Jan van der Velden was sad a year ago. He is a shoemaker, just like his father. After 47 years he is about to retire and had no successor. In his mind he was already saying goodbye to his business in the center of Kaatsheuvel. But then Sietske Cornelissen (27) showed up.
It is not surprising that Jan could not find a successor. There are only eleven young people in the whole of the Netherlands who are training to be a shoemaker. While at least 40 are needed to allow the 500 shoemakers that our country still has to continue to exist.
“You don’t think I’m going to work as hard as you do?”
It hurt that Jan could not find a successor. He is the only shoemaker in Kaatsheuvel with a shop in the Langstraat: the heart of the shoe industry. “My kids think it’s a beautiful craft. But my son said in January last year in the Omroep Brabant talk show KRAAK, ‘You don’t think I’m going to work as hard as you, do you’?”
Sietske also lives in Kaatsheuvel. She saw the broadcast and everyone said it was really something for her. She worked with orthopedic shoes, but actually she was mainly concerned with paperwork. She missed working with the hands. Still, she waited nine months after the broadcast before letting her boyfriend pick up the phone to call Jan: “I thought it was too exciting.”
But once she had visited his shop and spent an afternoon with him, the matter was settled. And you only need to be in Van der Velden’s shop for a minute to see how the two interact. Sietske holds out a sandal to him: “Yes, that has to be done by hand. Eff it button detach and use again,” he shows her.
“She was born for it.”
Ask Jan about Sietske and you will only hear words of praise. “She understands. She is enterprising and she does it well. I think she was born for it.”
While repairing the broken zipper in a boot, Sietske says: “I have enjoyed making things for as long as I can remember. My boyfriend always says that I can’t sit still anyway, so I just had to do it.
Shoemaker used to be a male profession. Today, it is mainly women who want to learn the trade. And that doesn’t surprise Sietske: “You don’t have to be strong for it. In principle, anyone can do it, but you have to be handy and precise. Details are very important, because it is millimeter work.”
“After 47 years you’re going to feel it.”
In January, Sietske takes over Jan’s business. He is happy with it: “After 47 years you start to feel it: standing and walking up and down all day. In the evening you are as stiff as can be. So it’s enough.”
Yet he will always remain connected to the case. Literally, because he and his wife live behind the shop. So he will often drop in: “It stays there, because this has been my passion from an early age.”
Sietske has now found her destination: “For me it is the good combination of working with people and being able to express my creative side. I have never felt so in my element.”
READ ALSO: Shoemaker Jan cannot find a successor: ‘Painful that it stops with me’
2023-06-03 11:56:47
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