Guelph Circa 1999 – Diego Hadarits

Guelph Circa 1999 features a series of portraits commissioned by The Bookshelf and photographed by Dean Palmer. The series became part of Guelph Museums’ permanent collection in 2018. 
 
Told through the stories of the people who spent time at The Bookshelf, a cultural hub in this city since 1973.
While the Museum is closed to the public at this time, we will be sharing some of the portraits for our digital visitors. Guelph Circa 1999 will be on view at Guelph Civic Museum until September 6.
Black and white photo of Diego Hadritis standing in his shoe repair workshop. He is holding a large pair of black boots upside down. The shelves around him are covered in shoes, papers, and assorted equipment.

Diego Hadarits
Dimar Shoe Repair

Diego Hadarits opened Dimar Shoe Repair on Quebec Street in 1987. Cobbling is an ancient profession. The oldest shoe, discovered in Armenia in 2008, is estimated to be 5,500 years old, although archaeologists speculate humans started wearing shoes 40,000 years ago.

In colonial Canada, cobblers brought shoemaking practices from their European homelands. Through mechanization and industrialization, the industry evolved significantly. However, present-day cobblers, like Hadarits, still learn traditional shoe and leather repair techniques from the master cobblers who came before them.

Hadarits’ son Pablo trained in the same fashion under his father. Pablo has connected with cobblers from around the world to learn new repair methods and to bring a new level of craftsmanship to the Dimar family business, still going strong after 33 years.

Photo: Diego Hadarits, photographed by Dean Palmer at Dimar Shoe Repair

Posted by Dawn Owen on April 18, 2020

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