Through the back door of the Mankato Makerspace, Pegeen Rozeske and I are sitting at a picnic table. She's got a bit of time before teaching Introduction to Sewing in the Makerspace classroom. It is a breezy day, and sawdust from the nearby woodshop blows around us, sparkling in elongated sun rays. Beyond the edge of the parking lot, frogs croak and trill. Meanwhile, Pegeen tells me about her craft. On her feet are a pair of bright green leather shoes; she made them herself.

Pegeen a cordwainer, an old fashioned word for a shoemaker. She makes and sells shoes as an independent craftswoman, and travels across the country demonstrating her craft as a historical re-enactor. 

Having never interviewed a shoemaker before, I was curious to learn how one gets into a trade that seemed, at least to me, from a bygone time. My first question was: What came first, the leather or the shoes?

“The leather absolutely came first; I've been a leather artist for over 35 years. I tell people that I got into working with leather because I wanted to pound on something other than my children. My soon-to-be 36-year-old appreciates that,” she said with a wry smile, blue eyes sparkling good naturedly behind bifocals.

It was a leather key holder kit from Tandy Leather Company that first introduced Pegeen to tooling. Her husband wanted new holsters for his hunting guns and knives, so she made those too. When Tandy moved online in 1999, she decided to buy out the inventory and, for two years, ran her own storefront in Minneapolis called Custom Leather and More.

“I dove in with both feet,” she said, "and I bought everything they had.”

Her childrens’ earliest memories are of teething on the scraps from Mom's projects. Pegeen made functional things for her home out of leather, and the physicality of the work doubled as an outlet for creativity and everyday domestic frustrations.    

While running the leather shop, Pegeen was also working full-time in highway construction and raising her two children. When she was affected by a layoff and couldn't find a loan to keep Custom Leather and More afloat, she decided to close the store and used her construction layoff benefit package to learn a new skill: shoemaking. 

After an apprenticeship in Oregon, Pegeen returned to Minnesota excited to open a boot shop. But the banks still wouldn't help and sewing equipment was out of reach. So Pegeen did what she has seemingly always done in work and life: she got crafty. After getting connected with The Honourable Cordwainers' Company, she acquired hand tools, some of which are over 160 years old, to make shoes the old fashioned way. Through that, she found the historical reenactment community—her first customers.

Even though the shoes most re-enactors wear look handmade, Pegeen explained that they are often mass produced; it is hard for reenactors to find comfortable shoes in the appropriate style. So Pegeen learned how to build old fashioned shoes that accommodate diverse foot types and mobility needs. 

Nowadays, she no longer has to hand tool her shoes and can serve more customers at Pegeen Rozeske Custom Leather. A grant from Prairie Lakes helped her buy her first industrial machines. 

In addition to practical materials, Pegeen said funding has also provided her with time and space to grow. A recent PLRAC grant awarded her the ability to set aside some projects to focus on trying new leather techniques.

"Funding will equal a product, but you've got to get the raw materials first," Pegeen told me. "The person is the raw material. Ninety percent of that first grant was [about] helping me believe that I was an artist and I could be of value." 

In addition to the shoe business, Pegeen educates about 6,000 children every fall. She constructs a pair of shoes from scratch and tells stories from her life as a 18th century journeyman shoemaker. While they listen, kids and adults can touch and feel the leather and tools she uses.

Listening to her, it struck me that learning about shoes is a path to all of human history. A time period could be best defined by what people were wearing on their feet… though some things never change. 

For example, Pegeen explained that Thomas Jefferson wore booties. Fast forward to the Civil War, and soldiers wore Brogans on their feet. Today, men are wearing Chukkas as dress shoes. The only difference between a Jefferson bootie, a Brogan, and a modern Chukka? One is handsewn, one is sewn on a machine, and one is glued. 

Pegeen said learning about where our shoes came from leads to conversations about what we value as consumers today. 

"In Europe, it's a status symbol to have a handmade pair of shoes. In the United States, it's a status symbol to have a brand name. When that shifts, a lot of us will come out of the woodwork," she said, referring to her fellow artisans.

"I'm teaching history, social studies, economics, vocabulary, and foreign language. It's not just shoes."