The shoe must go on: John Carnera's feet of strength
This may be the age off wi-fi, hotdesking and Blackberrys, but across London people are stitching horse hair, collecting bones and sitting in beer. Time Out meets the men and women who are keeping the world's ancient crafts alive.
The shoe must go on: John Carnera's feet of strength
The shoemaker
John Carnera, 66,
is a lastmaker and co-owner of GJ Cleverley & Co. The business was
set up in 1958 by George Cleverley who came from a family of Victorian
shoemakers. Cleverley worked in Mayfair during the first half of the
twentieth century, and was still making shoes when he died in 1991,
aged 93.
‘I take the measurements of the customer’s foot, talk through the design and then build the wooden last, which is an exact model of the customer’s foot. Then we have a pattern designer; a “closer” who cuts out the shapes and stitches them together.
Another worker then sews the welt – that’s the bottom of the shoe that holds it
to the sole. It can take three to six months from the first fitting to
the finished result. We do everything by hand and use tools and
techniques that have been handed down since Victorian times – the only
thing that has changed is that until the 1800s there were no left or
right shoes, only straight ones.
‘We’ve got 2,000 pairs of lasts here, some going back to the beginning of the twentieth century and including those for Sir John Gielgud and Terence Stamp, as well as many film stars, sportsmen and politicians. People come to us because they want the best fit and an individual style. Prices start at around £1,800 for a pair. Our style is a chiselled toe and long, sleek-looking body, but I’ve taken orders for every type of shoe you can imagine, including skull and crossbone embroidered slippers. I drew the line at an order for velvet slippers with a pop-up penis. I thought theembroidery ladies wouldn’t appreciate it.
‘I come from a family
osaics, so I just drifted into shoemaking. I started my apprenticeship
when I was 16 and finished when I was 21. I’ve probably made 300 pairs
of shoes in more than 60 years. The best thing about the job is meeting
people. Even the famous ones don’t have airs and graces when they come
here. I wasn’t born to make shoes, but I’ve grown into it and now love
it. For myself, I wear our Cambridge shoe. It’s comfortable and looks
good. It feels like a proper shoe.’
G J Cleverley & Co, 13 The Royal Arcade,28 Old Bond St, W1 (020 7493 0443/ www.gjcleverley.co.uk).
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