Stoom Klompenmakerij Marken - NL Online.NL — Attraction in Waterland

Interesting experience, but disappointing commentaries from Gabriel…

I was really looking forward to learning more about Dutch clogs and traditional shoemaking, but the demonstration was underwhelming. There wasn’t much focus on the actual craft, materials, or history — most of the time was spent making repetitive jokes.

The presenter, Gabriel, seemed to be trying to make it entertaining, but his humor relied heavily on outdated gender stereotypes. Jokes about men paying for women, how you can kick ass with the shoes etc and similar themes, were repeated multiple times. It felt awkward and unnecessary, especially in a cultural context where visitors come to learn something meaningful. It’s ok once to say the joke but he repeated it every time,

I enjoy humor and don’t mind bold jokes, but when the focus shifts almost entirely to these kinds of remarks — and not the actual craft — it becomes disappointing. A more engaging presentation with fun, relevant facts about clog-making would be a much better approach.

Some feedback for the team: the experience could be greatly improved by replacing the outdated humor with real, insightful information about Dutch culture and craftsmanship. Hope Gabriel works more on his skills and also he should find a stand up comedy venue for his jokes. I think they are funny (even if they are sexist) but that’s...

Saw a demonstration of how wooden shoes were made. Sebastian was very enthusiastic with his presentation and added a bit of humour to make a somewhat mundane task of making shoes interesting. He was also very helpful with the questions when we were trying out shoes.

We were also able to try to fit some shoes, and they were surprisingly wearable.

We were part of a tour but would recommend this place if you’re in Amsterdam (about an hour away from the city). The island of Marken is...

Wooden Shoe Factory is 20 minutes by car or bus from Amsterdam. Or one can take the ferry from Volendam (30 min). It is located in the village of Marken. A local traditional clogmaker demonstrates how a simple block of wood can be transformed into a wooden shoe in minutes. The demonstration is short but fun. In the wooden shoe museum there are all sorts of remarkable clog shoes. And of course there is a wonderful...