This is part two of the massive walkthrough of all competition shoes in the World Championships in Shoemaking 2022. Here position 11 to 30 are reviewed with comments and pictures
Results (click on maker/brand to go directly to summary):
11. Andrey Kaveshnikov
12. Oh Sang-Jun
13. Masayuki Kaneko
14. Yasuhiro Koui
15. Valentin Frunza
16. Marat Ablakov
17. Peace Andoh
18. Efe Laborde Bootmaker
19. Meisterschuh Berlin
20. Lu Yang Bespoke
21. Raz Maftei / Maszschuhe
22. Dmitry Avdyukhov
23. Emi Liao
24. Enrile
25. Guseynov
26. The Last Shoemaker
27. Koji Yamaya
28. Ganbaatar Batjarga
29. Robert Elia
30. Fan Yi
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11. Andrey Kaveshnikov
A shoe that have managed to keep the visuals together even if several special elements are brought in.
Andrey Kaveshnikov is the highest placed Russian shoemaker in this year’s contest. A lot to appreciate with this shoe, with many playful features that one like to see in contest shoes like these. The kids playing with a kite made of brass nails is adorable and nicely achieved, also the work with flashes and peaks throughout in various ways. A solid shoe that received good points in all categories, even if it perhaps didn’t excel anywhere. Closing is made by Ruben Vardanyan, rest by Kaveshnikov.
Got to love both the heel plate and of course the cartoon nail decoration.
Side view.
Cool looking shoe, cool inside.
Neat work with the nail pattern on the side of the heel.
Adorable stuff.
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12. Oh Sang-Jun
A basic base shoe with some spectacular add-ons.
A shoe that is rather basic in general, albeit excellently executed making. Then, it has these two parts that stands out and attracts your interest even further. The hexagon detail next to the facing is one of them, certainly an eye-catcher, and then at the back a more subtle detail but which makes you contemplate how it’s achieved. An illusion of an “impossible” fold, cleverely put together. Oh Sang-Jun is based in South Korea, but has been doing shoes for a decade in Japan. He has made the entire shoe himself (this will be the case for all shoes going forward where nothing else is stated).
Top view.
Shot showcasing the intriguing back part.
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13. Masayuki Kaneko
Masayuki Kaneko is one of the newer Japanese makers that managed to create some buzz around his brands. His entry certainly shows his skill, both with a well balanced shoe that is very well-made, only with some small hickups in some places. Has gorgeous raised seams on the upper, which works great together with the “oversized” brogueing and the square waist design. The decorated back, tasseled laces and brogued interior adds a bit of character.
Nice brass nail decorations on the sole.
Profile pic.
A classic round toe last, which sits great with the design and square waist.
Nice back.
Brogeuing that follows along on the inside.
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14. Yasuhiro Koui
Most of what you see here is made of the same piece of leather.
Yasuhiro Koui is also from Japan, he used to work under the brand Barbavitra, but now goes with his own name. His everyday job is for the menswear company British Made / Watanabe Ltd. The shoe has a rather special pattern where most of it consists of one piece of leather that is “spiraling” around the shoe. It’s not made in the most logical way, and he seem to have misplanned a bit since the last few centimeters of the way around the shoe he has added a separate piece, but still an interesting take. Made well with only some minor things here and there.
Sole, with brogue pattern on the heel top piece.
Nice proportions.
Soft square toe.
This view is probably the best to understand how he has created the spiral pattern. So the piece starts with the skin stitch in the center, goes around the outside over the toe along the inside, where it meets and the upper part continues over to being the outer quarter, then vamp and inner quarter. Just the small piece at the back as you can see, and the two facing / top line pieces plus tongue that are separate leather pieces.
Sole edge close-up.
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15. Valentin Frunza
A beautiful shoe.
It’s nice to follow these makers that have been part of every contest since the start, and how most of them continue to develop through the years. Valentin Frunza from Moldavia is one such example. His shoe this year is clearly an improvement since his first entry in 2018, even if he was one of the first to hand stitch the upper at that time, it was a rather basic shoe overall. This one is much more refined and with higher ambitions, which he also manages to pull off with some fine making. Still some lack in refinement of the finishing, but give it a few more years and hopefully he’s trimmed this further.
Lovely bottom work.
Punching that varies in size.
Top view.
Nicely crafted metalwear.
Cool sock lining.
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16. Marat Ablakov
A shoe with a lot of things going on.
A shoe that definitely stood out of the crowd, with its leather artwork, hand stitched decorative seams and punched decorations. Made by Marat Ablakov from Russia. For the eye, it’s a bit too busy so hard to make out things at first, would probably have received higher on design if he’d killed some of his darlings. But it’s always fun with shoes that push things a bit and showcase different techniques.
Bottom a bit less busy.
Side view.
Here you can see that also the inside has decorations.
Goes all around it.
Sculpted waist, in a different meaning of the word than usual.
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17. Peace Andoh
Higher heel and very slim waist gives this shoe a different character.
From the only African shoemaker this year, Peace Andoh from Ghana, we have this charismatic shoe. Higher heel and super slim waist makes it a bit feminine in feel, but the wider sole edge with the braided stitching contrast a bit against this. Hand stitched upper where one row has a nice braiding raises the level of difficulty, he also added a slightly special shape of the back of the heel.
One of the most narrow waists of the contest this year.
High heeled.
A slim shoe.
Nice braided sole stitching.
Special back heel.
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18. Efe Laborde Bootmaker
Superb shoe, even if it didn’t follow the contest guidelines fully.
