Bespoke shoemakerVilnius

About

A workshop for one pair at a time.

DM Creation designs and handmakes custom-fit leather shoes in Vilnius, for people who want shoes made for their feet and no one else’s.

Dana Minkė laughing at the workshop bench as she cuts a paper pattern on the mat, in black and white

The maker

Behind every pair, one pair of hands.

The craft runs in the family. Dana’s grandfather was a shoemaker; they never had the chance to meet, but the connection came down the generations all the same. Studying scenography at the Vilnius Academy of Arts, she was drawn to the lectures on costume and footwear, and spent long hours in the library learning how shoes were made and what they meant to the people who wore them.

She trained as a shoemaker at King Mindaugas’ Study Centre in Kaunas, graduating with a diploma in 2016, and learned the craft from Boleslovas Kazakevičius, the finest shoemaker in Lithuania. In Paris she continued at ESMOD under Patricia Kruz, working at Atelier Beaumarchais on high-end fashion pieces alongside her studies.

The workshop opened in Vilnius in 2016, and its promise has not changed since: shoes designed with you, made by hand, and built to fit only your feet.

Alongside bespoke commissions, the workshop takes on collaborations with other makers, such as embroidery specialist Milda, bringing new crafts into the shoe — as in the Floral Embroidered Flats.

Philosophy

The case for made-to-measure

Ready-made shoes are built for an average foot. Bespoke shoes are built for yours, and that changes everything about how they feel.

  1. Fit comes first

    Every decision starts from your measurements. A beautiful shoe that hurts is not a finished shoe.

  2. Designed together

    You are part of the process, from the first sketch to the mock-up fitting. The result is a pair that could only belong to you.

  3. Made slowly, by hand

    Good leather and careful stitching take time. We would rather make fewer pairs, and make every one of them last.

The workshop

Lasts, leather and a long table in Vilnius

The workshop at Akacijų g. 16-1 is where clients are measured, designs are drawn and every pair is made. Visits are by appointment, so there is always time to talk.