Making Shoes

A Bunion is No Funyun

2009-08-13T15:13:00.000-07:00

I recall the first time I heard about bunions. I was seeing an orthopedic specialist about chronic shin splints. He took one look at my feet and said, “do those bunions bother you?” I had no idea what he was talking about. Bunions? Where?

According to the American College of Foot and Ankle Surgeons, a bunion is described as a “bump on the side of the big toe.” A bunion is an actual deformity of the bones at the base of the big toe: the big toe leans toward the second toe, rather than pointing straight ahead. This throws the bones out of alignment and produces the bump on the side of the toe. And, as many of us girls know, bunions can be extremely painful.

So what causes bunions? Genetics can play a role, but wearing tight-fitting high heeled shoes can exacerbate and even cause bunions. What's the treatment? Wear wide, flat shoes. So why do we keep wearing pointy-toed, high-heeled shoes?... Because we heart them like whoa.

With all the incredible shoes from Christian Louboutin, Valentino, Salvatore Feragamo what are we to do? We just can't help it, which is why we see girls leaving Belltown at 2am with their shoes in their hands or getting a piggy back ride from their beau.

My mission at Bench is make fabulous shoes that girls can really wear. So we can all walk home with our shoes on.

How I Got Started

2009-04-29T09:24:00.001-07:00

I've been making shoes since I was a kid. My parents taught me and my brothers to make our own sandals. They were simple sandals - my brother calls them Jesus cruisers - they were flat with straps across the top of the foot and around the heel. We'd trace our feet, cut out the soles and fit the sandals right to our feet using straps cut from a hide, buckles, rivets, nails and glue. I don't recall my dad making sandals; I believe he still wears the pair he made for himself in the 60's.

Sandal making became a creative outlet for me and I continued making sandals through college and graduate school. I started making wood clogs and more intricate designs. I joined the MIT woodshop for access to a bandsaw and belt sander and used to work on a little stool outside my apartment.

Eventually my hobby became fueled by an inability to find the right shoes... I'm a city girl that doesn't like to drive. So, I need shoes to look good and feel good. Dansko's did it for a while, but I longed for something edgy and more feminine.

After moving to Seattle, I decided to take my shoe-making more seriously and after some training in London, I set up my own design studio and started working on designs for myself. Now I've set out to launch my first line of shoes.

This summer I will debut my first collection. Sandals.