Two generations, one craft

It all began in the 1990s, in the workshop of the “Arta Încălțămintei” cooperative, where my father worked as a shoemaker. I was a child sewing footballs; those were the years of the famed “Scarpi” men's models, and I first helped him stitch their uppers. At fourteen and a half I asked him to take me on as an apprentice. I finished school at evening classes, and spent the rest of my time at the last.

35 years have passed since. I have been, in turn, workshop chief, production director, designer, technologist and quality inspector; I ran my own factory with 25 employees. I have made every kind of footwear — for theatre, circus, ballet, competitive dance — up to high-luxury pieces, both by hand and by machine.

Today I work from design to finished product: personalised, made-to-order footwear — classic, casual, sport or business-elegant. Some of the clients who ordered “Scarpi” in the '90s still order today. No advertisement convinced them; the way the shoe fits after ten years did.