Andy has prepared the shoes’ upper, marking out incision points with a pair of dividers and a pricking wheel. He takes up his awl and cuts meticulously into the calfskin, through the bottom and out through the side so that the two sides can meet at the toe, edge to edge.

When this is done he places a wooden block on his knee, his calfskin on the wooden block and pulls a leather stirrup across them both, held taut with his foot. And then he takes up his thread and begins to sew.

The bristle finds its minute incision and with occasional encouragement from Andy’s awl, makes its way through both pieces of calf. As does a second running through to the other side in the opposite direction. When both bristles are through Andy lifts his arms high and across, pulling the three or so feet of thread through with them.

It takes two hours to complete the toes and aprons of a pair of shoes using this time-tested technique but at Edward Green we wouldn’t have it any other way.