Britain's shoemaking industry can be traced back to the establishment of a craft guild by the cordwainers, as cobblers were originally known, at the start of the 13th Century.

Since then, British shoemakers have established an international reputation for quality in design, craftsmanship and industrial manufacture. Large international companies - Clarks, established in 1825, Gates' ("Hunter wellies"), established in 1856 and Start-rite children's, shoes established in 1792 – and small family-run businesses like White & Co and Crockett & Jones have sustained the standards of excellence through generations.

Shoemaking in Britain was transformed by the invention of the Goodyear Welting machine in Nottingham in 1871. Welting, the process by which the sole is stitched to the shoe, industrialised the laborious technique of hand crafting on a last, or shoemaker's mould. The new technology produced shoes that were not only as skillfully constructed as a traditional shoe, but also easy to repair, flexible, durable and comfortable, and it quickly became the back bone of the industry.

Specialist shoemakers Rutland, James Taylor & Son, Gamba, Freed and Toetectors have all taken welting technology and applied the qualities of comfort and durability that it gives to specialist markets - military uniform, orthopedic care, dance and heavy industry.

John Lobb, synonymous with the elegant hunting boot, was founded in 1849 when the original Mr Lobb devised a hollow-heeled design to conceal prospector's gold. He combined excellent craftsmanship with wit and practical performance. The new generation of British shoemakers - Patrick Cox , Emma Hope, Johnny Moke, George Cox and Helen Creedy-Smith - are firmly in the mould of John Lobb, blending superior craft with light-handed sense of mischief.

Nicola Lawler's early work brought together experimental materials like paper and salmon skin and traditional Goodyear welting. The work of recent RCA graduate Adele Clarke represents the new conceptualism and radical construction in British fashion. In clothing, this spirit is best expressed by Hussein Chalayan, for whom Lawler and Clarke have both developed collections.

It is the miraculous engineering features of their shoes that distinguish the work of Vivienne Westwood, Gina and Manolo Blahnik. Westwood's impossibly high platforms and heels and voluptuous shoe shapes all manipulate the silhouette of the wearer by forcing her to stand in a certain provocative way. The combination of strength and exquisite daintiness in shoes is a sleight of hand for which Gina, created by the Kurdash brothers, and Manolo Blahnik are renowned. The improbable structural proposition of such shoes supporting such weight so imperceptibly is a feat that places them among the sexiest footwear money can buy.

ShoeBox bears testament in miniature to the individual expression that Britain fosters. As Manolo Blahnik said to Evening Standard journalist Sarah Mower, 'England is the last country where you can be yourself, no?'

For more information on ShoeBox contact Alice Cicolini