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Fine Artist, Sculptor & Pedorthist ~ Arnie Davis
As a teenager in high school, sculpture and footwear were already part of my life, although the two were never connected. By the time I started selling shoes at my uncle’s shoe store at 16, I was sculpting busts in the likenesses
of then President John Kennedy and First Lady Jackie, several of my teachers, and a bust of Homer for a local Pittsburgh TV program. Selling shoes, on the other hand, I thought, was a rite of passage that began sometime after
your bar mitzvah, but selling shoes ultimately became a good part-time job that served me in high school, and also after I moved to Los Angeles to go to college.
My formal education was in the fine arts, and I attended California State University in Northridge and the Otis Art Institute in Los Angeles. My intention was to become an art professor rather than a professional artist because
I felt that the reclusive, self-serving, and financially insecure life of an artist was not a fit for me, and that teaching would better serve my inner drive to be with people and make a difference in their lives.
The early 70’s, however, had few opportunities for art teachers and I therefore joined a friend, and fellow student who opened a ceramics business in Pasadena. Hand-made crafts were enjoying a big renaissance with the “back-to-the-land”
movement at that time, and I was awakened to what was missing for me in fine art… FUNCTION. To create something that was useful as well as beautiful spoke to me on a spiritual and fundamental level. Making pottery was a kick
but I knew it wasn’t my true calling. That was revealed to me in the guise of a serendipitous accident.
A Bolt of Lightning...
I was on a vacation staying with some friends on the central California coast. We were playing on the beach on the 4th of July 1972, when the tide rolled in and swept away my shoes. It was the only pair I brought with me and on
the 4th, no stores were open for buying a new pair. Fortunately, my friends had some leather and tools in their garage, and I proceeded to spend the rest of the day and evening making myself a crude pair of shoes. When I finished,
I put them on and like a “bolt of lightning”, it dawned on me that I had found my calling… making shoes. I returned home, gave up my position in my friend’s ceramics business, bought some leather, some tools and a sewing machine
and began teaching myself to make shoes in my garage. I used my sculpture experience to take molds of my feet, before ever knowing that to be a practice in the custom shoe industry.
I sought out instruction from real shoemakers, and the few I could find to talk to wouldn’t give me the time of day. That was when I first realized that this was a dying craft and a gap for me to fill. One shoemaker shared something
with me that took him about 5minutes. He showed me a mold of a foot and a standard wooden last and said, “You take this, and make it look that.” He also told me about plaster bandages for taking foot molds.
I persevered with moderate success for the next several months, working in my garage, and then moved into a “hippy type” leather craft store in Pasadena, hung up a shingle and I was on my way making sandals and hand died oil tanned
leather stitch-down shoes, which was a simple form of construction that I perfected. (see fig. 1) They cost $40 a pair and if you wanted an insole, they were $50. The next fortuitous thing that happened was an interview
and an article about my shoemaking that appeared in the local Pasadena newspaper. (see fig. 2).
Hungarian Master Shoemaker
From that, two wonderful things happened. One, a semi-retired Hungarian Master Shoemaker came into the shop and said that if I was smart enough to teach myself to make shoes, then I would be worthy of learning his lifelong craft
from him. The other thing that happened was that some people came into the shop with some rather severe foot problems. That was the second proverbial “bolt of lightning”. Making shoes that would help people to walk was for
me, taking art and function to the highest possible level. I knew I had found my true calling and from that point on, I absorbed shoemaking skills and knowledge more like it was a memory than a learning.
My master shoemaker encouraged me to stay and learn more for a few more years but I was impatient and wanted to move to San Francisco. Ever since my first visit here I knew it was where I wanted to live my life and raise my children.
Had I stayed with my master in Pasadena I would have made so many less mistakes, but I got my education remaking shoes that did not come out right, and as they say, “experience is the best teacher”.
College Teacher
In San Francisco, I approached the California College of Podiatric Medicine and told them that I could make custom shoes. Apparently, that created a stir with the college dean, and I was absorbed into their fold. This happed to
coincide with the running explosion of the middle 70” s and podiatry was at the forefront of the biomechanical technology that was to revolutionize the making of functional orthotic devices into a modern process that rivaled
prescription eyeglasses. While making shoes at the college, I was able to attend classes in biomechanics from some of the leaders in the field and learned to integrate this new information about foot function into the craft
of custom shoemaking. It was a very exciting time. I became the Director of the Podiatry Shoe Clinic and an instructor of shoe therapy to the students. I left the college with their blessing in 1977 to found Davis Shoe Therapeutics
on the principal that orthopedic shoes can be functional, comfortable and attractive.”
Becoming Certified
Having an education and background in sculpture, perfectly qualified me to apply my innate three-dimensional sensibilities to balance, gait biomechanics, shoe construction, and aesthetics. My love of people fueled my desire to
please and inspired me to innovate new ways to meet the challenges presented to me.
I became a Certified Pedorthist in 1981, and as a result of this ongoing professional and academic relationship with the Podiatry College, also became an educator and leader in the field of pedorthics, serving on the board of directors
and executive board of the Pedorthic Footcare Association. I am the author of "A GUIDE TO CUSTOM SHOE THERAPY" (published in 1988) and of two chapters in the textbook "INTRODUCTION TO PEDORTHICS", (published 1999). I have chaired
2 national symposiums, and lectured nationally at seminars for Podiatry, Pedorthics, Orthopedic Surgery, and Orthotics / Prosthetics. I served as an expert witness in several lawsuits, and as a consultant on government funded
shoe research projects for the VA, for the Research Triangle Institute, and for the University of North Carolina.
A Wonderful Experience
Two years ago, I moved my practice to Novato California, about 25 miles north of San Francisco. I left behind a Kaiser Permanente Contract, a large HMO based in California, and several employees. What I thought would be semi-retirement
turned out to be the most wonderful working experience of my life. My daughter Amy runs the front office amongst her many other tasks, my daughter Natalie fabricates orthotic devices in-house and my wife Nancy manages the finances.
I see each client personally and always give ample time with each to ensure a positive experience for them, and a fun experience for me.
For about the last 15 years, we have outsourced our custom footwear to a very large Dutch custom orthopedic manufacturing company called CYS, and the fabrications is done in the Philippines. Except for Workers Compensation and
the VA, all orders are private pay. We also outsource orthopedic alterations. The custom orthotic devices, which now comprise about 80% of the orders we receive, are done in-house, by hand, using a unique technique that blends
function and accommodation.
My "semi-retirement..."
I only work Monday through Thursday and enjoy sculpting, playing with my grandchildren, and biking on the weekends. I am 78 years old and will work as long as my body will let me.
“Let the beauty of what you love be what you do.” ~Rumi
Davis Foot Comfort Center Introduction video
Click below to view video on YouTube!
Click below to view 50th Celebration photos and stories!
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