17.06.2017 K Jayapalan’s little handmade-shoe store creates
personalised designs for customers
The gravelly path leading away from Mahabalipuram’s shores
is lined with local traders, busy seafood restaurants and meticulously
chiselled sculptures. There’s another familiar sight: the popular village shoe
maker.
Shaded from the harsh afternoon sun inside a three-walled
space, shoemaker K Jayapalan slaps leather together with practised ease.
Where a fourth wall would have been, is a tall panel lined
with footwear ideal for the beach: chappals and flip-flops. Jayapalan has been
at work moulding footwear for about 20 years now, under the name Ganesh Leather
Works.“Handmade crafts and shoes are a lost art,” he says. “No one really makes
them any more.” A team of four to five people usually helps Jayapalan with his
shoes, but on the afternoon we visit, there’s just one worker. Sitting on the
straw mat, the two work deftly.
“Foreigners really like handmade work, so we design a lot of
shoes for tourists,” Jayapalan says. “Nowadays, more Indians are buying my
work.”
Customers often just give him their size and design, after
which he creates the shoes. The demands of a new design don’t deter him;
Jayapalan says he is determined to give the customer’s vision his best shot.
“With chain stores, whatever design they provide, you have to stick with it,”
he says. “Over here, we will design a shoe to your liking.”
His dedication knows no bounds: once a customer’s order is
received, Jayapalan says he goes all the way to Chennai to procure the colour
and material needed, and voila, the handmade pair is ready within the week.
Even if they don’t want a custom design, customers can still get their shoes
adjusted, repaired and remodelled at the shop. It takes anything from the span
of a few minutes to an hour.
As though hinting at Jayapalan’s inspirations, a tattered
pair of Birkenstocks lying in the corner hints at something new to come out of
its tired straps.
The shoe maker doesn’t limit his sales to the little street
he operates from. He says Ganesh Leather Works exports all over India and even
across the borders to Belgium, where Jayapalan’s son has a friend who helps the
business.
Vacationers usually come during June and July, so he’s
gearing up to receive them over the next few weeks. Otherwise, it’s quiet for
most of the year.
“Nothing much has changed in the last 15 to 20 years,” he
says about his business. “I put my sons through school and they help out here
sometimes, so that’s the most I can hope for.”
Address: Ganesh Leather Works, 39, Othavadai Street,
Mamallapuram
