George Koleff was born in Bulgaria in1924. His family were small farmers struggling for survival so he learned to-do his share of the work on the farm from an early age. At the age of 14 he was sent to the city to become a shoemaker's apprentice. For the first year he did not receive any pay and was supported by his parents.
After serving a six full time ear apprenticeship together with four years of special trade school he gained the diploma MASTER SHOEMAKERAfterobtaining his diploma he started his own shoemaking business in Bulgaria. He served a compulsory two years in the Bulgarian armed forces. He managed to leave Bulgaria in 1947 and went to Austria where he lived for several years.
In 1986 George underwent a triple bypass heart operation. After recoveringfrom the operation George continued towrite the book called Shoe and BootDesigning Manual which was publishedin1994.While this current book isgoing toprint.George isalreadyworkingonanotherbookcalledShoemaking Manual Using the ForgottonSkills of the Past. The book will bebacked up with several video tapesshowing how the work is actually done
After learning the language he worked asa fashion shoemaker in Vienna beforemigrating to Australia in December1950. He worked in South Australia intheautomotiveandrefrigerationindustries and in the building industry asa carpenter and cabinet maker. In 1972he moved to Alice Springs where hestarted his own carpentry and cabinetmaking business and taught eveningenrichment leatherwork classes includingsandal making.
He returned to Adelaide in 1980.In1982 he started his own shoemakingbusiness in the Jam Factory where heconducted evening classes in leathercraftandshoemaking.He taught bothenrichment level leather and sandalmaking classes at the Brighton CollegeofFurther Education. Latercommenced teaching shoemakingatMarleston College.
Unfortunately,in 1983 George suffereda heart attack and had to temporarilysuspend all teaching activities. In mic1984 he was able to resume smallclasses in shoemaking in pursuit of hisimmediate aim of training as manyartofpeople as possible in thetraditional shoemaking in the hope ofpreventing his craft from dying out. Aspart of this aim George began writing abook on the geometric method of shoedesigning.