Alison Hastie - Green Shoes

An evening exploring craft, community and sustainability comes to The Bookery with Devon shoemaker and author Alison Hastie joining Vicky Jay in conversation to discuss her fascinating new memoir, Green Shoes: 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. After a vivid dream instructed her to "make shoes", she embarked on a journey that would shape the next four decades of her life. As co-founder of Green Shoes, a women's collective shoemaking business based in Totnes, Alison helped create a unique enterprise that attracted national attention for its handmade, comfortable, long lasting and repairable footwear.In Green Shoes, Alison reflects on a life rooted in Dartmoor and shaped by craft, feminism, community and resilience. Through stories of friendship, motherhood, personal challenges and professional successes, she charts the evolution of Green Shoes while exploring the wider history and significance of shoemaking. The result is both a deeply personal memoir and a powerful celebration of traditional skills, local enterprise and community centred living.
Adding a special visual element to the evening, Alison will bring a selection of leather, tools & handcrafted Green Shoes to display, offering customers the opportunity to see first hand the craftsmanship, design and ethos that have earned the collective a devoted following over more than four decades.Alison Hastie has lived on Dartmoor for nearly fifty years, raising her family while playing an active role in a wide range of community and cultural initiatives. Her story offers a unique insight into the lives of artisans and makers who have chosen an alternative path, grounded in creativity, sustainability and a deep connection to place.
Vicky Jay moved to Devon in 1981 to study at Dartington College of Arts, active in the women's movement and regularly visited Totnes Women's Centre where Green Shoes had their workshop. As a single parent she worked part-time at Green Shoes for 16 years whilst continuing her studies in counselling and psychotherapy. In 2002 she obtained a post as Women's Health Counsellor at the RD&E.This event is presented in partnership with Sustainable Crediton, a local organisation working to build a more resilient and sustainable community through education, practical action and positive environmental change.At the end of the evening, Alison will be available to answer questions and sign copies of Green Shoes.