I started Obscure Belts in 2005 after receiving my MFA in Sculpture from UW-Milwaukee. I like to reimagine ordinary objects (like belt buckles) as extraordinary mechanical marvels. At first belt-making was just a hobby for me. I started off rigging up a simple buckle out of scrap materials in my workshop, then made a few more for friends who liked my design. From there, the designs got more elaborate and a business was born. I started designing my buckles when I realized that traditional belt buckles haven’t changed very much in the last few centuries. A “normal” belt buckle has a square frame and center post that you have to weave your leather through. The design is boring and damages the belt over time by bending the leather in half every time you undo your belt. My design uses a mechanical action to attach to an adjustable sizing stud, not to the leather. To change your size you simply unscrew and move the stud to a different hole. Together, the buckle and stud act like a lock and offer cool ways to unlatch your belt. Each buckle design takes me months to develop - I carve all of the original models out of wood and sculpt each piece until it feels right. I use a combination of steel, magnets, and puzzle-like precision to open and close the buckles. The design process merges engineering, sculpture, and art to create a completely new type of belt (seriously, completely new and unique. I patented it and everything).
