A good reason to take a long lunch break today: Over at Halo Shoes, Jeff Mandel (of ExIT Shoes) is doing a residency in the open workshop space usually occupied by Larry Olmstead of Entermodal. Today and tomorrow at 1:30 until 3, he is giving a free lecture and demo on traditional shoe making.

Mandel constructs shoes in the very old sense of the word—fastidiously customized, with no factory parts, closer to the work of a blacksmith or glassblower than to the design creation behind even the most high-end shoes—it's basically impossible to make a woman's heel of any height that's up to his standards of construction and material, for instance. I first interviewed Mandel in 2008, and he completely blew my mind with his depth of knowledge. If you can't spare the time out of your workday today, but you're a shoe-lover, crafter or maker of any sort, or simply fascinated with the process by which things are made, you'll find it well worth it to set aside a bit of Saturday time, too. Check this week's Sold Out for more info on what he's up to, and the Sold Out of yore that contained the original interview.