Tavaux. A shoemaker for 45 years, he looks back on the evolution of his profession.

Like Obelix, he fell into the pot when he was little. And in this pot, he found a trencher, a beating hammer, eyelet pliers, a three-pronged anvil, and even a galoshing hammer. Laurent Pitallier was from Besançon at the time, and an internship in Mr. Moisson's shop proved fatal for him!

"At that time, there were 17 shoemakers in Besançon. I started as an apprentice on Rue Battant, alternating with the CFA (Training Center), where there was no shoemaking workshop. We went to the shoemaker. With my CAP (Certificate of Professional Aptitude), I learned for four years as an employee in the shop, then moved to the Nouvelles Galeries for seven years." He remembers this golden age when anything was possible. The 1980s propelled him to the Cora gallery for 17 years, until 2018.

It was still a time when people still bought shoes or handbags that they cared about. "Today, customers don't repair them anymore, they throw them away. It's a trade that still survives in big cities. In Tavaux, I have customers, but I also have to find other resources to run a shop. I sell leather goods, make keys, small engraved plaques, batteries, license plates..." Nostalgia is evident in the artisan's words. A nostalgia for when the shop was a popular place in villages. A meeting place for all ages where the shoemaker helped out in many areas.

There are no more schools or training programs, a sign that the profession is in decline, except for a few niches. But Laurent loves this job and remembers wonderful encounters like the theater troupe that came to resole their Ranger boots with very thick soles, or the antique collector from Besançon who arrived with his saber. He wanted a scabbard made of old leather.

In his shop, Laurent Pitallier perpetuates another vanished profession that those under 20 have never known. The knife grinder and sharpener. "Yes, you have to know how to sharpen; it's another way of helping out." Now a resident of the Jura for 25 years, Laurent thinks of Rimbaud's man with "soles of wind," the ones that will open the doors to his final shop: the escape of retirement!