World Shoemaking Championship 2022

We would like to congratulate our very own Kenjiro Kawashima for winning third place in the World Championship of Shoemaking at the 2022 London Super Trunk Show this past weekend.

Ken presented this beautiful handmade longwing featuring a Norwegian welt, skin stitch upper detailing along the longwing and facings, sexy shaped fiddle back waist, brogue details that scale smaller to larger from the back to front, and brass nail detailing in the symbolic Japanese Seigaiha pattern on the sole.

The combination of details is a lot to tackle in one shoe, and Ken’s execution here was flawless. We were also happy to have the pleasure of watching Ken work on many of the steps of the process.

Clicking of the uppers (above).

Planning the sole design (above).

Based in Barcelona for three years and now closer to family in Seoul, Ken plays a very important role with us here at Norman Vilalta as the head of our handmade and bespoke shoes. Congratulations Ken.

For more information about the winners, please visit our friends Justin Fitzpatrick of The Shoe Snob and Jesper Ingevaldsson of Shoegazing.