Shoemaking by hand is a ‘dying art’, says shoemaker

An artisan shoemaker who has been making shoes by hand for more than 15 years has described it as a “dying art”.

Lisandro Serra Delmar makes barefoot shoes, or minimalist-style footwear, full-time at his workshop in Kingstone, Herefordshire, where it can take between three and five days to make one pair.

Traditional shoemaking has been described as an endangered craft, with fewer than 35 professional shoemakers currently thought to be working in the UK.

Mr Delmar, who is self-taught, said the key to shoemaking was to “not compete” with other companies that were mass producing shoes.

“There are people who really appreciate it and are willing to pay more for something that has a soul,” he said.

“Shoes are a living work of art that you wear.”

Mr Delmar set up Gaucho Ninja, named to honour his Argentinian heritage and work within martial arts, in Spain in 2015 before moving to the UK four years later.

His business produces barefoot shoes, which allow feet to move and flex as naturally as possible.

Mr Delmar told BBC Hereford and Worcester the idea came out of his own experience as a martial artist.

“I felt like the type of shoes I needed to wear were more like gloves,” he explained.

Mr Delmar said some traditional methods to create shoes, such as the “on a last” moulding process by hand, could take up to an hour, while machines in the footwear industry only take about 30 seconds.

He said his business still cuts shoes by hand using traditional tools, including an 80-year-old round knife from the US.

“Making shoes by hand is such a satisfactory thing. We see a shoe, and we take it for granted that it’s something easy. . . something affordable and cheap,” he said.

“For me the joy is to see the eyes of the person when they try the shoes for the first time.”