Q&A about Italian Leather School

I completed the Bag Maker course at ‘La Scuola del Cuoio’ in Firenze, Italy.

I summarize about preparations for school entry and school life, its curriculum and class evaluation in the form of simple questions and answers to help those who plan or prepare to study abroad and those who want to be an expert in leather crafts.

And check out my answer to the most common questions ‘Is it good for studying abroad?’ and ‘It is worth to pay money to study?’ at the end of this article.

I tried to summarize one by one, but I still have a lot of stories that I can’t write yet.

If I have a chance, I will organize offline meeting.

Then, let’s start.

“It is the door of leather school classroom. Is it antique?”

Q. Why did you choose Firenze Leather School in Italy?

A.

I think this question is similar to ‘What kind of schools are there?’.

Once you decided to study abroad with your courage, you will have to worry about which school to choose in which country.

And you will wonder the lesson contents of the school. But getting information from outside is not easy.

When I started leather craft as a hobby, I thought that if I go to study abroad, I want to go to a city called Firenze, famous for leather goods, in Italy where is famous for its fashion luxuries. It was just a dream, not a detailed plan.

Then, after I decided to study abroad, I checked various things.

But there were not many schools I can go. Moreover, there are very few schools that teach practical techniques, not bag designs, for foreigners who are not native.

And I found that there were a few schools in Japan with 2~3 years course, there were vocational training schools in France, and there were about two schools including ‘La Scuola del Cuoio’ in Italy. Of course, there are some schools in North America.

I set my own standards for choosing school.

The standards were as followings: Able to practice focusing on actual techniques, and the learning period should not be too long. Since I was not young, I needed an intensive curriculum with fewer burdens for period.

So I chose the Firenze Leather School.

Q. What about school opening information?

A. Classes are mainly divided into six-month course and three-month course.

Six-month course is opened once a year, from January to June, and three-month course is opened three times a year.

From July to August is vacation, no classes.

Class starts at 10 am and finishes at 5:30 pm. There is 30 minutes lunch time in the middle.

Classes operate five days a week.

They conduct pattern class and students make work according to each pattern individually. We use sewing machine mainly for production. For six months course, students usually make about 10 bags.

Of course, people who have experience on the leather crafts, they make more than that.

Q. What about the tuition fee?

As of 2015, it was about KRW 15 million for six-month course and KRW 7 million for three-month course.

Q. How do I prepare for admission?

A. Unlike the design schools, Firenze school doesn’t require any special admission or qualifications for students. You can just prepare tuition fee for admission.

Of course, it would be helpful if you can speak little bit Italian, but it is possible to enter the school even if you can’t speak Italian at all just like me.

However, if you prepare for the language more, you will be able to listen to your class more efficiently.

Since Italian is not popular, so classes can be operated

“It was not difficult to get a visa from a language school.”

Q. How do I get a visa?

A. We can stay in EU area for three months without visa because of the Schengen Agreement. If you want to take six-month course, you need to get a visa. Some students attended in class for three months without issuing a visa and then went back to Korea for a short time. Then they came back and attended the class. As far as I know, it is not a good way in principle. You may not be permitted to enter again. And you need to pay double for your airplane.

But if you get a visa, you must obtain a residence permit called Permesso di soggiorno. It costed about KRW 300,000.

There are some people who are preparing for a visa individually, but I didn’t have confident to do by myself at that time and I’ve heard that I may be rejected or it will take a long time if I don’t prepare enough. So I just did through language school. If you are not that young, you’d better prepare it through the language school. Language school can arrange everything for us from visa, admission, and local accommodation.

By the way, you can check about the tuition fee directly, not through the language school since you may get a discount.

“If teacher Mao explains in Italian, teacher Ted explains it again in English.”

Q. How did you prepare for language?

A. I couldn’t prepare that much. I left the company on August 2014, took language course for one month in September, went to Firenze in November and took language course for one month in Firenze. That’s all.

The most worried thing about studying abroad was language. The good news is that the school also operates classes in English for foreigners. There are two teachers in the class, and when one of them teaches in Italian, the other teacher explains it in English again.

I didn’t think I’m good at English, but English was quite easy for me who didn’t know about Italian at all.

If you don’t speak English well, do not worry. There is a body language. Since it is a class which is focusing on actual techniques, we can catch up the class to some extent with the demonstration of practice.

“It was my first lodging in Firenze. I liked that big table, but it was quite far from the school.”

Q. How was the living in Italy (accommodation, living expenses)?

A. The biggest problem is the accommodation. I used the accommodation that arranged at a language school for one month. And then I had to find another accommodation by myself.

But it was not easy to find a short-term accommodation as a foreigner. Although there are a lot of local real estates, they usually mediate long-term accommodation for more than a year and lot of documents are needed to sign the contract.

So I looked through Airbnb. I searched for accommodation in my desired location and asked if I could stay there for six months. Monthly rent is somewhat expensive near the school which is in the city and the price is cheaper as goes outside the city. I got more discounts by discussing with house owner about the monthly rent.

