One of the more inspiring makers I’ve visited is the duo behind Alte Art, based in Asakusa in Tokyo, who mix traditional bespoke shoes with very spectacular, handmade art shoes. One example of this are these miniature versions that they made of various regular bespoke samples.
Miniature shoes is a thing of its own, I did this article showcasing some examples a few years ago. Alte Art do much more advanced and unique stuff than that as well though, see more of their work in this report. While utilitarian shoes that are made to be worn will always be the main thing for traditional shoemaking, it’s always great to see makers push boundaries and create special stuff using the same techniques as base, if nothing else just for the fun of it.
