STIEFELwerk

Everything I do has rhythm,” says Anne Marika Verploegh Chassé of STIEFELwerk, a one-woman bespoke boot and shoe making company based in Brooklyn. “I have always been a maker and a collector of skills, and in shoes and boots I have found a perfect expression for my many talents. To think and build something beautiful and lasting in its functionality, applying traditional techniques in playful ways, suits me well. A touch avant-garde, a touch strange, truly labor-intensive and thoughtfully made with intent. This is who I am.”

Many of the leather artists or artisans I speak with recall younger years filled with endless, compulsive drawing or other creative activities in a visual context. But Marika has a background that was rooted in the world of fine arts. Growing up in Switzerland, she was always drawing, sketching and painting. In Europe, where the presence of the Old-World masters is