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In the late 1960's, Brendan Smith, the owner and founder of Oberon Design, embarked on a course of artistry that has occupied his life for nearly forty years.
With the help of a proprietor of a local saddlery shop, Brendan was schooled in the nuances of leatherwork and developed his growing skill for precision and design.
For several seasons Brendan set up a retail shop in his hometown of Napa California, making and selling sandals during the Summer of Love. He began to identify himself with a life of creative process.
During his college years he supported himself with leather craft, expanding into moccasin making, handbags, belts and wearable art in the form of figurative whole-head masks of extraordinary character. He published a 'how to' manuscript entitled Brendan's Leather Book. Humorously well written and illustrated by him, it was favorably reviewed and achieved a healthy round of five editions.
Brendan developed a following for his leatherwork during the seventies and eighties under the name Walking Foot Leather. His reputation grew out of his direct rapport with customers in his booth each year at the Renaissance Pleasure Faire in which Oberon Design still participates. In 1992 Brendan created a new company, Oberon Design, based on the concept of leather book covers, expanding again in the late 1990's to include a pewter casting shop that produces a line of jewelry, bookmarks, barrettes and the Oberon journal buttons.
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