Amanda Luisa from wonder boutique ‘I CAN make shoes’ has one goal - keep feet happy. Working out of her studio in East London, Amanda’s boutique will stock her own self designed and crafted seasonal footwear lines, as well featuring her new foray into the magical world of shoe ‘upcycling’. We asked Amanda to keep a diary of her shoe escapades, so we can all take a peep (toe) into her Marketplace preparations….
This entire week, the studio has been more like a post office. All week I’ve been waiting for various deliveries of the supplies I need to continue creating my Marketplace collection. I was up early on Monday to receive a parcel containing my new shoe boxes and branded stickers. I had to assemble the shoe boxes myself, so I spent a good hour tossing up which side of the card I wanted to use for the outside of the boxes, brown or white.... I eventually went with the brown, I reckon it gives the boxes a nice sort of ‘raw’ effect. I ripped into my new packet of stickers, and I couldn’t be happier with how they have turned out. I have begun sticking them on every imaginable surface.
Monday was also my friend Veronique’s birthday, so before popping out for her birthday celebrations in the evening, I upcylced some black boots especially for her. New memory foam lining and red leather insoles, new black soles and heel tips and then the main event... red glitter fabric lightning bolts on the side!
My amazing intern Isabella was in again today and helped upcycle some beige wedges with big black floppy leather bows. They looked rather sad before, but now they look ready to own any dance floor they come across. In the afternoon I received another package from Amanda over at Save your Sole. Save your Sole are providing soles for all of our up-cycled shoes, so the rest of the Tuesday was spent putting new soles on all of the pairs of shoes we have upcycled so far.
On Wednesday, I took a break from upcycling shoes to make some headway on my own collection for the Marketplace, Amanda Luisa for I CAN make shoes. I took some time piecing together some new ‘Jumper’ shoes…I may as well make this apology to my boyfriend a public one - I’m sorry I cut up all of your jumpers for samples! I spent the afternoon researching my latest obsession - ‘Carrick Bend’ sailor knots. I got out my sketchbook and started drafting out how I can incorporate the knots into my new designs for ‘Jumper’ shoes. So far I have adorned the jumper sleeves with studs, wool, rope, weaving and knotting lace. So. Much. Fun.
I started off Thursday morning waiting for more deliveries, but very excitingly, my new glitter fabric samples turned up. This wonderful sparkly arrival put me in the best mood, and over the course of the day I created a mental plan to make some incredibly glittery NYE boots. I spent most of the afternoon developing the digital side of I CAN make shoes. It’s quite nice occasionally to spend a day away from hands-on work and work on the computer instead, so I stayed put online for a lot of today. I starting by learning the in’s and out’s of social media so I can promote my Boutique properly through Facebook and Twitter. I basically just needed to absorb how to idiot-proof everything so I don’t make any embarrassing mistakes online! I also received some more memory foam in-soles this afternoon and they unbelievably comfortable, like walking on clouds.
To wrap up a week of deliveries, a parcel that was meant to arrive on Monday finally appeared. I half wanted to yell at the driver but opted instead to go for the ‘rip the package open with excitement’ approach... I now have a fully stocked ‘new-shoe supply kit’ so can get busy piecing together the whole collection. All I needed to get going was a large amount of coffee and a super long work bench to lay everything out on, so it was off to IKEA to deck out the studio for the next phase of I CAN make shoes – the production line!
