By now you should have noticed the throughline that connects everything in this issue—our guest creative director, Dominic “The Shoe Surgeon” Ciambrone. Most of the people you’ve seen featured throughout these pages have been hand-picked and interviewed by Ciambrone, so for his feature article we figured why not stick with the winning formula and have Dominic interview Dominic?
Interviewing oneself is, by definition, a meta exercise that would challenge even the most seasoned journalist. On the other hand, who could possibly know the inner workings of Ciambrone’s creative brain better than the man himself? Take it away, Dominics!
What’s up, Inked Magazine? You’re here with Dominic Ciambrone, The Shoe Surgeon, and this is my first time creative directing a magazine. So I’m ex-cited to have a special guest today. Tell me who you are and where you’re from. I’m Dominic Ciambrone, also known as The Shoe Surgeon. I’m an artist, creative. I’m a maker. The Shoe Surgeon has since become a brand, it’s not just a person. Now we have switched it to The Surgeon, making it less about me as the creator and more about the brand as a whole.
Tell us a little about your early life and growing up. I was born in Orange County, but I moved up to Northern California before I was one. I moved to Santa Rosa, about an hour north of San Francisco, and that’s where I was raised. From a very young age I was always very creative. I was making Legos and building forts and doing these things that just fed my soul. I just always needed to be building things.
