Want to be the next Manolo Blahnik? Take a class with The Cobblettes!

Open Runway is all about putting the creative power into your hands so that’s why we’re very excited to tell you about The Cobblettes, a shoemaking workshop that does just that.

Emily Putterman-Handler, known as the Shoemaking Guru of NYC and Kimberly Ayoung, an attorney by day and a burgeoning shoe designer by night are the dynamic duo behind The Cobblettes.  As The Cobblettes, Emily and Kim will be teaching intensive two-day beginner shoemaking workshops, starting this month in NYC. From there Emily and Kim plan on taking the workshop on the road across the US including Washington DC, Chicago, Atlanta, and Los Angeles.

The workshop is for aspiring shoe designers who want to learn the art of designing and cobbling shoes from scratch without the financial burden of enrolling into a fashion institute. In the workshops, students will learn how to create a mule by hand. They can choose the type and color of fabric and adorn them with buttons, ribbons, buckles and more. “Your imagination is your only limitation,” Emily says.

Emily Putterman is an award winning shoe designer and shoemaker who has been teaching shoemaking classes for over 20 years at the Fashion Institute of Technology and the Pratt Institute. Her students, who come from diverse professions such as magazine editors, physicians, fashion design students and hedge fund managers, have gone on to work for well known designers including Kenneth Cole, Steve Madden and Coach and some such as Kristina Kozak and Andrew Chesler have started their own lines.

The classes are for both serious designers and people looking to start designing. One obvious advantage of the class is that students will be able to walk away at the end of the workshop in a pair of handcrafted shoes they created themselves, but the far greater benefit is the craft of shoemaking each student will leave with.  The techniques taught in the workshop do not require any special machinery which means students can continue to hone their craft and make shoes at home even after the class.

Open Runway is excited to be giving graduates of The Cobblettes workshop the opportunity to promote and sell their creations.  As part of the workshop, students will be invited to submit their designs to Open Runway’s ongoing, open call design contests. Winning designs will actually get put into production and sold on Open Runway’s website.  “The chance for a student to have their designs manufactured and actually sold is a dream come true to many,” says Kim.  With an emphasis on promoting emerging designers, Open Runway will provide the platform to make that dream a reality.

Visit The Cobblettes, to sign up for a workshop:

http://www.shoemakingclasses.com/