Transmitting the value of effort has been the job in which Helio put the most effort, but he was not alone in this task. It was together with his life partner, Manoli, and later with his son Francisco Miguel, that he carried out a meticulous task of learning and refining within the Lottusse factory.
His face is that of a young man, despite having been with us for more than 45 years. The son of a shoemaker, and born in Inca, he knew the reality of a small workshop from within, where every morning he brought his father a snack. Always ready and with renewed energy, he is happy to tell each of those anecdotes that linked our history to that of the Ruíz Surera family.
If we talk about how his experience has been in the brand, he tells us that his beginnings arose by chance when, with just 18 years of age, he left the military behind to start cutting complementary pieces. “I started to make classmates, later friends, among whom were Cati Genestra, a former classmate, who did her work at the same time.” Lifelong friends who, like him, found his place in a prestigious company.
Fate would have him meet his wife Manoli sometime later, whose transparent gaze caught his attention. Together they learned the trade by hand, in a time when the area already had numerous shoe workshops.
He had some experience as a cutter but it was his desire that gave him the strength to bet on an improvement in his training. The company was one of the best and that is why being the protagonist of this story, in the midst of the footwear boom at that time, is a source of pride for Helio today.
Also in those summers, it was common to find those who took chairs out of the houses to carry out sewing or glueing tasks. Footwear was already part of his reality.
“My feelings at Lottusse have always been very good, I am happy to have done a job that has paid off.”
– Heliodoro Ruiz –
But the way families interact has changed, including the way young people value traditions and learn trades, and it is precisely that evolution that has set the pace of our industry, he says. “Shoes were part of our whole life. My wife helped her mother in a small workshop while she was still a child: all of her sisters have been part of this industry. Today it is our son who, with effort and dedication, continues to be part of this project ”. Francisco Miguel learned the trade although his generation had a different challenge: to quickly understand the work of machines. But this was not a problem for him, since he knew how to adapt on a determined basis.
Thus, the industrial development of production marked the path of his professional experience, learning the use of new machines “although the work really continues to be manual,” he assures. The artisan detail always offers a unique quality that computers do not allow.
Manoli’s work, for example, focuses on lowering the skin, to leave the edges of the shoes perfect. It is a job that requires skill and subtlety in equal measure.
At that time, you had to start cutting the lining to learn, and that’s how they learned from the best, with great interest. Twenty years ago the cutting system began to be automated, although it was little by little that this change was transferred to the combination of hides. The conjunction of both processes in Lottusse, the artisanal and the industrial, began when the new tools began to be used. The cuts became faster and of higher quality, resulting in better and better shoes, he says.
“My family gained a stable job with which we bought our first house, thanks to having the stability that we so badly needed.”
– Heliodoro Ruiz –
Thus, they were learning to adapt to the new processes, while Don Antonio set the pace of the day-to-day work. Not just anyone came in here, and in his case, it was with the intention of expanding production. But cutting is a job that needs you to be involved, just like many other parts of the manufacturing process.
There were good brands in town, but Lottusse was something else, it was a legacy that was passed down from father to son. Here he lived many anecdotes with Don Antonio, who went down to the factory to talk with a team he trusted, since he was a child he got used to working in direct contact with the team and the product.
Thus, his passage through the factory went from less to more, learning a lot and working with total freedom. Of course, having his family here was easy, since together they advanced in parallel, in good times and bad.
Carefree and friendly, Helio transmits the determination that led him to replicate the most complex designs. He looks up, remembering his first shoes: comfortable and soft Liberty shoes that were the pride of a job well done. Today, his wife Manoli, whom he met at 18, and his son Francisco Miguel continue to represent the fundamental pillar of the new generations of our brand.