Italian tannery Conceria Maryam has become more familiar to us as many of our favorite makers—such as Viberg, Nicks, and Benzein—have increasingly featured many of Maryam’s leathers in their boots and shoes, giving fame to names like Toscanello, Fango and Petrolio.
But if you’re looking to go deeper, shoemaker Mikhail Bliskavka recently paid a visit to Maryam and oh so thoughtfully documented his findings for all us to enjoy and learn from.
A brief aside about Mikhail: he’s the man behind Arno Shoes. Having previously served in both the U.S. Coast Guard and the Air Force Reserve, Mikhail was on his way to becoming an electrical engineer when he was sucked in by the gravitational pull of high-quality footwear. After spending some time collecting, Mikhail took the leap into making his own pairs. He made his first shoes under the tutelage of a local cobbler in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and then really took his skillset to the next level by attending the shoemaking academy of Stefano Bemer in Florence, Italy. He’s now an extremely-accomplished shoemaker, with dozens of finished pairs under his belt.
Anywho—Maryam! Mikhail has done a fantastic job of putting us right there in the little town of Santa Croce sull’Arno, where Maryam and its ten-person team is located. His writeup walks us through Maryam’s facility, providing some brief details about the various operations within.
Most notably for us leather nerds, Mikhail has created perhaps the most comprehensive list yet of all of Maryam’s leather finishes (with photos included). Finally, we can understand the difference between Reverse and Rovesciato!
Big thanks again to Mikhail for this detailed look into Maryam. Be sure to check out the rest of his website, where he’s provided more in-depth looks into his shoemaking experience, as well as his Instagram, where you can see some of the latest projects he’s working on.
