Joseph P. Famolare was born into a third generation shoe making family in 1932, and founded his own company, Famolare, Inc., in 1969. In the 1970’s Famolare produced a line of shoes called Wooden Things by Famolare.
The Wooden Things line included platform clogs, clog soled boots, clogs and boots based on an all wood shoe [...]
Archive for the ‘Balance’ category
Wooden Things by Famolare
July 3rd, 2008
Standing on Tengu Geta
June 9th, 2008
Most people find walking on one tooth geta to be not especially difficult, but standing in one place is quite a challenge.
I recently received email from one of our visitors, Marc V. In his message he describes his way of standing in one spot on one tooth geta.
“I have been a fan of Geta for [...]
Tengu geta
May 20th, 2003
The Japanese Tengu monster is usually depicted wearing tall single-tooth geta. They’re usually referred to as ipponba (one tooth) geta.
The single tooth is usually around 5 inches high, though I’ve seen a couple pairs that are close to 12 inches! 4-5 inches seems to be the lower limit. Much below 5 inches, and the soles [...]
Balance, part 1
July 5th, 2002
Developing a good sense of balance, is apparently considered important in Japan. Many Japanese elementary schools teach unicycle riding. The one tooth “tengu” geta in the photo were spotted on a toy company’s web site and are marketed to schools. There’s a choice of heights: 5, 10, and 15 cm (2, 4, 6 inches).
The child [...]