The Ferragamo wedge started with bits of Sardinian cork

His brothers are shoemakers, but not his sons. Shoe craftsmanship is an age-old tradition in Italy, one that is held in high esteem but also in danger of disappearing in a few generations.

Florentine artisan/shoemaker Giuliano Bartolozzi was in Manila recently to demonstrate the art of shoemaking — Salvatore Ferragamo style.

Making shoes by hand is a tedious task and some would even see it as impractical since there are now machines that can easily replace human hands. But not for Salvatore Ferragamo.

After all, this was a company founded by a man who singularly loved shoes and making shoes. He made his first pair at the age of nine for his sisters (he belonged to a brood of 14). 

Mike Huang and Kathy Huang, Silvana Fornari, wife of Italian Ambassador Luca Fornari, and Giuliano Bartolozzi

More than a hundred years later, the story of how Ferragamo made shoes was being demonstrated in Manila — by hand and with such skill and concentration that the Ferragamo store at Greenbelt 4 was captivated by this old Italian artisan who spoke not a word of English but quite ably demonstrated his passion for shoemaking.

Bartolozzi was here to demonstrate the making of a Ferragamo classic — the Vara shoe with its low heel and distinctive bow, designed by Ferragamo’s daughter Fiamma, who inherited her father’s talent and passion in making shoes, in 1978. 

Women know the Vara shoe like they know their classic handbags; they can spot the pumps a mile away and know they are a pair of Vara, whatever the color, whether in black or purple or red, and whether it is in matte or polished leather or suede.

First Bartolozzi molded the inner sole to the last then the leather upper using rugby (in the Ferragamo factories in Italy, they use one that is friendly to both the environment and the shoemakers) and nails, which he would put in his mouth and then draw them one by one as he needed them.

It was fascinating to watch Bartolozzi and easily imagine a young Ferragamo doing the same in the 1910s and 1920s, first in Naples, then in California, and then back in Italy — this time in Florence where he established his eponymous company.

In Hollywood, he opened a small atelier for customized shoes, which soon became very popular, earning a cult following among celebrities and the nickname “Shoemaker for the Stars.” While in the US, he studied anatomy at the University of Southern California. To him, a shoe must not only be beautiful but also comfortable. Today, this principle is a given, but in the 1920s women would and did sacrifice comfort for beauty. Ferragamo may have been the first shoemaker to think this shouldn’t be the case.

In 1927 he returned to Italy, settled in Florence, where the headquarters remain today, and began making shoes for powerful women all over the world, from Argentina’s Eva Peron to Hollywood’s Marilyn Monroe. By the 1950s, Ferragamo had 700 artisans making 350 pairs of handmade shoes a day, including the famous Cage Heel.

Today, celebrities from Eva Longoria to Blake Lively, Zoë Deschanel wear Ferragamo pumps, boots, stilettoes and wedges. And we haven’t even touched on the men who wear Ferragamo shoes on the red carpet!

What has made Ferragamo shoes timeless and enduring is the “quality workmanship and materials,” says Caterina Trisoglio, marketing manager, Ferragamo Hong Kong. Attention to form and fit is still the essence of the brand. “The creation of shapes is a result of many days of calculation for the model for each new line. Salvatore Ferragamo uses only the finest leathers, which guarantee flexibility and resistance to ensure comfort for the entire life of the shoe.”

The art of shoemaking remains to be a core identity of the brand. The principles guiding the company right from its start are handed down from generation to generation by the production department, which is trained in-house. From size and fit, shape, material, design to workmanship, the company has managed to maintain all technical principles inherited from its founder.

Ferragamo Philippines celebrates the art of shoemaking with a giant replica of the famous wedge sandal outside the store at Greenbelt 4. The display was created for La Triennale design museum in Milan and features a unique kidskin upper, platform sole and wedge heel created out of layers of cork and lined with multi-colored suede.

“The shoe was originally designed for actress Judy Garland in 1938 and has become the most iconic shoes created by Salvatore Ferragamo, who is known as the inventor of the wedge shoe.”

 “I started working with bits of Sardinian cork,” wrote Salvatore, who passed away in 1960 and left operations to his wife Wanda and six children. “Pressing it, gluing it, fixing and finishing it till the space between sole and heel was filled up.”

The Duchess Visconti di Modrone launched the first pair of Cage Heels. “Within a few weeks, it became Salvatore Ferragamo’s most popular model. The wedge enabled the creativity of an artist like Ferragamo to express itself on surfaces more ample than those of uppers and heels alone. He experimented with many variants on the wedge, both platform and heel, with layers pressed and rounded, sculpted and painted, decorated with bits of mirror glass like an antique mosaic or with floral patterned brass latticework spattered with stones. Such creations had more in common with contemporary design or with architectures such as the Chrysler Building in New York than with the fashion accessories of the moment.”

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In the Philippines, Salvatore Ferragamo is exclusively distributed by Stores Specialists Inc. (SSI) and is located at Power Plant Mall, Greenbelt 4, Rustan’s Tower, Rustan’s Makati, Alabang Town Center and Rustan’s Ayala Cebu.