Chris Francis

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Chris Francis (born 1976, Kokomo, Indiana) is an American artist, living and working in Los Angeles.^[1] Beginning as an artist and carpenter, Francis eventually started creating leather wear worn by Mötley Crüe's Mick Mars, Steve Jones of the Sex Pistols, and former Runaways guitarist Lita Ford.^[2] Francis gained acclaim as a high-concept shoe designer creating wearable art.^[3]

Francis attended the Maryland Institute College of Art for over a year but did not complete the program. He traveled the United States on freight trains for five years and worked as a tree topper, street-side shoe shiner, worked on fishing ships, washed windows, worked on film sets, and finally was a carpenter.^[1]

Francis is a self-taught shoe designer and began creating wearable art in 2011 after seeing a guest shoemaker hand stitch shoes at a Louis Vuitton event in Los Angeles.^[2] Without a proper leather sewing machine Francis did all the work by hand, and in the beginning he did not have proper shoe lasts, so he carved them himself in a park. He picked up shoe making tools from other shoemakers in the Hollywood area.^[1]

Francis creates shoes as an artist, finding inspiration in his favorite books, architecture, music, vintage machines, and flea market finds.^[4]

Francis cites architects Walter Gropius, Mies van der Rohe, Terry de Havilland, and artist Josef Albers as his inspiration.^[5][6]

For his exhibition at the Craft and Folk Art Museum, Chris Francis: Shoe Designer, his entire studio was transported to the storefront of the museum, taking residency for the remaining show.^[4]