Gianfranco Montano Bespoke

Every time it is like a miracle that is repeated. Like a mystery. And every time it is the same joy, the same satisfaction, when that leaf of leather, neutral, chosen on the counter turns into an elegant, unique, perfect pair of shoe. It takes about 40 hours, for processing. It is once made of manual, inspiration, of inventiveness of ingenuity. But also full of commitment to sustainability, at the service of the planet. ""A sustainable project and lifestyles that aimed to imagine a better future for everyone"", underlines Gianfranco Montano, 35, of Sant'Arcangelo. That joy also law in the eyes of customers, amazed of how his hands are able to transform that small piece of leather into art. And to think that in the creation of Gianfranco shoes has arrived almost by chance. For love towards his land. ""It happened eight years ago - says - I did anything else, I worked in a pharmaceutical company from Emilia Romagna, in Parma. I didn't feel satisfied. And then, to return to my land I looked around to understand what was missing in this part of the Basilicata, Val d'Agri. I realized that there were no shoeot. The figure of the repairman was missing. I started so "". I had never done it before. How did you learn? I started attending a training course in Foggia; I learned to disassemble the shoes, to understand what was inside, the parts that make up a finite. From repairs to the realization of artisan shoes, the jump as it happened? In a rather curious way: my prozio was to know that a family member, a boy, had opened a shoemaker's workshop in Sant'Arcangelo. He, of Perticara Guard, lives in Florence. A summer came on vacation in Sant'Arcangelo and decided to come and visit me. But I wasn't there. The shop was closed for holidays. He left me a ticket: I am Angelo Imperatore, your relative, when you can contact me. When I went back I got the phone number and I called him: he invited me to Florence, where he teaches Ferragamo's polymoda footwear and at the Riagi Academy. He was the teacher, in the Bottega Bemer, of the actor Daniel Day Lewis, when he decided to learn the art of shoemaker. Obviously he went to Florence. Closed for holidays and went fifteen days. I needed to understand what he taught and realized. He told me that I should have gone more often to understand how to build tailor-made shoes. Every month I tried to find some time, even a single day, to follow his lessons. I was traveling at night, the day I followed his teachings and then returned to Sant'Arcangelo. This happened two years after opening the repairman shoemaker. And when did he start to realize his shoes? Between a repair and another I found the time to create something. At fury to practice, stealing with my eyes all I could know about it, I started to take his hand and realize my footwear. Once the first pair has been ready you will be asked: And now who sells them? Of course I asked myself this question. But I had two roads to go. Or focus on quality, customization, looking for customers who could buy that kind of product, or make a more popular choice, using second-choice materials, to break down costs and make them accessible to everyone. I said to myself: every pair of shoe is a unique piece, there will never be one identical to the other. And this made me choose the quality. Look, I treat every detail. The shoes arise from a neutral skin. Together with the customer we decide the colors, the nuances, which I realize directly. At the beginning, I confess it, it was sacrificant: in Basilicata there is no big economy or a strong tradition of craftsmanship. I had to look for customers. When did you understand? When my client, to whom I had made a pair of shoes a few months earlier, he returned to order another one. I realized that he had remained glad, that the product worked, that was not only beautiful aesthetically. And I realized that the job could have given me to live. He did the shoes also at Francis Ford Coppola, the driver of the godfather. How did it go? I have to give credit to the director of the Hotel Palazzo Margherita di Bernalda, Rossella De Filippo, who had met me, had seen the things I did and proposed them in Coppola. One day they invited me to Bernalda to take the measures. I was prepared, I had read so many things about him. I was intimidated and very measured. But I found myself a wonderful person. He wanted to know he wanted to know my story. Then he asked his attendants if he took a picture together. I wouldn't have the courage to ask him. And the components of his staff were also surprised, because he never had done it before. I did two pairs of shoes. Do you have other illustrious customers? Especially large entrepreneurs, in Italy and in the world. The strangest place where he sent his shoes? In Libya, they were directed to an engineer in the oil sector and in Dubai. And then normally in Germany and France. What is your link with Florence? Apart from the fact that it is the place where I learned to do the footwear, I love art, beauty, the craftsmanship of that city: I consider Tuscany my second region. Speaking of regions: for your art, isn't it a bit tight at the Basilicata? Not at all. I had so many proposals to move. I asked him from Florence, from Rome. I didn't do it: I didn't like the idea of ??having learned an art and then go away, leave my land. For some activities I will move to Matera, where together with the Basilicata CNA and its President Leo Montemurro we will try to make a district of the Artieri, a place where Lucanian artisans can be found. Does male shoes only? Yes for now. I made a few pairs of feminine shoes, but I never advertised it. They are alone, the times to make a pair of shoes are long, they serve about 40 hours. Has any young man to knock on the door of his laboratory, with the desire to learn the trade? No and I think this thing negative. I will move from Sant'Arcangelo to Matera. From here, I have a basin, for repairs, of seventeen countries. They are countries where there are no shoes. I would like it if a boy came to ask me: do you teach me the job? I don't say learning to make tailor-made shoes because it serves passion, time, sacrifice to learn. Without anyone fails. But create a job for a boy capable of making repairs, I'd like to. Does repairs do it in time leftovers? No, I put the same passion. However, giving it: when creating a product, a work is created: it is a satisfaction. And when the customer sees that that millimeter of skin on the counter turns into a pair of quality shoes, joy is really great. Do you have future projects? I signed a collaboration contract with an American company: I draw the models, I choose the quality of the materials and them, with my brand, realize and distribute the finished shoes in a fortnight of oriental countries.