Eric Cook’s handmade shoes
by Tom Stubbs12 February 2010
I woke in the middle of the night with a horrific start realising I’ve thoroughly neglected my Finch post. I can’t even discuss it but must forthwith deliver a torrent of startling shoe editorial until you are satiated. Then some.
Working for Finch is like doing a big relaxed post grad’ MA in tasteful finery. Left to my own devices, I’d bombard you with all manner of leery loafers and flash dancing shoes from the big old Italian houses of Bond Street. (Actually I am gonna do that next week). However, in keeping with my editorial brief, we shall first clear our collective shoe palette with the finest handmade shoes one can lay feet in. I speak of none other than Mr Eric Cook. I sought out Eric after taking counsel from Mr Nicholas Foulkes, whom I quote: “Eric Cook is a genius. He has made my shoes for years. Not cheap or fast but possibly the best.” Luckily Cook’s also very kind with his time and explained in detail to this layman what he does.
The short version of this story is that Cook is part of a handmade bespoke shoe industry that has all but disappeared. His work is elegant and exquisitely finished. He is a true artisan, creating handsome shoes boasting unusual verve to their form and remarkable streamlining. He steers away from the heavyweight construct that many Brits employ and instead cuts the waist in very tightly. While most workshops utilize a bevy of specialised operatives, Cook works alone. However, he has grafted long and hard with some of the all time greats of shoe making to reach this position.
Cook is part of a family of shoemakers dating back to the 19th century. Coached by a relative he began his training in proper at Tuzeck, the most stylised shoes that were about in the Fifties. He went on to Henry Maxwell, staying there from the late Sixties to early Eighties. Cook tells me the clientele there was brilliant and from all over the world. He eventually moved to John Lobb in St. James’s, the only establishment I’ve mentioned that is still trading (even if it is owned by Hermès). The others have fallen foul to the mass mechanisation of this genre. Only a handful of operators remain worldwide.
As previously noted, Cook’s now a solo operator. Like a stealthy specialist shoe assassin, he works by appointment in London or at clients’ houses. His customer list includes royals, heads of state and other such lofty luminaries (Mr Foulkes for example).
Cook’s MO differs from others. Everything is done in-house. “Where some take three or four measurements, I take seven.The more I have the better I can identify the areas of the last that I am fashioning. I also take a digital photograph.”
He builds the last from here. So, how does he pin down a style that someone wants? “Maybe a customer has a favourite shoe they would like,” he explains,
“Say they’ve got the style but not been able to find a neat fitting. Or perhaps they aspire to something very individual. I work with them to identify what they are after. I have an album of stuff I’ve made over the years that they can reference. The desired shape (smart stylised semi pointed, semi oval, round, v. smart slight chisel, broad chisel, high rounded end etc) is then all in the discussion.”
What is Cook renown for you might ask? He tells me people would site it as a Cleverley shape. “But it isn’t,” he reflects, “it’s Tuzeck. George Cleverley was a shop man in Tuzcheck’s shop, meeting and greeting. He then went and started his own business and the Cleverley style is now probably the most identifiable. My style also has touches of Maxwell in it too.”
Any signature nuances to look for? “I like to do a waist cut in close and enjoy a sole colour between walnut (teaky tan) and acorn (yellow),” he reveals.
Cook’s production process is painstakingly lengthy, approximately six months for a finished pair to emerge. I enquire about the master’s philosophy. “I aim to make the most elegant shoes possible with the foot that I am offered so that when viewed they make an intriguing and lasting impression.”
Now you don’t hear that kind of talk down in Gucci, do you?
Eric Cook by appointment 01737 842957
- Tom Stubbs is FQR’s online style editor
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February 21st, 2010 at 1:52 pm
In fact Henry Maxwell is owned by the same company as W S Foster & Son and trades from the same premises in Jermyn Street. The John Lobb bespoke shop in St James’s Street is still owned by the family; the RTW stuff is supplied through a company owned by Hermes.