Comments on: The Pointe Shoe Makers Of Hackney https://spitalfieldslife.com/2018/01/25/the-pointe-shoe-makers-of-hackney-x/ In the midst of life I woke to find myself living in an old house beside Brick Lane in the East End of London Sun, 21 Dec 2025 04:13:41 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0 By: mjb https://spitalfieldslife.com/2018/01/25/the-pointe-shoe-makers-of-hackney-x/#comment-1885183 Sun, 21 Dec 2025 04:13:41 +0000 http://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=163444#comment-1885183 Wonderful article. I enjoyed reading

]]> By: Gemma https://spitalfieldslife.com/2018/01/25/the-pointe-shoe-makers-of-hackney-x/#comment-1885130 Sat, 20 Dec 2025 22:29:23 +0000 http://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=163444#comment-1885130 Really fascinating read, thank you! I came here based off a Reddit comment where someone called this ‘one of the most interesting articles [they’ve] ever read’, and I have to agree. Thank you for talking to these men and giving us an insight into their jobs and attitudes. The photos are fantastic too.

]]> By: Melinda Rubin https://spitalfieldslife.com/2018/01/25/the-pointe-shoe-makers-of-hackney-x/#comment-1193361 Tue, 30 Jan 2018 20:57:48 +0000 http://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=163444#comment-1193361 Fascinating article about a unique and invisible handicraft. Thank you for sharing.

]]> By: Susan https://spitalfieldslife.com/2018/01/25/the-pointe-shoe-makers-of-hackney-x/#comment-1193048 Mon, 29 Jan 2018 00:18:59 +0000 http://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=163444#comment-1193048 Thanks, as everyone has said, fascinating and revealing, beautiful.

]]> By: Sally Hirst https://spitalfieldslife.com/2018/01/25/the-pointe-shoe-makers-of-hackney-x/#comment-1193039 Sun, 28 Jan 2018 19:49:46 +0000 http://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=163444#comment-1193039 Truly fascinating. Thank you, and the men involved.

]]> By: Martin Palmer https://spitalfieldslife.com/2018/01/25/the-pointe-shoe-makers-of-hackney-x/#comment-1192741 Thu, 25 Jan 2018 23:45:06 +0000 http://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=163444#comment-1192741 Many thanks for this article. I lived very close to the business for many years and never knew it was there. The article delightfully enhanced my experience of the ballet: It is, indeed, a mysterious, inscrutable, almost otherworldly culture.

My daughter is a ballerina and now teaches in Manhattan, NY, so I have been around the ballet for a long time. And whereas I never experienced much anxiety when my son competed in a martial art where strangling into submission was legal, I found that walking through a group of ballerinas preparing for an audition to be like walking through a minefield of emotion.

I respect these guys when they speak of pain: I noticed some of the tool handles wrapped in tape!

]]> By: Ron Bunting https://spitalfieldslife.com/2018/01/25/the-pointe-shoe-makers-of-hackney-x/#comment-1192728 Thu, 25 Jan 2018 22:35:43 +0000 http://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=163444#comment-1192728 Amazing!. I have a few Huguenot Cordwainers in my Family tree who lived in the east end . Fascinating to see a trade carried out to this day that hasn’t been sent off shore.

]]> By: Judith https://spitalfieldslife.com/2018/01/25/the-pointe-shoe-makers-of-hackney-x/#comment-1192712 Thu, 25 Jan 2018 19:41:18 +0000 http://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=163444#comment-1192712 Thank you for this post and tge great photos. I was born and brought up very near to Wells Street, aeons ago. Who knew such clever craftsmen were at work.?

]]> By: Karen Rush https://spitalfieldslife.com/2018/01/25/the-pointe-shoe-makers-of-hackney-x/#comment-1192711 Thu, 25 Jan 2018 19:20:57 +0000 http://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=163444#comment-1192711 Exquisite article and pictures. So interesting.

]]> By: Charlotte Hunter https://spitalfieldslife.com/2018/01/25/the-pointe-shoe-makers-of-hackney-x/#comment-1192703 Thu, 25 Jan 2018 17:28:27 +0000 http://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=163444#comment-1192703 Lovely, photos and words and skilled men alike.

]]>