With Chris Francis of Lovecraft Leather.

Nestled among one of the most exciting creative hot-spots of Downtown Los Angeles, Chris Francis has one foot in the past and one foot in the future of custom shoe-making.

He dedicates his time and energy to finding and restoring original cobbler machines, creating inventive new solutions for design challenges and preserving the knowledge of the traditional craft for generations to come.

My workshop is very important to me as this is where all my inspiration comes from; it’s organized chaos with a lot of ghosts from old shoe cobblers.

Lending a poetic twist to Chris' Los Angeles-based story; heels are made from the melted down plastic of countless Hollywood movie reels.

He meticulously creates bespoke footwear for colorful characters on and off the stage, mixing self-learned shoe-making skills and a plethora of experiences from his own eclectic background.

Part art form, part method of communication; his process is defined by a genuine desire to connect with his subjects and translate human form into designs that are loaded with their personality and his own creative flair.

Growing up in Kokomo, Indiana, Chris was surrounded by factories, machinery and a working class labor ethic.

After they closed, we played in the factories and it gave me a love of machinery. It’s a big reason why I collect the machines and have the need to be surrounded by them; it evokes a kind of nostalgia.

He rode freight trains around the country and took work where he found it: the carnival, lumber-jacking and even sword fishing ships. It was a baptism of fire for him each time, learning new skills in order to survive. He now applies all of these diverse skills to everything he makes.

I apply knots that I learned on the fishing boat towards sewing or stitching on a jacket and I can use what I learned when I was a carpenter towards creating the architecture of a shoe.

Putting the final touches to Guitarist, Donna Grantis' heels.

Along with his multidisciplinary skill-set comes a resourceful mentality to create something from nothing.

Some of my favorite designs are when I’ve had absolutely no money at all to buy any materials and I just find materials on the street. That’s where a lot of really inventive designs come from.

A true artist at heart, Chris has continuously been creating work over the years. The guise may have shifted from painter to sculptor to designer, but the vision remains constant. His focus shifted to shoe-making just four years ago but footwear has been a common theme throughout his life,

I was painting pictures of shoes on the trains I was riding, or I was collecting shoes when I got off the railroad, and then my art at the time consisted of paintings of shoes that featured on billboards or in magazines.

When asked what was the first defining moment of his shoe-making career, he responds,

I guess maybe the moment when the shoes went out on stage at a rock ‘n’ roll show. Like it’s more than just something that sits on a shelf at a shop; the fact I had made something that was performing in front of people, that was a really cool moment.

In addition to his mind-blowing creative vision, one of Chris’ most endearing qualities is his humility. The shoes that he’s referring to were on the feet of legendary “Queen of Metal” Lita Ford.

Due to the fact he is so consumed in the design process, his marketing efforts are minimal, and he marvels that somehow he “keeps getting found”. However, once you have spent some time in his company and observed the care and attention that goes into each of these incredible products, it’s blatantly obvious why he attracts the people and projects he does.

Shoes are a way for me to take a concept, a thought, and then turn it into more of a two dimensional drawing and then use math and geometry to create a pattern that surrounds the complex third dimension. Which also for me goes to a different dimension of capturing someone’s personality in a piece, and that’s what it’s really all about, what I value is that experience.

Citing music as a huge inspiration for everything he makes, he also references the great Italian shoemakers Ferragamo and Di Fabrizio.

I’m always striving for perfection on every single detail, down the stitch. A lot of the people that I’m making for judge by the standards of the high fashion houses, and I have to live up to it. You have to make the equivalent of an Italian product.

He consciously tries to use as little new, store-bought materials as possible; up-cycling leathers, wood and exotic skins whenever he can. His love of animals and the environment drives his search for alternative materials and more ethical processes.

His dream is to make an impact through exceptional, bespoke design and leave a legacy that perpetuates the ancient handicraft of shoe making,

I hope to leave lots of art and shoes, and make things that get collected by others in the future, that get looked upon like the things that inspired me. I hope that other makers will find these tools, and that all these tools stay in use. I’d love at some point to be able to pass the trade onto others and help others learn the trade. That wasn’t something that was offered to me as a lot of the makers didn’t want to teach and now the trade is dying out.

No matter how tough the design challenge is, Chris refuses to give in.

Failure is never an option. Even if you feel that it’s not working out, you still have to make it and understand why it doesn’t work so that you learn for the next piece. You need all of that information. You run into every single situation imaginable during the design of a garment or a shoe, especially custom orders.
These things have to move on stage, they have to be tight fitting, they have to be comfortable, they serve so many functions and you always have to be ten or twenty steps ahead of the game. You have to have the end result in your mind at all times, and pull rabbit after rabbit out of your hat. It’s like you have to be a magician at all times to pull it off.
It can be tough and demanding, but ultimately very rewarding.

Chris can be contacted at : info@lovecraftleather.com

Spread the love by referencing Brilliant Collective.

Creative Direction & Writing: Jennie McGuirk

Photography: Betsy Winchell

Model: Vanessa Gonzales