Custom made shoes.
One pair a month, designed with you in my atelier and handcrafted in Prague.
Your pair begins with a visit to my atelier. You come to Prague twice: first to design and be measured, and again for the fitting.
I make one bespoke pair a month.
Every pair is given the time and attention needed to make it properly, from the first meeting to the final fitting.
Advance booking is recommended.
I learned to make shoes by hand with a traditional shoemaker in Prague. For him, what mattered most was respecting the established technique and arriving at the correct appearance of a classic shoe.
For me, creating only a traditional shoe feels like cloning a person. Beautiful on the outside, but without a spirit or character of its own.
So this is not a copy of something you have seen elsewhere, and it is not a standard shoe in a colour you chose. We design the pair together, and it is made only for you.
My catalogue is where the conversation usually starts, not because you are choosing from it, but because it shows you how I work: the geometry, the proportions, the way a form is arrived at.
01
We go through the catalogue, the leathers, the colours and the details together. Toe shapes, colour combinations, and the smaller decisions. You can see and handle the leathers while we decide.
02
I take precise measurements of your feet and select the last that suits them, so that the fit is right and the shoes are comfortable to wear all day.
03
Leathers, linings, soles and threads, each chosen for beauty and for durability.
04
The leather is cut from the pattern and stitched into the upper. The upper is shaped over the last, then hand stitched to the leather krupon sole and the heels. A pair is assembled through more than fifty individual construction steps.
05
Two to three weeks in, you try them here and we refine anything that needs refining.
06
Polishing, burnishing, and a final inspection.
A minimum of one month from beginning to end, depending on the model and how much handwork it asks for.
Most of my leather is Cuoio di Toscana, slowly vegetable tanned in Tuscany in traditional pits, using only natural tannins drawn from chestnut, mimosa and quebracho. No chromium, no heavy metals.
The rest comes from suppliers in Italy, Spain and the Czech Republic that I have worked with for years, and it is always top grain leather.
Vegetable tanning is slower and it produces a stronger material with a character of its own. Over time it develops a patina shaped by wearing, and no two pairs develop the same one.
Every pair can be repaired.
The upper, the lining, the sole and the heels are all genuine leather. Nothing is bonded or moulded in a way that cannot be undone.
That means the shoes can be restored by me, or by any competent shoemaker anywhere in the world, for as long as you want to keep wearing them.
With proper care, your shoes are made to accompany you for many years.
Discover the Shoes Collection
Rio halfboots
Made for Anthony, Australia.
Natura Shoes
Made for Jirka, Prague.
PLISEE HALFBOOTS
Made for Johannes, Germany.
Made for Anna, Prague
The final price depends on the design, the leather, and the amount of handwork involved.
If you would rather make the pair yourself, I also teach a five-day shoemaking course in my workshop.
Two visits, three or four weeks apart. Most people build them around a trip they were already making, or come once and return for the fitting on a second visit.
The atelier is in SmetanaQ, in the historic centre, a few minutes from the National Theatre and easy to reach by metro or tram.
Write to me before you book anything and we will find dates that work.
