Making trade an art form

Kensington shop owner makes leather design his business

Wednesday, March 1, 2006

Click here to enlarge this photo Brian Lewis⁄The Gazette Gianfranco ‘‘Franco” Belviso works in his Kensington shop, ‘‘Franco’s Italian Leather Design.” Visitors to Belviso’s shop can watch him designing and repairing leather — skills he learned 20 years ago when he started in Italy.

And Gianfranco Belviso’s parents were no exception.

But the then 19-year-old mechanical engineering student, who inadvertently discovered the art of leather design in Florence, Italy, where he was studying, was undeterred.

That same determination to follow his dreams despite the risks has rewarded Belviso in unexpected ways.

Nearly 20 years after he first took up the trade, Belviso, now 49, is the owner of Franco’s Italian Leather Design shop in Kensington.

‘‘I like the location,” he said about the shop’s Howard Avenue spot in the heart of Kensington’s Antique Row district. ‘‘It’s on the street. It feels comfortable.”

Belviso, who lives in Gaithersburg, moved to the United States 15 years ago from Avellino, Italy, to find new work. But he ended up back in the leather business after realizing it was his passion.

‘‘You have to have the talent, patience, ability of the hand, fantasy, [and be] a little bit artistic,” Belviso said. ‘‘It’s a gift.”

He might have started his business to fulfill a long-time passion. But Belviso’s loyal customers are just happy to have found someone who will work hard to make or fix their items.

‘‘It totally blew me away. It looks perfectly natural,” said Gaithersburg resident Gus Stefanou, about an ostrich pelt he asked Belviso to upholster onto a wooden desk. ‘‘ [It’s] like a work of art.”

It was a job, Stefanou said, no other leather worker he had been to was willing to try.

But Belviso’s is something of an anomaly — there’s nothing he won’t attempt to cover, fix, make or repair with leather.

From rifle covers to shoes, Belviso said he has tried it all.

‘‘Just come to my shop,” he said. ‘‘You won’t believe what I can do. You have to see for yourself.”

Indeed a walk into Belviso’s shop is like an assault on the senses. The thick smell of leather and dye lingers in the air. And Belviso’s tools — a skiver machine that trims the leather thickness, a burnishing machine that smoothes or straightens the leather, spools of various colored thread, layers of leather hides and boxes of jeweled accessory pieces — are spread out on work tables.

Belviso can be found in his shop everyday except Sunday, working 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on repairs for items like chairs, chaps, jackets and even leather tennis racket covers.

He buys most of his leather and accessories from Italy, which he visits two or three times a year.

He also makes items like wallets and purses and can even recreate the styles of famous designers.

‘‘I can make Hermés [bags] for $2,000, which would cost $4,000,” he said.

‘‘I call him an artisan,” said John Tseronis of Silver Spring, who commissioned Belviso to reupholster his leather furniture. ‘‘Usually they do the work themselves. A lot of companies, they get to be bigger and they have employees that do that, but you go to an artist [to] make it unique with all the little idiosyncrasies.”