htmlOn the 113th, at the Jinan West Street Workshop Cultural and Creative Industrial Park, Peng Shizeng introduced his miniature leather shoes works. The "world's smallest shoe" made by Peng Shizeng is only 8 mm long.
Peng Shizeng teaches apprentice, intern reporter Liu Yule, photographed by
In the 1980s and 1990s, leather shoes, sports shoes... were stripped off the wire, and it was a pity that they could not wear them or lost them. As long as they were handed over to the shoe repair master, the old shoes could soon turn into treasure. Nowadays, the figure of the "old shoemaker" has gradually faded out of people's vision, but there are still some people who are still sticking to it. Peng Shizeng in the Cultural and Creative Industrial Park of Jinan West Street Workshop, Shandong is such a shoemaker who has been persisting for 35 years. Five years ago, he began to make "micro leather shoes", hoping to find the inheritor of shoe culture in his lifetime.
Handmade each one is out of print. The smallest is only 8 mm long
West Street Workshop Cultural and Creative Industrial Park. A house less than 10 square meters is Peng Shizeng's "Museum of Micro Leather Shoes". On the three iron frames against the wall are Peng Shizeng's efforts over the past five years - more than 100 "Mutual Leather Shoes" made purely by hand and the items he collected lasts, uppers, soles and other items.
The "micro leather shoes" placed on the iron frame opposite the door are diverse in style and colors. They are either the classic styles of the past, or the cultural and creative designs of Peng Shizeng, or the miniature version of the manufacturer's classic style. "This is imitating the tilde shoes of the Tang Dynasty, the cloud-toe shoes of the Song Dynasty, the flower pot-soled shoes of the Qing Dynasty, the three-inch golden lotus, the swallowtail bag-toe shoes of the 1980s, the trumpet heel leather shoes of the 1990s, the pointed toe shoes of the 1990s, the sponge cake shoes of the recent years, and the classic miniature shoes that New Balance asked me to make..." Peng Shizeng knew the history of the development of shoes. In addition to the classic model, Peng Shizeng has also created "Twelve Zodiac Shoes", "Auspicious Shoes", and "The Smallest Shoes in the World". There is a "little shoe" with a round glass cover on the top of the cabinet, with the words "The World's Smallest Shoe" marked on it. "This shoe is 8 mm long. Without a magnifying glass, it is just looking with your eyes and feeling. Once it falls to the ground, it can't be found. Two shoes are thrown like this." Peng Shizeng said with a smile that he made this "The World's Smallest Shoe" 5 times, and only one of them succeeded.
It is understood that these more than 100 shoes are all handmade by Peng Shizeng. "Since 2013, they have been made according to the proportion and structure of normal shoes. They are unique and cannot be copied. Each one is between 7.5 cm and 8.5 cm. They can only be made with basic tools such as knives, scissors, files, needles and threads."
has little income. The old leather shoe factory has no rent and repair shoes. You can only make money by smoking
"Someone asked me to buy the 'Twelve Zodiac Shoes' to collect them. I didn't sell them. It's necessary to buy them back. If there is a factory willing to promote this design, I would be willing to cooperate." Peng Shizeng said.
Peng Shizeng's "Museum of Micro Leather Shoes" is his studio, which is also a house of more than 10 square meters. There is a sign at the door with custom leather shoes, shoe repairs and other words, and there are various leathers, dyeing liquids, hand tools and equipment inside. A 40-centimeter-high small table near the window is Peng Shizeng's workbench. His more than 100 mini leather shoes are all completed here.
"Not many people have found private customized shoes." Peng Shizeng said that someone once contacted him to customize shoes, but after asking for the price, he regretted it. "Shoes are made by mass production. It is a loss to make money by making only one pair of shoes. Customization must be used for special purposes. A good piece of leather costs about 1,000 yuan. We also need to consider factors such as personality and style. For most people, it is more cost-effective to buy from the mall, so many people regret it when they hear the quotation."
Since 2013, many people have contacted Peng Shizeng after learning that he made mini leather shoes, "I asked me to make shoes for Barbie dolls, which cost more than 1,000 yuan. Generally, one pair costs less than half a month, and this kind of order can't be encountered in a year." Peng Shizeng said, "More than 90% of the customers come to me to repair shoes. The shoes must be fine to avoid scratching their feet."
is a price list above Peng Shizeng's workbench, opening lines, cleaning, and thickening the soles of the feet... Many projects are quoted no more than 50 yuan, and the most expensive one is that the price of refurbished shoes is between 80 and 300 yuan.He introduced that "This is the old leather shoe factory. At that time, I was asked to keep some leather shoe culture and confiscate my rent. In recent years, I basically rely on my wife's pension to subsidize my family income. I went home for three meals a day. Apart from buying materials, there was basically no big expense. It was enough to earn some money to repair shoes to buy a pack of cigarettes."
is a story about the torch. A female apprentice came to Ji Xueyi at about 13:30 on the 113th. Peng Shizeng's newly recruited apprentice Liao Wanru rushed to the workshop. "I just agreed to accept her as an apprentice a week ago." Peng Shizeng said while guiding Liao Wanru with a file blade. "She contacted me a month ago and wanted to learn how to make micro leather shoes from me. She also gave up her job as a senior executive in Beijing and came to Jinan to learn from me."
"Learn to make 'micro leather shoes', you must first know how to make commercial shoes, and you must understand the principles of shoemaking. Teach her step by step. This child is sincere and has insight, and is a good seedling." Peng Shizeng said that he had recruited apprentices before and advised him to do so. After retiring, "I have told them some principled things a lot, but they have already had a deep-rooted habit and can't be changed. I'm not suitable for this industry, so I persuaded them to withdraw."
It is understood that after Peng Shizeng retired from the army and returned to Jilin in 1981, he became a laborer at the Jinan leather shoe factory. After a year of self-study, he was promoted to a designer of the leather shoe factory. "At that time, there were more than 1,800 people in the venue, and only six or seven designers." From then on, Peng Shizeng began his career as a shoemaker. In 1992, the Jinan leather shoe factory went bankrupt and Peng Shizeng was laid off. He had sold alcohol, health products, furniture, and custom-made garments. In 2010, he returned to Jinan and opened a shoe repair shop near his home, barely making a living. "The degree of mechanization is getting higher and higher, and the shoemaking process is getting more and more advanced. There are fewer and fewer people in this industry. I want to do something to let everyone understand the leather shoe craftsmanship. In 2013, Xijie Workshop was founded. I think this is an opportunity to inherit the leather shoe culture, so I agreed to move in."
"I just don't want such a good thing to be forgotten by everyone. I have accumulated more than 30 years of experience and want to pass it on to future generations to avoid detours. If this can be done, I will not be in vain." Peng Shizeng said with a smile that he made the miniature leather shoes on the display stand, just to use this form to attract people's attention, cultivate heirs, and continue to pass on the shoe culture.