“I loved this window so much.”

Because of my weak physical strength, it was very tired when I came back home after attending classes and making bags, standing all day long. But it was good to have accommodation near the school. There were three rooms, a living room, a kitchen and two bathrooms. I stayed there with one Chinese and one German. The cost was 650 Euros including in the management fee. I deposited rent fee for one month as a deposit.

“I didn’t even know I would cook chicken strew.”

Most of the living expenses were for food. I especially liked the rice, so I had to eat rice and Kimchi. I ate pizza and pasta several times at first. But I couldn’t go out to eat every time. So I cooked by myself at home.

Actually, I didn’t cook at all in Korea. But I had to it in Firenze since I had to live. I didn’t even cook noodles in Korea, but I cooked chicken stew in Firenze.

In addition to the food expenses, I sometimes drank snacks and espresso, went to Apertivo to have a drink, watched ballet, went to concert, and went to the nearest place like Cinque Terre and Chianti by bus.

I think it costed about 700 Euros a month total.

People say that prices in Europe are high, but I think the cost of groceries and culture-related expenses are not that high.

“It was easier to withdraw money whenever I needed rather than having exchanged cash.”

Q. What do I have to bring from Korea?

A. I think the most important this is a cash card. I brought two cash cards rather than credit card.

You can buy the most of necessary things in Italy and some are cheaper than Korea. So I didn’t bring that much. But there are some things that are hard to find or expensive in Italy. Regarding the crafts, you’d better to bring metal graduated ruler. A ruler provided by school has no scale. I was so embarrassed when I found that there is no graduated ruler. It is good to bring curved ruler, too. And notebook and stationeries are cheaper in Korea.

Regarding the living, you have to bring electric rice cooker, electric pad and goose down quilt. I think Koreans need to eat rice. Actually I didn’t bring electric rice cooker and had a hard time at first. But one of school friends lent me a rice cooker. I still appreciate that friend.

Even though the weather in Firenze is warmer than Korea, it is still chilly in dawn. So if you are sensitive to cold, please bring electric pad and blankets.

Q. What do I have to bring from Italy?

A. It’s a leather tool for crafts. Many of tools such as griff of famous Vergez Blanchard are half cheaper than Korea. And you can get more discounts if you buy them through the school. You can order to French seller through the school or you can just contact with French seller directly.

The leather in Italy is very famous. But I’ve heard that it is not easy to bring leathers to Korea. I’ve heard that immigration in Italy is difficult to bring the leathers. So I brought the leathers by cutting with required size in advance, not the whole roll of the leather.

“It is a subsidiary material company on the outside of Firenze. There is a Gucci factory nearby.”

It is good to purchase subsidiary materials in Senatori. Overall, it has excellent quality and plating. And if you look closer, you will see products labeled ‘made I Italy’ and ‘made in China’. Fenice’s edge coat is sold in barrels. You can buy a barrel of edge color which is used a lot basically. The problem is that the weight is so heavy that air transportation costs can be higher.

Fabrics used for lining the bag were very expensive in Italy. So fabric made in Korea is much better for the price.

Regarding the living, you can buy luxury goods if you wanted to buy one. Those are quite cheap compared to Korea. Especially, there is a big sale period twice a year in the outlet mall outside Firenze. At that time, you can buy things with more than 50% discount. Maybe you will know better than me about this.

Q. What about the curriculum in school?

A. At first, I practiced cutting, folding and machine with several simple shapes.

Then, I made simple pouch. At this time, I could experience to use the lining, upper and stiffeners. And I experienced all the basic techniques for making bags from bonding to whole sewing, partial sewing and hand sewing.

For reference, I made about 2–3 things with one pattern. The first is to listen to lesson and follow it. And then I made it on my own by thinking about the lessons. Especially, I tried to make more difficult one with same pattern.

Next is the card pocket wallet.

Next is a simple passport wallet. At this time, I could experience edge coat processing instead of folding.

Next is zipper pouch. One is made by in-stitching and the other is made by piping.

Now, let’s get into making bags.

First, this is U pattern bag. At this time, several thickness of texton is used to maintain the solid form from the pattern to which the calculations have been applied in order to convert the plane to three-dimension. And I made inner pockets and straps that are basic to the bag.

Next is a briefcase with basic U pattern. I made simple handle together.

Next is U pattern deepening bag.

This time, I changed the shape of the front part to the desired line. And I used metal to hold the front more firmly.

Next is a bag with accordion pattern. I also made a single handle with Kelly bag style.

Next is a briefcase with accordion pattern. I could make the pocket from one to multiple .

Following is to make simple knife case and binder by taking short break.

Next is a piping briefcase.

Next is deepened piping.

Next is a Boston bag with O pattern which is a representative one.

Next is a backpack based on T-type.

Next is a bucket bag.

