The Leathersmithe Guild
Our founding members:
- Davy Rippner
- Ross Garrick
- Michael & Dean Goodman
- Daniel & Wendy Clemens
- Keith Gage-Cole
- Russell Maxfield
- Patrick McCarthy
Henry Goodman
Our Flounder
My sandal-making career began as chief sandal maker for Chappelle's Leather Boutique in Sausalito, across the bay from San Francisco, the summer of 1966 - I was 23, fresh from a University of California BA degree. I had been hand-sewing mocassins and pouches since I was 14.
In the spring of 1967 I opened the first Vancouver, BC Leathersmithe inside the new 4th Avenue Psychedelic Shop.
Co-owner Doug Hawthorne (who previously ran The Blind Owl sandal shoppe in that storefront) brought San Francisco bands (Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Big Brother and the Holding Company with Janis Joplin) to Vancouver for Trips Festivals and other performances that year. We enjoyed a close sister-community cultural relationship with San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury and our Kitsilano store was a vibrant meeting place for musicians, trippers, artists and travellers.
After wearing a pair of Lord of the Rings in a circumnavigation of the earth in '67 - '68, I opened Leathersmithe (1) on Marine Drive, near the North Vancouver exit of the Lions Gate bridge.
In the Spring of 1970, with the help of Dollarton Maplewood Mudflats Deluxe Carpenters, The Good Earth Sandals & Bag Shoppe at the foot of Lonsdale in North Vancouver was launched. Far from the excitement of 4th Avenue and the rebirth of Gastown, I settled into that sleepy working-class neighbourhood with companion Kimberley Curtis, partners Dan & Wendy Clemens, and esteemed apprentice and dear friend Ross Garrick.
In the autumn of 1972 Kimberley and I left British Columbia and made bags, sandals & shoes, on the road “whipping the cat” as cordwainers, out of Dewdney, a shingled truck-house, in Sun Valley, Berkeley and San Francisco, Leathersmithe (2).
In 1973 I returned to British Columbia and with Deluxe Carpenters, Ross, Wendy and Dan, presented the last of three large music and crafts faires, the 1973 Pacific National Exhibition Christmas Craft and Music Faire, 8 days of music and over 100 participating musicians & craftspersons.
I moved to Victoria, British Columbia, in 1975 and opened the very successful 1010 Cook Street Leathersmithe (3).
Window display when sandals were $35
I was back-ordered over 140 pair of LotRs
the summer of 1977
1010 Cook Street Victoria workbench
In 1978 I opened Mill Valley Sandalero across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco. It was a short-lived venture, and I soon moved to Los Angeles for a few months to see if sharing family business Treasure Baby Shoe Company with my brother, Jimmy, was in the cards. It was not to be.
My last public shoppe was Leathersmithe (4) in Garberville, California, from 1984 - 1986, when I accepted a real-job offer from pal David Katz at Alternative Energy Engineering, selling solar, water, & wind renewable energy products for the next 25 years. I continued to build shoes, boots and sandals on the side from my rural Garberville home.
I'm now retired from the solar energy business and accepting sandal orders from my South Pender Island home shoppe, Leathersmithe (6).
Joseph Montague’s A Visit with Leathersmithe
California Historical Tannery Archive
San Francisco's Poetsch & Peterson Tannery Archive
Santa Cruz’s Salz Tannery Archive
Recollections of Manasse Block Tannery
George Barnsley & Sons leather tools Sheffield, England
West 4th Avenue Vancouver Summer of Love 1967
Mudflats Living, Shangri‐la, and Malcolm Lowry
The 1971 burning of squats at Maplewood Mudflats
Modified sheet bend knot.
Learn to tie it!
Click photos to enlarge
All hand-sewed or clincher-nailed
"You are my hero. I love that you are living life the way you want.
It's beautiful". WK 7/2017
Brooks Point, South Pender Island, BC
Tassels 8" - 18" long
Braided with nickel fobs & calf key holders
Never lose your keys in your purse or pack again
Sandals
Build Your Own Pair
Care for Your Leather
Repairs, Soles & Heels Replacement
Leather Terms
Leathersmithe History
California Tanneries
Tanning Methods
Galleries and Links
Pouches, Wallets, Bags
Belt Pouches
Commemorative Pouches
Passport Pouches
Drum-back Pouches
Wallets
Calf Bracelets
Shoes & Boots
Archive
Protégés
Contact
In 1794, Thomas Hardy, a London shoemaker, was charged with high treason for proposing one person, one vote. His sentence, had he been found guilty, would have been to be hanged by the neck, cut down while still conscious, disemboweled, beheaded, and his body to have been cut up into quarters.
Fortunately, a Grand Jury of nine respectable citizens, after debating the matter for nine days, found him ‘Not Guilty’.
The London crowd went crazy, dragging him through the streets in triumph.
David Katz, Susan Root & Davy Rippner at AEE 1990
