It always take a while before I’m finished with the very large posts covering all the 29 contestant shoes of the shoemaking world champs, so here’s a quick picture special showcasing the top three. Be amazed by the work of Athanase Sephocle (1st), Victor Vulpe (2nd), and Louis Lampertsdörfer (3rd).
We had a new visitor record with up towards 1,300 visitors coming through the doors at 12 Regent Street, for the fifth London Super Trunk Show this past Saturday. There will be much more on that in a large report later this week, and as mentioned above, later on I will summarise all the 29 contest shoes for the World Championships of Shoemaking, a contest organised by Shoegazing and The Shoe Snob, in collaboration with Kirby Allison and the book Master Shoemakers, plus Parker Schenecker (brother of contest co-founder Edmund Schenecker who passed away two years ago). But since there is a lot of work putting those contest articles together and it will take a while, here is a look at the top trio.
The shoe to be made this year was a black balmoral boot with brogued / punched cap toe and closed lacing, hand welted with handmade sole stitching, and leather sole. We saw everything from very “Victorianesque” vintage classic styled pieces to modern crazy interpretations. The absolute top level has been very high already since Patrick Frei’s magic winner in 2018, but what’s evident is that the overall quality below this has been pushed higher every year and in the top half or so of the field there’s so much awesome shoemaking done.
So, this year’s top three are:
Athanase Sephocle, 1st place
Athanase Sephocle is a 32 years old French shoemaker that have worked in different companies, previously specialised in orthopedics and show shoes, but for more than ten years now he has been working at Berluti as a shoemaker, in their second workshop down in Maine et Loire run by Anthony Delos.
His boot may look more basic than it is at first sight, but as soon as you start looking more properly you discover more and more magnificent parts, and when you turn the shoe upside down, you’ll blown away completely. Here the upper is coming down all the way, with a cross-sectional super slim waist. You’ll have braiding inside the horseshoe heel, a large seamless piece on the upper, and more. Fine, fine work overall.
Athanase Sephocle made all, apart from the stitching of the upper which was made by Lyse Simon.
A very well-executed make with many complicated parts.
A bottom that one can look at forever.
Victor Vulpe, 2nd place
Victor Vulpe from Romania has worked with leather craft for almost 30 years, and since 15 years he started to make shoes as well. What’s quite incredible is that he has trained by himself by looking at other shoes and reading lots of historic books, and he still only do shoes on the side. He finished 4th in the world champs 2019.
His entry is a very special looking shoe, with many hand stitched details on the upper, the special tongue covering the opening, and sole stitching at 30 spi. A true exhibition piece. He made everything himself, and has spent a huge amount of time on the boot.
The boot of the top three that screams the most, and with an upper that has much more difficult parts than the others.
Slim waist, and a heel that is highly unique.
Louis Lamperstdörfer, 3rd place
Louis Lampertsdörfer is based in the German city Munich. Louis among other things was an apprentice and later worked at the bespoke department of Gaziano & Girling in England. During this time he also finished sixth in the world champs 2019. Now runs his own brand Mogada, who do bespoke and has a small hand welted RTW range.
His shoe is very classic, could well be made 100 years ago. The vamp is seamless and all other parts where also blocked on the last to bring them into shape. The soles are stitched with 20spi with bevelled waists on the in and outside and the horseshoe heel is built with paste. Louis made all apart from stitching of the upper, which was made by Raz Maftei in Vienna.
Classy and clean make with perfected execution.
Also here a horseshoe heel, the biggest trend in recent competitions.
I’m starting to appreciate the rules, It works really well to create tight restrictions and boundaries on the design and yet the maker can still bend them and risk the penalties and still rank high. The prime example this year being Victor with his contrasting stitching. The Winner certainly deserves the title. Congratulations to the others.
I totally disagree. To me the winner impressed a lot with an amazing, absolute best bottom work. But it’s just not enough to be a real Champion. And the upper part by Lyse Simon? Come on, get out of here! And above all the lasting job of the winner is poor at waist.
Victor Vulpe is the real winner here. There’s a ton of people who feels the same way. You did a poor job as jury not serving to those makers a good judgment of the effort put into their creations.
@BRUNONBIERŻENIUK
Please remember the competition is open to workshops and Individuals, The judges do not know who and how many made the shoes. I really like Victor Vulpe and his creation but a lot of my friends who are not into shoes would not agree with you. they think his creation is quite alien-like with a spaceship look that doesn’t have a form of an actual shoe, So I guess In another world with a different panel of judges he might have won or come last. Love & Peace on Earth! V
Allan Donnelly and Brunon Bierzeniuk: There will always be discussions on the set-up of the contest and the jury conclusions, it’s fine, even good, won’t be possible to make something “perfect” and better people discuss than don’t feel anything. I personally gave the same points to both first and second (a bit different balance between the categories though), and it varied throughout the jury. But in the end, even if it was tight, it was a clear win for Athanase, and I sure think it was well deserved. But I wouldn’t have argued if Victor would have won either, the level of these shoes up here are so high. I know there’s a bunch of folks out there who though Victor’s was best, but also a bunch who definitely think Athanase’s was the best, plus a bunch who had Louis or others as their favourites. Note though that you see much more when you really spend time up-close with the shoes than just viewing photos.
@Don and @Jesper Ingevaldsson – Allan, I respect you and what you are trying to say, but this contest is all about shoes and lovers of the craft, I truly don’t care what people outside of that bubble think. They don’t know what it takes to make such thing as those wonderful boots. Jesper, I respect you a lot and I totally agree with your input to that conversation. You represent the voice of wisdom here.
We, the audience, are watching from afar, from photographs, videos.
And according to these visions, Viktor Vulpe deserves 1st place. And so I think: not a very high-quality assessment of the jury. I don’t want to blame the judges, but I can’t think any other way.
It would be nice if the jury would describe the pros and cons of the work of the participants who got into the 10 occupied places.
Brunon: Glad you understood my input!
Ruslan: As stated in the text, as always there will be two large articles going through all the shoes in details, especially the top placed ones.
Domnul Victor Vulpe!!! O opera de arta ati creat DvS. Felicitari!!! Top,top in the world!!!