the art of Artioli’s Italian shoes.
Andrea Artioli has spent a lifetime learning, and perfecting, the family business
From Cinderella’s glass pump and Dorothy’s ruby slippers to Hermes’ winged shoes and Forrest Gump’s magic shoes, the right footwear can work magic on its wearer.
Even observing shoemaking can enchant, as Andrea Artioli learned, at age 7, after his grandfather and founder of the Artioli brand, Severino, agreed to take him to his shoe factory, where “faeries” and “elves” worked fine, slow-tanned Italian leather into sophisticated men’s footwear.
“I begged my grandfather for years to work with him, and he said, ‘You have to study and can join me when you are older,’ ” Artioli reminisces. “Then when I was 14, as a birthday gift, he allowed me to go to work with him, and I started learning how to make shoes. Because he made me wait, it made the passion stronger all the time.”
That passion, coupled with experience and a little bit of magic eventually catapulted Artioli to CEO and head designer of the Artioli brand. Recently, he was at the Sentiero boutique on Maiden Lane, beside his spring-summer shoe collection of slip-ons, bluchers, Oxfords with elasticated laces, casual sneakers, tubular moccasins and sandals made of soft calf and kangaroo leathers in colors inspired by futuristic Italian painters: Umberto Boccioni, Carlo Carrà, Giacomo Balla and Giorgio Morandi.
Artioli demonstrated enthusiasm for shoemaking early on, heading to his grandfather’s factory on every vacation to learn all 200 intricate operations to create shoes that meld superior quality and comfort. By 15, he had crafted his first pair.
Just two years later, after watching classic American films like “Some Like It Hot” and “Sabrina,” just to see Artioli shoes, which were already prized by Hollywood celebrities, on the big screen, he developed and then realized another dream.
“In my dream, I wanted to live in America,” he says.
So in 1986, at just 17, he persuaded his father to allow him to represent the company as a salesperson, at d. fine, an exclusive Union Square boutique, distributing Artioli shoes. He was soon running the entire shoe department and selling dress shoes to a diverse array of high-profile customers, including crime boss John Gotti, former president George Bush Sr. and former U.S. Ambassador to Italy, Melvin Sembler.
“George Bush still wears my shoes,” he says. “I have lots of customers who became my customers when I was 17, in San Francisco, and they’re still my customers today. San Francisco always brings me good luck.”
Artioli has run the company since 1991, designing alongside his father, Vito, who is the president. Artioli introduced the brand’s first casual and sneaker lines and leather goods lines and counts Elton John, Michael Jackson, former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein, former president Bill Clinton, former president of France Nicolas Sarkozy, Kazakhstan president Nursultan Nazarbayev, Russian President Vladimir Putin and a prepresidential Donald Trump as current and former customers, willing to spend between $2,500 and $25,000 on Artioli shoes.
With a new San Francisco outpost at Sentiero, his first since the Geary Street shop Courtoué closed in 2006, Artioli can probably count on adding tech CEOs to his client roster.
“A lot of leaders wear my shoes, so when I design, I think of them,” he says. “I pretend to be the politician and ask myself, ‘Which shoes would I wear?’ I think a lot of leaders like them because they are very active and need an easy experience. The quality accomplishes their desire, and the 200 styles I design every season means something will appeal to the different tastes of different leaders.”
Although some of his clients are not the most agreeable individuals in the world, Artioli hopes to keep working with them and maybe even change them, two shoes at a time.
“I don’t like to make shoes for people I don’t like,” he says. “But sometimes it’s stronger in me that I want to make a small contribution to make their lives better. I have a dream that my shoes can change people’s bad lives for good lives. In my dream, I hope my shoes are like a magician and can make their lives — and then ours — better.”
“George Bush still wears my shoes. I have lots of customers who became my customers when I was 17, in San Francisco, and they’re still my customers today. San Francisco always brings me good luck.” Andrea Artioli, pictured above with a geometrical Oxford with elasticated laces