Eccleshall Emma makes fairy tale footwear: These shoes were made for adoring

Come with me and you’ll be in a world of pure imagination. . .

These were the words of the late, great Gene Wilder in his timeless portrayal of one of Roald Dahl’s most iconic characters – the nothing-short-of-legendary Mr William Wonka.

In the 1971 movie adaptation of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, this is the first lyric of the song sung by Mr Wilder as he leads a spellbound group of children and their relatives into the land of wonder that is his character’s world. And as we walk into the home and work space of Emma Sandau, I couldn’t for the life of me get that song out of my head.

So, as Mr Wilder continued, let’s begin with a spin, and travel in the world of her creation . . .

Meeting Brownhills-born Emma, you quickly realise through the wonderful combination of her confidence, enthusiasm and eccentricities, that a conventional career-path would have seldom left her satisfied. And walking through the door of her home you immediately bear witness to the extraordinary talent at the heart of her work. We have no doubt that she would have made an incredibly creative chocolatier, and – in the imagination stakes – could have given Willy Wonka a run for his money. Yet Emma’s creative passion was not to be for confectionery, but for bespoke and – it has to be said – rather incredible footwear.

Emma Sandau has run her shoe-customisation business – Creations By Miss Molly – from her home in Eccleshall, near Stafford, for the last two years. Over the course of this time her business base has grown from a small number of local customers to a wide range of satisfied repeat clients from as far afield as the United States, South Africa and Qatar.

Born from a burgeoning inner creativity, Emma’s initial work on her shoe designs began purely as an outlet for her artistic inclinations. “I’ve always been interested in art and in painting canvasses. The trouble was that in my previous rented house, I wasn’t able to hang any of my work on the walls!

“Because of this I started painting and customising shoes, so that I could display my work at home. I put some of my designs on Facebook, and they got a good reception. Then it just grew and grew from there.”

Inspired by her love of fairy tales, Disney and a good amount of sparkle, Emma’s creations have proved a big hit in the bridal market, and she regularly takes custom orders for wedding footwear.

“A lot of brides will like the designs that I’ve posted online, but then of course we discuss customisations.

“They may want a pair of shoes similar to some that I’ve done, but with the colours changed to match their wedding scheme, and maybe with their name and wedding date added to the design.

“Some brides will like a lot of gem-work, others are a big fan of the LEDs I use to add a bit of extra magic! Really it’s up to them.

“It’s really nice being able to work with bridal parties like this, and create something unique that will make the big day all the more special.”

Far from only catering to the wedding crowd, Emma’s creative abilities have led her to expand her work into casual boots, trainers and also children’s shoes. She has even begun work on customising leather jackets that are paired with some of her boot designs.

Emma’s ideas certainly know no bounds, and as we gaze around at the multitude of examples on display in her workspace – from candy-skull heels to boots inspired by Guns N’ Roses – we’re forced to admit that the beloved Italian brogues I’m wearing are pretty boring! Though as Emma points out, she does also cater for the male market.

“A lot of the designs are obviously more popular with women, but the men do love the trainers and I’m happy to look at any design ideas.”

One of the nicest things about Emma Sandau’s story is the fact that it is one of pure passion and perseverance. With no artistic training and education, but with an enthusiasm and drive for developing her skills, she has turned her talent into a successful and lucrative business.

By posting her shoe designs on Etsy – an online market place specialising in bespoke craft items – local lady Emma has built a strong online enterprise that has led to an average of three transatlantic orders per week.

To support the online arm of her business, Emma regularly attends wedding fairs and craft exhibitions in the local area to allow people to get up close and personal with her work, and to meet the lady behind the imagination.

When asked what’s next, Emma smiles. “I love how everything has taken off so well, and I’m going to carry on working hard on my shoes to come up with more design ideas that hopefully people will love. But I am also producing bag designs, and am going to be working on some cap designs for the summer, so watch this space!”

We certainly will, and we leave her Aladdin’s Cave of a home-studio inspired by the story of a young self-taught businesswoman with the drive to conquer the world one customised heel at a time.

As Gene Wilder’s Willy Wonka went on to say: “Anything you want to, do it. Wanna change the world? There’s nothing to it.”

• Emma Sandau’s work can be found online at www.etsy.com/uk/shop/CreationsByMissMolly, on Twitter @EmmaSandau, or on Facebook by searching CreationsByMissMolly.