The Italian Journal

Italy is so many things to me. Firstly, it's where so much of what I create is concepted, made, born. Second, it's an endless source of potential for me. When I am there, connections are happening, new ideas are forming, products unfold. From being there, we develop shoes, YES, but handbags, jewelry, belts are all in work and coming, AND a men's loafer! Very soon! It's raw and full of life and full of YES!

We go now for about 2 weeks.. Everyday is this. A mix up of many things. Usually breakfast, pick up, espresso, factory 1, tannery - espresso, long lingering lunch, espresso and driving, factory 2, tannery - espresso, trim house. Fittings, introductions, meetings, all sorts. Sometimes factories from out of town, we make the leather jackets in another part of Italy and they come to meet us. We meet lawyers and accountants, we meet warehouses and freight forwarders. We go to heel factories and review new shapes, sole suppliers, fabric mills, buckle and hardware suppliers. Shoe factories, sneaker factories, belt factories, handbag factories, jewelry factories. It's all busy and technical and dense. Dense. Dense. But it's also shopping for silk flowers, it's wine windows, it's Four Season's Lobby Bar, it's the top floor of the Hermitage and a lot of pasta, a lot of wine and a lot of lot.

It's getting lost in old shops on cobblestone roads on the weekend. It's Gelato! It's play, imagination, planning. It's honestly the most Michelle and I plan, talking through the whole year out. We get to think and ruminate on long ideas and situations. There are always things going wrong and sideways and we get to ruminate on those things too. Italy is a lot of talking. A lot of other people talking.

It's what if's we do this. What if we make these... It's play. It's everything. This chandelier is everything. .

And it's the city, in it's bigness. And it's smallness, because the footwear industry is small. You say one thing to one person and everyone knows within a day. People talk. People whisper. Good things mostly.

We mean something in Tuscany, our volume is growing and it's really exciting to have been the name no one knew to the name they know! We take up space here now, and it feels really good. It feels good to pass a first belt order and surprise people with it's size, to exceed their estimations of me.

I'm feeling briefcases.. you?

I love getting lost. I always feel most creative in the space inbetween ideas, in that pause.. the unknown, that trust that it will rush in, the inspiration and the idea. It's this negative space that fills me. I love vintage because I love that hunt and potential.

Below this is a skin rag-house of sorts, and there they have all the leftover skins from designer houses. Mostly Yves St. Laurent, but also Alaia and others. And it's usually just enough to cut 30-50 pairs of a trap pump or something, so we are going to make some special one offs. Because letting emotions choose the colors, that gravity will net something special. So coming soon.. our "haul" of leftover skin traps.. very special!

And do you see this beauty! That's the Kitty.. anew. A future thing I am working on. 70mm.

And this is a belt design, that kind that happens on the back of a napkin, that style of on the spot creating that feels the best.

Below... I can't quite capture this.. it's blurry, but the sentiment is... we are always a small group of women in this BIG group of men. That is the footwear industry in Italy. The only woman in the room when you go to lunch. It could feel intimidating but I actually think it's striking.

And it's more and more and more. Truffles. Florence Nights. Clutches. Silk Flowers. Tuscan Fields on the way to the sneaker factory. Tiramasu.

Shearling, and picking the one all the way on the bottom. Because furry Traps seem fun. Buffalo meetings and Piton Calfskins. Tannery Tannery Tannery. Then handbag check. The new "Ledger" coming sooooon. The new stack of beautiful Bangles coming soon too - I looooove them. These have a good story I will share when I have them. In the story, I will look bad, but it's ok, it all is what it is.

Something new is coming soon, it's in work right here. He was working on the Men's Penny Loafer, measuring the thickness of cut skin.

Also, I know. I know that I write down all of these thinking thoughts and the grammar isn't perfect, and that a copywriter would help me, many of them email me to tell me so. And that my sentences are not complete. I know. I do it on purpose. Because these are thoughts, purely. This is a diary of sorts, not a quiz. It's ok. I am ok with showing you this imperfect side of my creative thinking. I just want you to know, I can write better if I want to, but I don't want to. Creativity doesn't flow when you are grammar checking, you know?