A Boot Collector Feature
A New Mexico bootmaker who treats every pair as a tapestry with a title — trained first by osmosis, then by one of the craft's acknowledged masters.
Jes Márquez, a Texas native raised in New Mexico, began her apprenticeship in 2016 at Roberto Robledo's Boot and Shoe Repair shop in Albuquerque's Nob Hill neighborhood, learning from a man with roughly 50 years in the trade. "I didn't even know how to sew when I started," she's said of those early days. "I learned by osmosis." She went on to study with master bootmaker Deana McGuffin through the New Mexico Arts Folk Arts Apprenticeship Program, refining her technique and expanding her range under one of the field's most respected living makers — the same program and lineage that also shaped bootmaker Lisa Sorrell's early inspiration. Márquez now works from Villanueva, a village of under 500 people in San Miguel County, New Mexico, out of a century-old renovated adobe house. Her "Zozobra 100" boots, commemorating the 100th anniversary of Santa Fe's Zozobra festival, were displayed at the New Mexico Museum of Art.
Custom boots built from traditional hides rather than exotic skins, each one designed around a story and given a title — Márquez describes her approach as treating "boots as a tapestry." Projects have included commissioned pairs for the Santa Fe Opera and work tied to major regional cultural anniversaries.
Boots as storytelling — one title, one tapestry at a time.
Pairs from smaller, custom, or long-closed makers rarely come up for sale, so this search may not find anything. It’s worth checking back now and then.