Company Concept

Our Founder

Product Line

Design & Materials

Manufacturing

Rafi Balouzian comes from a long line of master shoe-makers. In the early 1900s, his great-grandfather earned the reputation as a true artisan, crafting custom-made shoes to discriminating customers in Armenia. Years later, he established a factory manufacturing boots for markets throughout the Middle East. Rafi’s father, Hrair Balouzian, spent his teenage years at this factory immersing himself in every facet of shoe-making.

Half Design, Half Mechanical

Hrair’s skill and knowledge eventually led him to start his own operation making shoe components (heels, leather soles, etc.). As a child, Rafi loved to hang out at his father’s factory and developed a magic touch for fixing broken machinery. “My mind is split right down the middle: half design, half mechanical. Understanding the machine’s job and then listening to it try to do that job, I could always figure out what was wrong.”

One other benefit to having a father in the business was the frequent opportunity to travel to Italy and France to attend leather and shoe exhibitions. On these trips Rafi was exposed to materials and techniques that would later find their ways into shoes and other products of his own design.

The Birth of CYDWOQ

After college, where he earned a degree in Production and Operations Management, Rafi started a clothing business in Los Angeles with three stores filled with creative and inspired designs from all over the world. Working seven days a week with no vacations, however, was not the life he wanted.

So he went back to school (Interior Architecture and Environmental Design) and took a job with a British clothing designer. After a couple years of getting them established in the US market, Rafi asked if he could create some shoes to supplement the line. His initial five designs all sold extremely well and gave him the confidence to go out on his own.