We were lucky to catch up with Zack Johnson recently and have shared our conversation below.

Zack, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

I have always had a love for creation and learned a lot about woodworking from my father. Probably the most important lesson was about having a sense of pride in my work. When COVID hit, I was laid off and took the opportunity to learn about leather working. It started with just needing to make some simple straps for a suit of scale mail I was working on for my dog. I ended up falling down a rabbit hole of creation that now has me trying to make my own custom rivets out of home recycled metal.

To speed up the process? I’m sure I could have started working with leather earlier but, it’s just one of those things that comes with time and practice.

The most essential skills? I would have to say it would be spatial organization for creating new designs and steady hands for bringing them to life.

Probably the biggest obstacle has been time. Hand stitching is very time consuming.

Zack, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

For me, 11 Crocodile Workshop isn’t about “making it big,” or even turning a profit. It’s about the joy of creation and the feeling of having created something wholly new.

I’ve long had a fascination with ancient Mesoamerican culture and take a lot of my inspiration from there. The name “11 Crocodile” is taken from the Mayan calendar. Specifically from my birth date which is also my maker’s mark. The K’iche’ word for crocodile is imix. It is a symbol for magic and hidden wisdom.

The thing that sets me apart from other leather workers would have to be my TrUnique collection. It’s all the things that I made because I wanted them to exist in the world and which I have no intention of recreating in the future. These range from the small camel shaped purse I made because I thought the name “camel clutch,” would be funny, to the Faestalker bag which was made without iron components so that it wouldn’t prevent the wearer from crossing freely into the Fae realm and a bronze knife to aid them while they’re there.

My favorite bag to date would have to be the Jersey Duffel. A medium sized duffel style purse sporting an outer shell of green fur, a burgundy suede lining, a pair of bat wings that serve as hidden pockets and, because Jersey, a four ounce flask in a molded pocket. On a whim, I also made and included a tiny coin purse in the shape of the beast’s heart.

I also do regular things in batches like wallets and card pockets but, to keep them on theme for the shop, I like to number each piece in a series with Mayan numerals.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

My journey is about self improvement. I want to take on more complex pieces and improve my craft. I’d like to make pieces that are representative of cryptids from around the world. I’m in the early stages of designing a mothman bag with an internal light wired into the lining.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

The simple joy of creation. To convert raw materials into something that is functional, beautiful and distinctive. That’s the rush that I’m chasing.

Contact Info:

• Website: 11crocodileworkshop.com
• Instagram: @11crocodileworkshop

Image Credits
These pics were taken by me. Though, my dad usually likes to do the pics for smaller pieces.