\n<\/p>\n
The course required her to make 10 types of classic men\u2019s shoes, including oxfords and monk straps, with each pair taking up to two months.<\/p>\n
She loved the rigour of making them. Wearing them was another matter.<\/p>\n
\u201cI walked a lot in the shoes I made and my feet would hurt,\u201d she said. \u201cThere was a sense of accomplishment when I finished making the shoes, but I realised I didn\u2019t want to wear them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Once each pair was finished, she found herself reaching for sneakers instead.<\/p>\n
Around the same time, Chin discovered barefoot shoes on Instagram and bought a pair from British brand Vivobarefoot. Chin has hypermobile ankles, and found that being closer to the ground made her feel steadier.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo I thought: Maybe I could make barefoot shoes using the techniques I\u2019ve already learnt,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
There was another person she had in mind, too.<\/p>\n
Her mother has bunions and has long struggled to find comfortable shoes. \u201cSince I was young, when she takes me shopping, it\u2019s really hard for my mum to buy shoes. Everything would be so squished,\u201d Chin said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo my first target customer is my mum.\u201d<\/p>\n
By then, Chin had also begun thinking about staying in Japan more permanently.<\/p>\n
She already knew its craft ecosystem, and Kyoto offered specialist leather, tools and suppliers, along with something she had missed in Singapore: A community of people equally invested in the minutiae of making things.<\/p>\n
\u201cI felt very lonely in Singapore, not really able to discuss the small details of craft,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
But inspiration alone wasn\u2019t enough to justify the move. She needed a business concept that could meet Kyoto\u2019s requirements for a Business Manager visa. Chin put forward her handmade leather barefoot shoe concept, building on the shoemaking skills she had acquired in Tokyo. Once her application was approved, she moved to Kyoto in 2024.<\/p>\n
The move also marked her rebrand from Senkoubou to Yanmaei, named after the Chinese bayberry \u2013 yangmei \u2013 a small, sweet red fruit that grows in bunches.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
The course required her to make 10 types of classic men\u2019s shoes, including oxfords and monk straps, with each pair taking up to two months….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":93069,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/dam.mediacorp.sg\/image\/upload\/s--QeojdS1t--\/c_crop,h_542,w_965,x_1,y_96\/c_fill,g_auto,h_676,w_1200\/fl_relative,g_south_east,l_mediacorp:cna:watermark:2021-08:cna,w_0.1\/f_auto,q_auto\/v1\/mediacorp\/cna\/image\/2026\/09\/28\/singaporean_craftsperson_chin_shiying.jpg?itok=k5AxwpSI","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[24049,2213,5594,766,31699,3085,1293],"class_list":["post-93068","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-buzz-news-sg-global","tag-barefoot","tag-hand","tag-kyoto","tag-moved","tag-shoemaker","tag-shoes","tag-singaporean","wpcat-2-id"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93068","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=93068"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93068\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/93069"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=93068"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=93068"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=93068"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}