Tooth Saint Reflects on Building Skills and Community

Artist and designer couple Christina Nauman and Leda Zawacki have an unlikely origin story, their paths crossing over 2,000 miles away from the Twin Cities. In what can only be described as a scene from a movie, the pair happened to find themselves at a concert in Montreal. Nauman spotted Zawacki in the crowd, and the rest is history. At the time, Zawacki was in graduate school in Vermont while Nauman was still in Minnesota. Zawacki had been nomadic, moving around every five years or so, but when she met Nauman, Zawacki found herself returning to the Twin Cities for a second time, and this time for good. That was 2 1/2 years ago, and their partnership has bloomed not just romantically, but creatively, giving birth to slow-fashion brand Tooth Saint.

Professionally, the couple could not have been more different. Zawacki is a professional cartoonist, creating constantly, while Nauman works a full-time job as a food and agriculture scientist.

Nauman felt that something was missing in her life, and got to thinking about pursuing her own creative outlet. Beginning with a leatherworking class, Nauman started crafting handmade accessories tailored to her specific tastes, creating increasingly complex projects. Leatherworking became a passion project, so she began sourcing the highest quality materials, and weaving intention into her work from materials procurement to creation to final project.

Nauman’s first projects were leather collars and fashion harnesses, but her repertoire expanded with each piece she produced. After honing her craft for months, Nauman wanted to introduce her work to the community.

In collaboration with her partner Zawacki, the duo conceived of a small batch apparel company out of their garage. With a distinct gothic aesthetic, inspired by weird B-Horror, niche foreign films and the macabre, Zawacki and Nauman’s business Tooth Saint was born.

The name itself stems from Nauman’s lifelong fascination with teeth. As a child, Nauman loved the tooth fairy but was horrified to discover a stash of her baby teeth in her mom’s drawer.

“I brought them outside, lined them up on the sidewalk and smashed them all with a hammer because I thought I was being haunted by the tooth fairy,” Nauman recalls. “Then I took the tooth dust and flushed it down the toilet.”

As an adult, she remains fascinated with teeth. Nauman and Zawacki’s oddities cabinet features several loved ones’ teeth X-rays. Zawacki was the one who ultimately came up with the moniker after watching a series of dentistry videos. The name embodied their dark aesthetic.

“We make weird, kind of creepy, kind of goth, kind of horror.” Zawacki describes.

Tooth Saint appeared at maker’s markets across the Twin Cities. The duo was enjoying their craft, tabling booths at maker’s markets and making enough money to fund their next project. They weren’t sure if they would continue selling, having yet to find their target audience. At 2024 People’s Pride, Tooth Saint sold out their entire stock in just four hours.

“Eight months of my work!” Nauman says, remembering the overwhelm. “This is great, but we have so many more markets this summer … That was when I really realized people like our stuff. People want quality leather goods.”

A couple of months later, Tooth Saint was an officially registered LLC, and the pair has tabled at a maker’s market every month since. Tooth Saint is a true meeting of the minds. Nauman conceives most of the ideas, and Zawacki uses her artistic skills to turn them into designs.

“I feel like I’m working with my best friend/partner, who knows just what’s in my mind. I can’t articulate what I want.” Nauman describes. “Leda says ‘Here, let me just do it,’ and I’m like, ‘Yeah! That’s exactly what I’m talking about.’”

Tooth Saint’s items are handmade in the most literal sense of the word, constructed from start to finish in a studio garage. The leather is cut, dyed, finished and conditioned, then hand-sewn.

“There are a lot of things that can’t be sped up,” reflects Nauman. “There are things that can, but there are a lot of little steps that I want to take the time to do.”

Zawacki responds, emphasizing the intimacy of their practice: “We’re hand-sewing all of the leather at this point.”

Tooth Saint has developed alongside a community of creatives that embody a similar dark aesthetic. When they first started selling, Tooth Saint found themselves out of place.

“Sometimes, in the markets we were in, we were the only weird, gothy ones.”

They knew there was a market for their work, but they were missing their demographic, so Tooth Saint founded the Midnight Creatures Art Collective. They wanted to build a community.

“It’s part of what having markets is about. You’re creating these relationships with other artists … There’s always going to be somebody that feels like they don’t belong in a community,” Zawacki says. “If you can bring those people in, and say you’re welcome here — that’s important.”

Midnight Creatures is growing, hosting events and connecting with more members all the time.

“I think the friendships and collaborations that have happened are what make this collective and community really special,” Nauman reflects.

Midnight Creatures Collective and Tooth Saint have big plans for the coming year, endeavoring to create new artistic collaborations and planning events.

“We only have a million ideas,” Zawacki says.