THE PATHFINDER: THE SHOE THAT BUILT THE CORDWAINER SHOP
BOOK DESIGN ILLUSTRATION COPYWRITING
When Molly Grant of the Cordwainer Shop decided to shift the focus of her business away from custom shoe orders and craft shows to shoemaking workshops, she wanted to create a book about the Pathfinder shoe, a classic Cordwainer Shop design created in the 1920s in the midst of the Great Depression. The shoe is completely stitched together by hand and was designed to be sold as a kit of parts, so that people could purchase the kit at an affordable price and assemble the shoes themselves. The Cordwainer Shop still sells the shoe kit today, and this book provides both a brief history of the Cordwainer Shop and step-by-step instructions for creating a pair of Pathfinder shoes at home. Molly also teaches the construction of this shoe at craft schools around the country.
The book design features photos, diagrams, illustrations and copy to help describe each step in the making the shoes. Historical photos appear throughout the book, both to feature some of the incredible images in the archives and to remind the reader of the complex history behind the shoe.
Book photos by Good Goose Graphics; historical images courtesy of the Cordwainer Shop
Color, material and texture inspiration images for book design
Spread, cover and details from shoe book design
Shoe book page layouts and design details
Shoe book page spread layout and design showing steps in shoemaking process
Shoe book page spread showing the anatomy of a handmade shoe
Shoe book page designs featuring historical images and a brief written history of the Cordwainer Shop