A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE SHOES OF VASILIS STAMATAKIS

Gouache by Margo McCafferty

The virtually unknown Cretan shoemaker and designer VASILIS STAMATAKIS led an extraordinary life.

As a youth Vasilis began his design career in 1932 with a two-year apprenticeship to a bootmaker in the village of Agia Paraskevi in Crete – Greece which he completed in 1934.

When Vasilis had mastered boot-making, he secured a three-year apprenticeship with a Master Shoemaker in Heraklion, Crete – Greece completed in 1937 when he was designated a fully credentialed shoemaker.

Next, Vasilis obtained his final, two-year apprenticeship with a fashion house in Athens, Greece working with a top custom shoe designers and finished as Master Shoemaker in 1939.

By 1940 Greece had entered WWII, followed by a Civil War that substantially altered the economy. By 1948, under a Communist government, top wealth left the country and there were no longer markets in Crete for luxury goods such as custom-made ladies’ shoes.

Vasilis immediately recognized that he could use his knowledge of shoemaking to successfully identify well-made machine-made shoes that would suit the needs of women who needed inexpensive, sturdy shoes. Within a few years he had developed a reputation in Heraklion, Crete for providing the best shoes at the lowest prices and prospered as a merchant.

Vasilis wisely purchased an old Venetian building in the heart of the business district. The building featured four floors, and the first floor was designated as a retail shoe store selling machine made shoes purchased in Greece’s wholesale shoe markets.

Vasilis’ sister, Dora, supervised staff, ran the cash register, and kept the books.

Vasilis was now free to pursue a double life.

Vasilis was well known in the city as a successful merchant; but he yearned to create the beauty that he had rigorously trained for. Secretly, he began to pursue a double life where he designed and created exquisitely beautiful handmade shoes – decade after decade.

It was only after retirement that Vasilis revealed the existence of his Shoe Collection, and began to build a museum in Heraklion in which to display the hundreds of pairs of shoes that he had created.

In approximately 2001, a few weeks before the opening of his museum, Vasilis died instantly of a heart attack.

All of Vasilis ’shoes for his museum were stored in his commercial building. Vasilis’ son and heir – anxious to sell the building rapidly in response to a high figure ‘tear-down’ offer – authorized the bulldozing of the building and its contents thus destroying his father’s lifetime oeuvre.

Photo by Jae Brown

Miraculously, thirty-seven pairs of shoes – of which Vasilis had duplicates – had been sold to a collector directly by Vasilis during 1994-95.  These surviving designs are the only witness to THE GENIUS THAT WAS VASILIS STAMATAKIS.