Photos: Courtesy of Emmanuel Labor

The first time Trevin told me about Labor’s craftiness, I fell in love. GrungeCake Magazine’s new contributing writer, Jenny B. travelled to Washington State and I asked her to interview him. Jenny came through and here we are. We love you Jenny and we love you Mr. Labor! We look forward to working with you in the future. — Richardine Bartee

GrungeCake: Can you describe who you are, and what it is that you do?

EL: Emmanuel Labor is my little surname I guess you can say. I customize shoes. I take shoes that you get at like Champs and Footlocker and I apply themes to the shoes. Most just, put paint on them, but I like to apply themes.

GrungeCake: How did you get started doing the collections?

EL: I’ve always been into shoes and art, but I got serious about it around 2001. There was this other artist Amphibian. At the time, he was big. I saw a few pairs that he did and I was blown away. Therefore, I had to figure out how he did it. Looking up tutorials that he put out, and that is pretty much how it begun.

GrungeCake: Has living on the West Coast Influenced your art in anyway?

EL: I don’t think so; it’s hard to say. I haven’t actually been anywhere else to see how it would affect me. This is just home. I don’t make shoes that are Seattle themed. That is the thing we do have a lot of artistic people in this area, but I’m not in the “Art Community” to where I’m influenced by it. A lot of the stuff I’m exposed to I sees online. I’ve seen more art online from here [Seattle] then I have in person.

GrungeCake: How do you feel about the country you live in?

EL: I guess its fine; I grew up here so I can’t compare it to any other country, never lived anywhere else. We definitely have problems. It’s not so bad that I want to move, like I gotta get out of here. Definitely problems but overall I can’t imagine a better place I’d want to live.

GrungeCake: Do you consider yourself patriotic?

EL: Hmmmmm, Probably not! I’m not anti-America but at the same time I’m not out there waving flags, going to parades. I’m probably somewhere in the middle.

GrungeCake: So what does being patriotic mean to you?

EL: Someone who only buys American cars, flag up in their front yard, proud of their country. Things like that. When I think of patriotic, those images come to mind. I’m not necessarily proud of our country, I’m proud of some of the people that do certain things within our country. The country as a whole, there’s a lot of good and a lot of bad. Makes it hard for me to be completely be behind it.

GrungeCake: Where is your place of origin?

EL: Here in Seattle, Washington.

GrungeCake: Your ancestors?

EL: Most of them are from the Texas area. All American family pretty much.

GrungeCake: How does GrungeCake make you feel?

EL: I saw the site, and I like sites that are doing that now, their making their own movements. I like that idea! Especially for the people in our generation, I think it’s going to make a big mark as the future goes on. You can get more information from websites like that [GrungeCake] opposed to mainstream magazines or CNN and things like that.

GrungeCake: Does media effect your life in anyway?

EL: Yes, I think so. It pretty much impossible to not be effected by media. If you wake up and watch television, you’re going to see newscast and the way certain things are reported it effects you.

GrungeCake: So how can people get a hold of you?

EL: I mainly use MySpace, waiting on someone to finish my professional site. But you can contact me at http://www.myspace.com/emmanuelabor.

GrungeCake: Thank you for your time, Art is beautiful.

EL: No, thank you.