Summary

This dark skin-coloured leather sample remnant is approximately 4mm thick and was most likely used to make Stanio Fancoff's shoe soles sometime between the 1930s and 1970s. Along with many other leather shoe sole remnants, this sample illustrates the quality and different sole depths that Stanio used within his shoemaking craft.

Stanio Ivanoff Fancoff was born in 1908 in Bojentsi, a small village in Bulgaria. At age 11, Stanio left home to learn the shoemaking trade. In 1929, he immigrated to Melbourne, settled in Fitzroy and began to work for the V.G. Zemancheff & Sons basket shoe factory in South Melbourne. In1936, he married Dorotea Georgi Touzou who had recently arrived in Australia. Around this time, Stanio set up his own shoemaking business from home, with Georgi, her cousin and sister weaving the shoes which he then assembled. Select shoe samples were then taken to Sydney and Tasmania for sale. In 1942, Georgi and Stanio moved to Broken Hill for Georgi's health; there daughter Nancy was born and Stanio set up a shoe shop/factory. In 1945, Georgi died and by 1950 Stanio and Nancy had moved to Adelaide where he again opened a shoemaking business and shop. He passed away in 1978, having been in the shoemaking business for 59 years. This collection documents his migration and working life experiences.

Physical Description

Ridgid dark skin coloured leather remnants of approximately 4mm thick. Although the remnant is cut into no definitive shape, the front side exhibits a dark line along its longest edge and a white tinge covers majority of the surface area. Furthermore, this front side has several darker patches suggesting possible surface impurities. The reverse side mimics the front's sides whitish tinge, but also exhibits extensive underlying cracks and one major leather line within the top left corner which shows the two different leather levels.

Significance

This collection is significant in documenting a small migrant business as well as the fashion of a particular period. It is well provenanced and charts the application of trade skills in a new country. It also illustrates the stages of hand shoe manufacture from the 1930s, demonstrating the enduring nature of the tools and patterns that were used.

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