Félix, founder of Chikiboom
What led you to work with recycled leather?
Pure chance! I was fabric shopping on St-Hubert with a friend when we stumbled upon a bag full of leather scraps. She looked at me convincingly and told me I should take it. I hesitated, unsure of what to do with it, but ended up buying it anyway.
Back home, I started cutting, gluing, punching, sewing—experimenting until I created my first bracelet designs! Another friend, who knew someone with a craft boutique, saw my pieces and, just like that, it all took off! After several more shopping trips to find the perfect colors and materials, I soon expanded into making watches!
What has your journey as a craftsperson been like?
I studied several subjects—all related to art—but nothing clicked enough for me to complete a course and turn it into a career. At the time, I had no idea that my path was already written in that bag of leather scraps I found on the Plaza!
Now, 14 years later, with 30 retail locations carrying my creations, I couldn’t be happier with how things turned out!
How did you start selling your watches and earrings?
As I mentioned earlier, it all started with a friend of a friend who owned a boutique. But before I was even ready, other shop owners began approaching me after discovering my creations there!
I worked really hard to develop new pieces for them, which eventually made their way into stores across Quebec!
What is the biggest challenge in your profession?
Stopping work! As a self-employed entrepreneur, there are always a thousand things to do, think about, and create! Taking time for yourself becomes complicated between social media posts, production, deliveries, designing new products, paperwork, and searching for new leather (by the way, if you have any, feel free to reach out!). There’s always something to do!
On top of that, staying up to date and constantly creating new designs to keep customers and retailers happy is a big challenge. Phew! Just talking about it is exhausting! Another major challenge is finding high-quality, colorful leather scraps with the right thickness and funky, original shades that will appeal to customers.
What are you most proud of?
Being able to make a living from my art. It’s tough and demanding, but oh, so satisfying! For the past 14 years, I’ve not only listened to my customers but also had full creative freedom to develop the products I love. Seeing happy faces and hearing positive feedback from clients is a huge source of daily pride!
Can you tell us about your creative process? What inspires you?
For example, when designing my themed earrings, I draw inspiration from everyday life in Quebec. Being based in Montreal, I take a lot of inspiration from the city, but I also explore themes that reflect our beautiful province. For this collection, I first select a theme, then rummage through my leather scraps to find two colors that best represent the idea. For instance, for the Climat earrings, I paired white and green leather to illustrate Quebec’s extreme temperature variations—one of the highest in the world!
Once the colors are chosen, I sketch out the design and refine it, adding a small descriptive text on the packaging to present the theme.
For all my creations, it's essential to maintain a minimalist, timeless aesthetic. Whether it's earrings, watches, or other accessories, I firmly believe that less is more!
