A Japanese, a Singaporean and a Norwegian in the shoe shining contest, and a Singaporean and two guys from France in the patina competition. These are the finalists of the world champs contests taking place during the London Super Trunk Show on May 7. See their submissions here.

 

You may read all about the London Super Trunk Show in this article, and great if you can visit the event’s Facebook page and let us know you’re coming and help share the event. It’s organised by Shoegazing and The Shoe Snob takes place on Saturday May 7, in the heart of London at the venue Showcase.co on 12 Regent Street. Here we gather 10 great exhibitors, Acme Shoemaker, Bridlen, Catella Shoemaker, CNES Shoemaker, Modum, Mori of Shoemakers, Norman Vilalta, Paolo Scafora, Septieme Largeur, Skolyx / TLB Mallorca, and Zeb Shoes.  Main partner of the event is Saphir, partners are Cad & the Dandy and The Valet. The World Championships in Shoemaking will have its award ceremony and competition shoes displayed. Plus then the two other world champs contest that is the topic here.

The qualification process and also how the finals will unfold is thoroughly explained in this article, so here we focus on showcasing the finalists’ submissions and briefly let you know who they are. Both the World Championships in Shoe Shining and Shoe Patina are organised in collaboration with Saphir, shining contestants shine and can win a Loake shoe, patina contestants paint and can win a TLB Mallorca shoe. We had almost 40 submissions to the two contests (thanks to all who sent in submissions!), literally from all over the world, both amateurs and many professionals. It was a challenging job for the jurys to select the finalists, in the end these received most jury points and made it to London:

 

World Championships in Shoe Shining 2022 finalists

Ash Sam, shoe shining entry

Ash Sam, Singapore. Ash Sam is working at the shoe shine shop Mason & Smith in Singapore, and has done a stunning work on his entry. A pair of Yohei Fukuda shoes polished to a massive shine sure means eye candy. Probably evident to most why this made him to the final.

Ash Sam, shoe shining entry

Ash Sam, shoe shining entry

 

Naoki Ueda, shoe shine entry.

Naoki Ueda, Japan. From the shoe shine shop Penny Lane Shoeshine Boys, PLSB, in Osaka, we have Naoki Ueda. His entry shows of a very nicely worked shine, with extreme mirror gloss on the toe and heel and nice smooth transitions of the shine in between these areas. Clearly a shine for an actual client shoe, with less work on the vamp area where the shoes will crease.

 

Christian Vingsand, shoe shine entry

Christian Vingsand, Norway. Here’s a great example of how an amazing shine can enhance the look of used shoes a lot. Christian Vingsand runs a shine service in Trondheim, Norway, These here also have a nice shine on the sole- and heel edges which further enhance the look of the shoes.

 

 

World Championships in Shoe Patina 2022 finalists

Sony Mai, patina entry

Sony Mai, France. Sony Mai, who comes from Vietnam but lives in Paris, has worked for five years at Maison Corthay as a patina specialist. The patina on his entry is relatively toned down, though of clearly high class, with a great way of enhancing the chiseled toe last shape with how the patina is done on the toe box.

 

John Chung, shoe patina entry.

John Chung, Singapore. This is a bit special, in two ways, the fact that the winner of the world champs in shoe shining 2018, John Chung, is back in the patina contest, while his colleague at Mason & Smith, Ash, made it to the shine final this year. The patina on his entry has a tremendous depth and a natural, earthy feel over it, a pair of shoes you can really be mesmerised by.

 

Toan Junie, patina entry.

Toan Junie, France. In this case, one have to try and look beyond the incredibly artistic shoe, and focus on the actual patina work on it, which indeed is very nicely done and enhancing the shapes of this crazy piece. Toan Junie has worked as a patina colourist for a couple of different firms in France for a few years now.