This is a really great shoe, but unfortunately it missed following guidelines, with the total lack of brogueing. This meant that it got 10% deduction of it’s total points, which had it drop a few positions. Efe Laborde Shoemaker is the brand of William Laborde, based in London, who made all parts except upper closing by William Powell. The look with the three rows of contrasting stitching, where one is sparse, one is super tight, and one is in between, really is superb. Also nice to see how he worked with visible sole stitch at the bottom as well, not easy to make it clean looking in both ends.
Great with decorative sole stitching on the bottom.
Side view.
Another one with elongated vamp and short toe.
Three rows of stitching, three different spi’s.
Bottom done with a stitch prick as well, as one do on the welt.
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19. Meisterschuh Berlin
Germany represented by Meisterschuh Berlin.
From the German company Meisterschuh Berlin, we have a shoe that is more basic on top, and quite spectacular on the bottom. Hamidreza Hamidiamin has made the design and the upper, Aurel Thuma has doen the bottoming, and the last is done together. The heel is a version of a horseshoe heel, it has a waist in different levels, and then the really cool metal toe tap with brogued and gimped edge. The shoe lacks a bit of refinement in the execution and finishing.
The underside is quite rad.
German feel of the look.
Top view.
Distinct heel piece.
Brilliant toe tap.
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20. Lu Yang Bespoke
Another high heeled shoe.
Another maker who misunderstood what longwing brogue meant, resulting in a 10% deduction of the total points. Lu Yang Bespoke is from China, where Lu Yang made the bottom making, Jiao Yang the upper, both collaborated on the design. A very cool hollowed out heel clearly inspired by women’s shoes. Making is fine even if finishing isn’t top notch. It has a nice design and aesthetics, looking aside the lack of brogueing, especially neat is the peaked top line on the inside quarter which is a unique design feature.
Special look from below with that heel.
Here you see the peak of the inner quarter.
From above.
Hollowed high heel.
Nice tongue.
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21. Raz Maftei / Maszschuhe
Raz Maftei of Maszschuhe out of Austria has made a shoe with more of that heavy feel and solid last that one is used to on longwings, albeit with the special waist as a clear difference. This is definitely the most spectacular feature of the shoe, where the outsole goes over itself in a delicate manner. A good shoe which would have placed even higher with a bit more refined finishing, it’s a bit rough around the edges now.
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22. Dmitry Avdyukhov
The Russian bespoke shoemaker Dmitry Avdyukhov has an elegant take on a longwing, on an elongated last with a soft square toe, with distinct welt finishing and a super narrow waist. It’s done well, especially the crisp bottom finishing, but doesn’t stand out that much.
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23. Emi Liao
Emi Liao from Taiwan scored higher on difficulty than on execution. Ambitions were good with for example the really tight sole stitching, but skill to pull it off in a clean manner wasn’t really there. A very cool heel, which we assume is cut out and hollowed with machine of some sort.
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24. Enrile
This shoe received high score on design, it’s a very balanced and thought-through piece of footwear where everything from last shape, pattern to type of making harmonise. Made by the Spanish shoemaker Enrile, who’s been in the game for quite some time now, where Antonio García Enrile made last, pattern and the upper, and Ismael Gomez did the bottom making. Got 5% of the points deducted unfortunately, due to the coloured sole (guidelines says natural coloured sole), which pushed it down a bit in the result list. Most impressive is the upper making with beautiful handmade details, for example the sole stitching is a bit less refined.
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25. Guseynov
Guseynov is another Russian shoemaker. His entry is another one of those where one has set the bar rather high with, what it seems, a level of difficulty one isn’t fully able to pull off the execution of. There’s tight sole stitching, but a bit wonky made, you have rather thin heel lifts, but not completely levelled, and similar. Still good to see that makers push themselves and want to give it a go outside their comfort zone for the contest.
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26. The Last Shoemaker
The Last Shoemaker, working out of Thailand and the UK, has made a charismatic shoe with some nice details. Similar to Corthay we have several sole layers with individual stitching, which is made quite nicely. The upper making is a bit off both in terms of make and pattern, it has a very long vamp and feels cramped from the lacing and back. So overall some good parts and some that could be better.
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27. Koji Yamaya
Here we have a shoe that certainly isn’t a bad one, it just a bit basic to make it much further up in a field with this many great shoes. Made by Koji Yamaya from Japan, who I believe is an amateur shoemaker doing shoes on his spare time. All out classic, 360 degree welt, round toe last, a classic longwing pattern.
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28. Ganbaatar Batjarga
Ganbaatar Batjarga from Mongolia, who has his brand Choice, decided to push himself for this making contest, and had his first shoe made entirely by hand. Cool stuff like the braided sole stitch, the Squid Game pattern of the sock lining, and nice upper stitching for being the first try doing it by hand. Now the shoe trees aren’t part of the judging, but the one that came with this shoe have to be mentioned, with a beautiful horse head for handle.
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29. Robert Elia
Robert Elia from Romania has made a shoe that is on the basic side, but certainly not having much issues. It’s a plain classic design as a base but some more special elements like the quarter going over the facing and a different kind of nail pattern. Best made on the shoe is probably the heel, neat and clean in execution.
30. Fan Yi
Fan Yi is a hobby shoemaker from Australia, and I believe he is one of those who have tried for the first time to make a hand stitched upper. It’s a difficult craft to master, and it has made the look of the shoe a bit coarse. A relatively narrow blind welt waist and nice notch between waist and heel. I think the shoe has taken some hits in transport, which is why it lost some colour in a few places.
