The Course

The program approaches leather as both a technical and creative material, inviting students to develop an understanding of its properties, behavior, and expressive range through direct studio practice. 

From surface experimentation to structural construction, participants build the skills and sensibility needed to create original leather accessories.

The program develops through the complete process of accessory making, from first material encounter to finished object, with a balance of traditional techniques and contemporary design thinking.

Students are encouraged to develop a personal approach to form, function, and material expression, working with leather not just as a medium but as a language.

Set in Florence, at the center of Italy’s leather and artisan heritage, the course offers a learning environment where craft culture, creative research, and hands-on making coexist.

Final Project

The course concludes with the creation of an original leather accessory or a small capsule collection, entirely conceived and handcrafted by each student. 

From initial research to finished object, participants develop their own design direction, working with vegetable-tanned leather and traditional construction techniques to produce work that reflects their creative choices, technical growth, and individual approach to accessory making.

The course

The Intensive Shoe Design & Making course blends footwear design principles, traditional Italian shoemaking techniques and contemporary making practice. Students develop an original pair of shoes concept through moodboard research, sketching and material selection, while also experiencing all the stages of shoemaking, from taping the last and drafting patterns, to cutting leather, cementing, stitching, lasting and finishing. The program includes a study trip to a last factory and a heel manufacturer, offering direct insight into the craft’s supply chain and production culture. 

The program covers the complete construction sequence of a shoe, from inner sole and reinforcements to outsole assembly and final finishing.

Set within Florence’s living tradition of leather and artisanal craft, the program offers a rigorous yet experimental approach to footwear as both design practice and embodied knowledge.

Final project

Throughout the program, participants develop a final project, translating their design research, material exploration, and shoemaking process into a fully realized pair of handmade shoes.

From the first sketches and pattern development to leather selection, construction, and finishing, each student engages directly with materials and workshop techniques to create footwear that reflects their creative vision, technical growth, and personal relationship with the culture of making.

The Course

The module is open to students with prior experience in pattern making, draping or garment construction, acquired either through SCHOLA’s modules or other fashion, design or tailoring programs, who want to develop and realise their own fashion project.

Students are supported throughout with dedicated tutoring in both collection development and portfolio building.

This module can be attended independently or combined with other modules to build a longer learning experience – 20, 30 or 40 weeks. 

It is also the final phase of the Fashion Making Master Program 1Y.

Final Collection

The module concludes with the presentation of a personal fashion collection, developed and constructed over the ten weeks, together with the documentation of the design and research process.

The Course

The module provides specialised knowledge applicable to independent creative projects, small production contexts and professional practice. 

The program includes an introductory sewing skills component and is open to students from any background, with or without prior fashion training experience.

This module can be attended independently or combined with other modules to build a longer learning experience – 20, 30 or 40 weeks.

Final Collection

The module concludes with the completion of a menswear garment project, developed and constructed entirely by each student across the ten weeks.

The Course

The module includes an introductory sewing skills component and is open to students from any background, with or without prior fashion training experience.

Alongside draping practice, the course introduces textile experimentation and surface research, including natural dyeing and material exploration, fostering a process-driven sensibility where experimentation is not a detour but a central part of the design method.

This module can be attended independently or combined with other modules to build a longer learning experience – 20, 30 or 40 weeks.

Final Collection

The module concludes with an experimental draped garment and textile research project, developed through the student’s own material and process exploration.

The Course

The course offers a solid and rigorous foundation in contemporary womenswear making, with a consistent focus on technical precision, textile awareness and responsible production. Design is not treated as a separate phase, it emerges from the process itself, through pattern lines, construction decisions and material behaviour.

The program includes an introductory sewing skills component for students with no prior experience.

This module can be attended independently or combined with other modules to build a longer learning experience – 20, 30 or 40 weeks.

Final Collection

The module concludes with the completion of a womenswear garment project, developed and constructed entirely by each student across the ten weeks.