The Kovács shoemaker family

Several branches of the Kovács family, whose origins go back to Transylvania, have worked as shoemakers since the 1800s. József Kovács Sr (1912–1978) made and repaired peasant boots, while his wife, Irén Kovács (1923–2000) made precisely hand-sewn boot upper leather. Out of their eight children five trained as shoemakers and their oldest son, József Kovács (1946) qualified in shoemaking and design, and passed his master exam in 1985. His wife, Irén Toja (1948) is a master shoe upper leather maker. József has won prizes at numerous international shoemaking competitions: two cups as well as nine gold and four bronze medals between 1998 and 2013.

Their son, József Attila Kovács (1968) carries on the family tradition: he qualified as a shoemaker, an orthopaedic shoemaker and a bootmaker, and became a master in 2001. He has been working in his own business since 1991. He has won numerous recognitions in Hungary and abroad, including two Pomegranate awards and five Hungarian Handicraft Masterpiece awards. He was bestowed with the title of Applied Folk Artist in 2013, the Master of the Year Award in 2014, the Gold Medal of the President of the Hungarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry in 2018 and the 2021 FolkTREND Award in 2021. Between 2007 and 2019 he won ten gold and three silver medals as well as six special prizes at the International Championship of Handicraft Shoes in Wiesbaden.

Following in his father’s footsteps, his son, Márton Kovács-Csizmadia (2004), won first prize at the nationwide competition titled ’Szeged slippers reinvented’ at the tender age of 15.

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