Bold, beautiful, blissful boots
- As a young adult, Lisa’s sewing experience led her to working for a boot maker
- She works to preserve age-old shoemaking traditions
- Her aim is to create boots that convey a sense of joy and freedom
At the age of 21, Lisa Sorrell answered a newspaper advert for a job stitching leather boot tops. The owner of the small boot making shop was a far cry from the people she had known up until then and the work was captivating. “Not only was it like discovering what I wanted to do, but it was also about finding out who I had been all along without realising,” she says. After mastering boot top sewing, Lisa studied with a master shoemaker, learning to build every element of a cowboy boot. Today, Lisa handcrafts bespoke boots that tell stories, spark memories and reflect individual style. Each pair begins with the client’s measurements, and features kangaroo leather imported from Italy, alligator leather from America, soles from a tiny tannery in England, and a bespoke colour palette developed by Lisa herself.
Discover her work
INTERVIEW
Joy. I want it to show in my practice and I want the wearer to feel it, even if they may not be able to identify exactly what it is about my boots that makes them happy. I want them to feel the element of freedom and happiness.
My theory is that cowboys wanted attention. They were often really poor boys who suddenly became a romantic cowboy figure. They wanted people to look at them and take notice. Farmers wear low heeled boots because they walk a lot. The higher heel marks the wearer out as a rider.
It became colourful and exotic around 1910 with the first Western movies. Entertainment has kept the cowboy boot in front of the American people since then. If it had just stayed on the feet of cowboys, I am not sure it would have developed beyond a plain black riding boot.
Kangaroo leather is thin, and it is also strong. As I work with multiple layers and multiple colours, if I used a heavier leather, then everything would get stiff and unwieldy. American alligator is beautiful and lovely to work with, too.
