"The Cobbler Artist" (1959)
This is a throwback video, but I think about it often. It’s called “The Cobbler Artist” and it’s from 1959. The short production features a veteran shoe repairman and artist who was customizing the soles of dress shoes before sneakers took over as the primary footwear. Though the process isn’t labeled with an exact name in the presentation, the seemingly intricate, tedious process is well documented in a short amount of time. It involved setting pins in the sole to mark out pictures, then, from what it sounds like, the sole is painted with wax. The whole thing puts a different perspective on what we think of when we hear “shoe art.”
It might behoove someone with the talent to master this lost art form and put it to work. The imagery might change from what they were in London back in the day. You have to admit that having those portraits on the soles of your shoes would be quite baller. In sneaker customization, designing the soles of some kicks is frowned upon because they’re destined to get walked on directly and wrecked. However, the video starts out with the narrator saying that the jazzed up dress shoes were weatherproof. Maybe the pins and wax were more durable than paint and hydro dip. Nevertheless, I’d rock them. They’re extra lavish because the only feasible way to show them off is to kick your feet up like a boss.
If you could get this done to a pair of shoes, what design would you get?
