MILLERS FALLS — Barefoot Leatherworks started unexpectedly after owner Grace Martenson, who recalls she rarely wore shoes as a child, took an apprenticeship with a local cobbler.
As an archer and outdoor enthusiast, Martenson had wanted to make her own leather quiver, which holds arrows during archery practice. That started a love of working with leather, she said.
When she looked for an outlet to learn more, a friend recommended her to Felipe Gonzalez, the former owner of Mariachi Shoe Repair on Avenue A in Turners Falls.
At the beginning of 2021, after an apprenticeship of about six months, Gonzalez closed his business so he could move back to Mexico. Martenson more or less took over the business, and moved it to a new location at 30 Bridge St. in Millers Falls.
In her apprenticeship, she had learned not only about shoe repair, but about working with leather in general — creating different shapes, coloring it with dyes and paints, using tools to etch images and patterns.
“That’s where my love of leatherworking came from,” she said. “Making wallets, playing around with it, more of the artistic side of things.”
Since she opened Barefoot Leatherworks in March, most of her business has been in repairing shoes and other leather and fabric items. But Martenson also expects to sell custom, handmade pieces, like wallets and bags that she can design according to customers’ requests.
Martenson uses vegetable-tanned, full-grain leather, which is noticeably higher quality than what is used in most mass-produced leather products, as well as more durable, she said.
“This leather will hold up for years upon years upon years,” she said.
Custom pieces can also be decorated with images and colors. Martenson sketches an image onto the leather, then carves it in using hand tools. Colors can be added to create different effects either with dyes, which she said tend to sink into the leather, or acrylic paint, which sits on the surface of the leather.
To make the business more easily accessible, Martenson said she is considering ways to place collection boxes in different towns, so that customers can leave items for repair in a collection box without having to drive to the store.
Barefoot Leatherworks is open Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Martenson said she expects to add Wednesday hours in the future.
Reach Max Marcus at mmarcus@recorder.com or 413-930-4231.