EVELOVING LEGEND 1928-2008,2008 ITALY.
Salvatore Ferragamo, a shoe maker from Italy. He made shoes for queens, actresses, lords and ladies. He had a passion for making with imagination and experimentation. LUXURY SHOE DESIGN •Working for an American shoe company, he found a real dislike for the "heavy and clumsy" style of the mass produced shoe. •Ferragamo found a niche in the surrounding of the evolving movie scene, creating hand crafted luxury shoes.
•1932 Moving with the developments of modernity Ferragamo followed the movie scene to Hollywood, opening 'Hollywood's boot shop, which was something of class and elegance, his designs were worn by stars on and off set. MAHARANI The Indian princess was a consistent customer of Ferragamo's, "adorned with real pearls and diamonds" sent from India.
"Throughout Italy, in both cities and poor villages, you can see cobblers sitting in their little shops surrounded by piles of shoes, bending over their lasts, under the light of a naked bulb", Salvatore Ferragamo.
ESTABLISING FERRAGAMO •In Florence he established a team of quality craftsmen, "artists were trained, where ideas were born, where masterpieces were created". •High-quality and hand crafted, "like owning a piece of Florence, of its art and its cultural tradition.
DESIGN •Ferragamo unique designs resembled something of art in their attention to detail and 'refinement'. He was known for his use of colour, "magnificent architectural decorations". •In his endeavour of ornamentation and style, Ferragamo established authenticity. •The Ferragamo brand identity has stayed true to its heritage and craft.
CONTRIBUTION TO THE DEVELOPMENTS IN SHOE MAKING •He studied the form of the foot in order to create shoes that were "comfortable and practical" and ornate in beauty, this became the fundamentals of his brand. •He contributed to the technical developments of shoe, setting new ideas of form and structure that translated a trend of experimentation. •The cork wedge heal was something of a global success, it allowed the artist to become imaginative with the surface. •He invented the diversity of the heal, his use of found materials was a way to express the beauty of his craftsmanship.
"There is no limit to beauty, no saturation point in design , no end to the materials a shoemaker may use to decorate his creations so that every woman may be shod like a princess and a princess may be shod like a fairy queen" The shoe maker of dreams, Salvatore Ferragamo.