Tradition, Reinvented: when velvet meets Venetian Slippers

With Le Monde Beryl’s debut collection in 2016, founders Lily Atherton Hanbury and Katya Shyfrin refined and rethought an age-old design: the Friulane slipper. Hailing from Venice, where it is still worn by the city’s gondoliers, the simple, sophisticated style was originally created out of necessity from scraps of felt and rubber during the Second World War.

Guided by a form-follows-function mindset, our own Venetian slippers and mules are handcrafted in Italy by master artisans who marry time-honoured techniques with rich shades of velvet—a material that was once trans- ported across the Silk Route and produced in Venice during the Renaissance. Today, the light-reflecting fabric can be found in all of Le Monde Beryl’s footwear collections—from point-toed heels to Mary Janes and Moroccan slides—alongside satin, linen, raffia, and embellished offerings that further our commitment to exploring and preserving the art of traditional textile techniques.