Hark-Weber describes herself as “mostly from the Twin Cities,” though she spent her 20s and early 30s living in other parts of the country. She returned to Saint Paul 10 years ago when she launched her business as a shoemaker. “The Twin Cities is the perfect size to support professional craftspeople—big enough to be big enough, but small enough that folks get to know each other,” she says. “I don’t advertise, so most of my local customers find out about me by word of mouth. There are amazing museums and craft centers here, and this is possible because of community support for the arts. Minnesota has a thriving pottery scene, and loads of printers and artists/craftspeople in the literary and book arts. I think it’s just a special place that attracts really creative people.”

Hark-Weber thinks the local craft community has grown younger. “There seem to be a lot of upstarts, which is wonderful and exciting!” However, she says, “There aren’t many footwear makers, and that means that there isn’t much of an inter-craft community. But that would be true anywhere. People just don’t know that there are shoemakers tucked away, so they don’t think of looking us up.”

harkweberstudio.com | @harkweberstudio

ARTISTS HARK-WEBER ADMIRES:
Toolmaker and bookbinder Brien Beidler, “because he is on a similar track as myself, working independently with small children, trying to make ends meet while producing extremely beautiful and well-made items”; paper maker and textile artist Mary Hark, because “she has constructed a career in the arts, building a workshop and studio from scratch and figuring it out as she goes”; Katrina Kubeczko, “textile artist and DIY diva, because she is always working, learning, and trying something new, and is one of the most intuitively creative people I have had the pleasure of knowing”; Sister Black Press, “because they are working hard and making beautiful, funny, and delightful work”; and Tony Santoyo, whom “I admire because he is fearless and his effervescent personality is present in all that he does.”