ABDUL MAKES SANDALS ON THE PAVEMENT
Here is a new example of the great workmanship of Abdul and his guys. Here is an earlier blog about this excellent service. He makes the shoes after discussion about style and execution. Measures by letting the client step on a sheet of paper and he traces around. Here is a bit from the earlier text:
Up the road on the left hand side, under some steps sits a shoemaker every day working. I became curious about what he is up to and found out that he makes sandals out of leather and sells them to the locals. This interested me and I decided to order a pair for me. The consumer versus producer experience was very intimate. Abdul, the sandal maker took out a writing block and drew around my foot onto it, and we discussed the size of my big toe etc (not the most beautiful in the world as Þórarinn Nevjólfsson). Then I paid him 200 Mtcs (5,5 Euro) and he told me to come next Friday afternoon. When I returned he had made these so beautiful sandals, totally hand made, both looking the same but with that hand made touch where no two things are the same. In a world of ‘experience economy’ this is worth much more than the price one pays for it here. Now, when I pass him we say hello, it is almost as we are friends and I desperately want to order an other pair, discuss with him other styles and comfort. I have already ideas about how I want my second pair to be, and do not have to browse high-street shops to see if there is something that fits my longings. Our Western Economy of mass production and global transport, sweat shops misses this intimacy and fulfillment from knowing and developing. The gap between the consumer (a person) and the producer has become so large in today’s economy that commerce has to redesign into the relationship some kind of an intimacy, like being a Nike-person or some other brand link.
November 6, 2010
Posted in: DESIGN, FASHION
