time be just as good - but it will take a few years. (but of course people today go to school to be designers and don't usually go in with the ambition of actually crafting the shoes unless their family members do).
If i find it, i will post it..
The article was about ballet dancers and the cobblers who make their toe shoes. It was very interesting - talking about how it may take years for the dancer to find a shoe that they like, and they would even go as far as to only wear shoes that were made at the table of a specific shoemaker at that company/maker.
The issue is that many of the older shoemakers are retiring and when they retire, the dancer has to find another shoemaker that they like and more often than not its another oldtimer who would be a peer or just within less than a decade of age of the first shoemaker - and then THEY would retire. Dancers rather wear tattered shoes than wear something that doesn't work with them which is understandable but the dilemma is that the younger shoemakers aren't as plentiful or experienced.
I at first thought that maybe the old craft wasn't taught anymore and that's why - but i am more thinking that it just takes years of experience to get it just right and many of the younger ones will in time be just as good - but it will take a few years. (but of course people today go to school to be designers and don't usually go in with the ambition of actually crafting the shoes unless their family members do).
If i find it, i will post it..
Weird... Thanks, Chris. This time it brought me right to the page too. Off to read.