Lucha Workshop

This design company has wit to spare, but guard your spools

By Pamela Grossman
Published: March 7th, 2007 | 11:14am

Browse the Web site for Lucha Workshop, Miami-based creators of simultaneously whimsical and beautiful t-shirts and bags, and you'll find that as businesspeople, the Luchites are a little different. Their blog carries news of, for example, a strike against the company led by spools of thread (resolved, tragically, with the organizing spools found murdered: "Blue" was discovered "face down in a public pool"). There is also a "new managing accountant" who appears to be a blue plastic doll. You will not find any information about who creates the Lucha wares or cheery assurances that "we look forward to receiving your order"; in fact, it's implied that the staff, whoever they are, may be having a beer or six before processing orders at all.

None of this seems to have hurt the company's prospects - up and running for a little over a year, Lucha has already won design awards, and the business is growing. Co-creator Christina Felisgrau managed to give us some (relatively) straight answers before letting Lucha's gloriously smart-assed tendencies shine through.

How many people work at Lucha Workshop?
Lucha Workshop is Christina Felisgrau, Ronnie Rivera, a couple of local artists, and sympathizers across Miami.

What are your backgrounds, educational or otherwise?
I come from a long line of Cuban seamstresses, but I am mostly self-taught when it comes to making and designing handbags. I studied Fine Art at Florida International University and Miami-Dade College before taking a hiatus to start Lucha. Ronnie Rivera apparently has absolutely nothing to say about himself. I met him wandering the halls of Miami-Dade College - not sure if he actually goes there.

How long has Lucha Workshop been around?
We went online about 13 months ago, but the idea was conceived about two years ago. We're still learning, but we've come very far - aside from the thread strike and the most unfortunate and unforeseen thread murders, we've had a pretty good first year.

What's your studio like? Is it one of those pastel-colored Miami buildings?
Our studio is in my converted one-car garage, built to the standards of Miami-Dade county building codes to withstand our unstable tropical weather. It's an all-in-one design, screen-printing, sewing, painting, and packing studio; you wouldn't think we run a company out of such a crowded space. We keep all our supplies mobile so that each area of the room serves a dual or sometimes triple purpose. The outside is kind of a pastel-colored orange (the local municipalities hand out pastel paint for free), and half the year it resembles a bomb shelter due to hurricane shutters that block out all natural light.

Why t-shirts and bags exclusively?
We started making shirts purely for the fame and fortune. The handbags started out as a few painstakingly hand-painted simple zipper pouches and totes. Then I started going through the "oops" t-shirts we had messed up during the learning process, and I made a couple of handbags from those shirts. After some trial and error it kinda took off, and handbags became a staple. We have plans to offer sandwiches and pastelitos later in the year. [Ed. Note: She may be kidding about that last part. But then, she totally might not be.]

What do you eat for breakfast?
No time for breakfast. I find that hunger motivates if I know that I get to eat when I finish all my work. We have since implemented this as standard operating procedure at Lucha Workshop, and our employees are required not to eat until they have completed all their work for the day. We haven't received any complaints since we removed our suggestions box. When I do get a couple of free minutes, I have Cuban coffee with soy milk - but not in front of the employees, because I lead by example.

What's the most enjoyable thing you've done on an airplane?
Turning the free socks they give you into sock puppets with my sister and having a puppet show.

Any Oscar predictions for next year?
I predict that Oscar will continue to be a grouch and continue to love trash. And he will upgrade his trash-can to a roomy dumpster, where he and his pet worm, Slimey, and pet elephant, Fluffy, will live out their golden years.

And any revenge fantasies?
Without naming names (hint: His initials are R.R.), I would like to subject a certain individual to six straight hours of ironing handbag parts with the highest steam setting. Also, I want to get elected mayor - and then I'll show the Miami-Dade Police Department who is "drunk and disorderly."

Worst hangover?
My worst hangover was after last year's Lucha Workshop New Year's party. Apparently an employee had poisoned the punch with alcohol at what was supposed to be a civilized function. What started off as wholesome gathering turned into a barbaric display of erratic gestures (it was later explained to me that the activity is called "dancing" and that it is completely normal, especially at parties). I awoke the next day in my office, surrounded by Polaroids in which I was wearing bunny ears and galoshes. I continue to stand by my statement that I had and have no knowledge of my actions, as they were a result of an intentional poisoning by someone on my staff. Needless to say, no more functions will be held at Lucha Workshop until the staff learns our rules of conduct, which state that no employee shall consume anything to distract from the collective company goal of productivity.

What did you dream last night?
I can't fully disclose that information except to say that it involved Lucha, world domination, and something about the total downfall of the Florida Department of Revenue.