This is the last final work. I used a post-arm machine and made it with relatively diverse and complex structure such as technique to build side and inner pocket pattern. I made it one by one by thinking the lessons I learned.

I also learned about various types of pockets and handles. And I learned Chanel style quilting and Bottega style “Intrecciato”.

I tried molding and made bracelet by covering leather on the frame.

I even made a sample to verify the pattern even though it was not the final one.

And I went to exhibition of Linea Pelle and Mipel, and visited leather tannery.

Q. Now, it’s an important question. Is it worth going to study abroad by paying a lot of money?

A. My answer is yes. Of course, Korea has a high level of production technology and there are a lot of workrooms. So if you want to learn, environment and facilities that you can learn enough are prepared in Korea. But I think it is worth going to study abroad with the following two reasons.

The first is that you can learn craft by focusing it. You will study 7 hours a day, 35 hours for 5 days, and total 840 hours for 6 months. If you learn it in Korea, you may go to workroom a few times a week and just learn for 3~4 hours at one time. So the continuity and concentration of work may be somewhat reduced.

The tuition fee seems somewhat expensive, but it costs just KRW 18,000 per hour as a result of simple calculation using the figures above. It is not that expensive compared to Korea. It costs about KRW 20,000 to 25,000 per hour in Korea. Especially, all materials expenses such as leather, subsidiary materials and stiffeners are included in the tuition fee.

But studying abroad needs more money to stay in addition to tuition fee, and sometimes you may have to purchase materials individually since those provided by school is not so good.

Teacher Mao is demonstrating the pattern by explaining it.

The second is that you can learn various patterns. In my opinion, the goal of the lessons in Firenze Leather School is to experience many different patterns rather than achieving completion. So we can reduce the production period by doing stitching with machine, concentrating on pattern more. If you master basic skills and patterns, your completion can be increased as much as you invest your time.

As I concentrated on basic patterns like this, I could make a bag by applying them by myself after graduation.

And machine stitching was like a new world for me who only knew about hand stitching.

And I also realized about the importance of partial skiving.

I was able to learn craft-related terms in slightly more international terms, which was also good for me personally. When I heard difficult Japanese terms or words used only in Korea, it made me more confused.

The third is that you can experience other things besides the lessons.

For example, you can visit Linea Pelle, a leather show or Pitti Uomo, a men’s fashion exhibition. Or you can visit leather tannery. If we go to Firenze only to see these exhibitions, the costs can be a problem. While you go to school, you can visit more places if you want.

If you like to travel, the price of airplanes within Europe is much cheaper. For example, the round trip from Firenze to Paris costs only about KRW 100,000. Trains expenses are also cheap if you reserve in advance. I liked being able to travel cheaply to Europe and Italy while attending school.

“Teacher Mao, I miss you.”

The fourth is the teacher. I liked the best the fact that Maestro teacher Mao taught me.

As a matter of fact, technical education seems to have to pursue styles of teachers as a concept of mastering.

I learned not only the skills and techniques of teacher Mao, but also the attitude for craft, wide experience, accurate analytical skills and sophisticated details of craft. I think my study abroad was successful just because I became to know teacher Mao and I was taught by him.

It can be quite difficult to meet good teacher. Teacher Mao taught me with the philosophy of teaching that teaches us the best he can do rather than being greedy. I really liked his humane aspect. And I want to be like teacher Mao.

Whenever I have difficulties while doing crafts, I usually think ‘how will teacher Mao solve this?’ and solve those difficulties on my own as if he is watching me in the class. As such, teacher Mao will be the base of my craft activities for the rest of my life.

It would be great luck to meet a true teacher who I can respect for everything, not only for crafts for long.

Q. You say only good things. Any bad things?

A. Of course there are bad things. Leather School sometimes treats students quite commercially since they need to do business.

For example, there are 20 students and two teachers. It would have been nice if they cut the number of students. Sometimes we need to make a reservation to wait for teacher and sometimes we can’t work and just have a break.

Likewise, the number of machine is not many compared to the number of students. So I had to wait to stitch.

This is a case that is funny, but sad. There once were 15 Koreans out of 20 students. I was confused that it was Korea or Italy. Of course, it made me to get along with other students.

Finally, I’ve been embarrassing for a while after returning to Korea since the environment of Italian leather crafts and Korean one were quite different. I didn’t even know where to buy machine and leather and what subsidiary materials to use.

It was very difficult to purchase materials and tools in Korea which is used in the school for 6 months. For example Salpa is called as LB in Korea. So I needed a lot of effort to get more information in Korea again.

As I write this article, I checked school related contents and journals that I posted on my blog before.

Sometimes I feel sorry and sometimes I miss that time.

I think this is because I feel like ‘Oh, I thought that way at that time’.

I hope that this article will be of great help to those who are considering about studying abroad and those who are interested in the leather crafts.

And I’m thankful that I can bring back my happy memories that are bigger than such help.