Green Shoes Book Talk

Green Shoes by Alison Hastie
Forty years of a radical women's craft collective

Coming of age in the early 1980s, Alison Hastie always knew she was different from the conventional young people around her. One night a voice spoke to her in a dream, telling her to ‘make shoes’, and this is how she spent forty years of her working life.

Living on Dartmoor, travelling between the countercultural town of Totnes and the surrounding villages, Alison made a home and a life for herself based on the principles of second-wave feminism, the idea that small is beautiful, and a deep immersive commitment to craft. Her company, Green Shoes, was featured in the national and international press, and making shoes took her travelling as far as the north of Finland, but she remained rooted in her environment, family and the women’s collective which, like the Ship of Theseus, was consistent in its values despite many changes of personnel.

Through personal tragedies, romantic relationships, motherhood, friendship, fire, flood and professional highs and lows, Alison describes her place in the long line of West Country radicals, teaches us how to hand-make a shoe, traces the history of shoemaking in politics and religion, and above all shows us the importance of being centred in place, time and community.

Join us at MAKE Southwest for a Green Shoes book launch event - Alison will be interviewed by our very own Exhibitions Manager (and ex-Green Shoes employee), Flora Pearson. There will be plenty of time for questions from the audience and Alison will be bringing a selection of tools and props to look through. Bring along your copy of the book to be signed, or buy one from us on the evening.

On the evening

Please arrive from 5.45pm for a prompt 6pm start. 

Evening access will be via our courtyard's single side gate, from the Coop car park. You'll be directed through the shop - follow the arrows to the ‘Education Space’, through the smaller galleries, at the rear of the building on the ground floor.

Please be aware that you cannot use the Co-op car park for long stay parking. The Methodist Church car park and Station Road car park usually have plenty of spaces. Click here for more information on our location and car parking for the day.

View MAKE Southwest's Cancellation Policy, HERE.