Page 44 - 175 Varsity ebook

42 /
42/People / 43

Embroidered shoes maker Miru fashionable footwear in the 1950s- school projects. “In filming, catalogue
Wong Ka-lam works from 8pm every 60s. Now ladies only wear them dur- and editorial design projects, embroi-
day to prepare different compart- ing special occasions such as Chinese dered shoes were featured as the main
ments of embroidered shoes. traditional weddings and Lunar New character,” she shares.
Year.
“I spend five to six hours cutting Being showered with compliments
soles into different sizes and sewing from classmates and teachers at uni-
patterns for vamp of the shoes,” says versity, she became more devoted to
Wong, who inherits a handmade shoe embroidered shoes production and
shop from her grandfather. started to design new patterns, such
as pandas.
Sewing different patterns for each
pair of shoes can be time-consuming. She also conducted more in-depth
“It can take me more than 10 hours research on embroidered shoes for
to sew the patterns for each pair of Hand-made embroidered shoes for her final year project. “I learnt more
shoes,” the third generation owner of Chinese traditional marriage ceremony. about embroidered shoes, the related
a shoe shop, Sindart, says. culture and history, such as the de-
Wong shares that the most time- velopment of the craft in different
The shop was established in Hong consuming part was designing a drag- dynasties. During the Qing dynasty,
Kong by Wong’s grandfather in 1958. on and phoenix motif. “The bride gave consorts wore those shoes with flow-
It is now located on the first floor of me a photo of her mother’s shoes. But erpot-heels to show their prestigious
Bowring Centre in Jordan. it was not clear and it took me some status,” she says.
time to work out details of the design.
I had to keep making changes to suit Wong makes use of what she learnt
the customer’s needs,” she says. at university to produce promotional
materials to rebrand and reform the
Apart from the design, her hand- store with 67 years of history.
made shoes can also be tailored based
on each customer’s unique foot size, In 2016, she wrote a book to pro-
features and issues such as asymmet- mote embroidered shoes. The book
rical feets and feets with larger bones. also covers history, the making of
Some customers also ask Wong to shoes and her personal experience
create a new design based on images from childhood to inheriting the fam-
Sindart in Bowring Centre of their pets. ily business.

Sewn To Tradition The price of her handmade em-
broidered shoes fall in a range. The Her creations feature a variety of As new blood to the industry,
most affordable option costs HKD$99 colours, which each colour has five to Wong continues to release new de-
In Every Stitch while tailored order can be up to HKD six different colour tones, requiring a signs to retain customers. New pat-
$2800 or above.
lot of time for sourcing materials of terns on her embroidered shoes now
the right colours. feature adorable animals such as rab-
“Once, it took me half a year to bits, Shiba Inu and cats to boost her
hand in a pair of tailor-made embroi- Wong’s love for embroidered shoes business.
dered shoes to a customer who was began when she was a six-year-old
about to get married. She wanted to primary school pupil. Her grandpar-
wear embroidered shoes which were ents taught her beading and sewing
the same as her mother’s wedding after seeing her drawing on shoes. Her
shoes on her big day,” the shoe maker first masterpiece was a sewing flower.
By Belle Yip recalls. When she was a media commu-

Embroidered shoes maker Miru Wong Ka-lam Embroidered shoes were once nication major student, she used em-

works from 8pm every day to prepare different broidered shoes as a main theme in Hand-made embroidered shoes with
compartments of embroidered shoes. unconventional designs