From the Pages of THE TON #5
Before meeting Timo Richard two years ago, I heard rumor of the French-Canadian hip hop artist-turned leathermaker’s antics the previous night. The late-night air and early morning rumblings of “Jacuzzi, Jacuzzi” had created a myth before his time in Palm Springs. When I met him later in the day at the Paradise Road Show, the myth lived up to the man. In just under a decade the New Brunswick native left the musician’s life, started a family and created a growing business – Madsquirrel Leather.
Having worked with Timo over the past year and a half, I was glad to see him and his family again at the 2019 Paradise Road Show before our world got a lot more complicated. When it came time to do our Canadian features for The Ton – I could not imagine the issue without sharing some of his thoughts and story. Despite a pandemic, our largest civil rights protests in a half century and much more – Timo remains grounded, and continues to pursuit his passion wherever it takes him.
Timo Richard’s passion for motorcycle dates back to his earliest childhood memories; and like many his age, he cites influences ranging from Evel Knievel to Super Dave Osbourne. One a badass showman, the other a comedian based on the former. “I Born in 1977, the same year of the Evel Knievel table was the top selling pinball machine in the country,” explains Timo. “By the time I was four, like every other boy in America and halfway around the world I basically wanted to be Evel Knivel.”
Despite the objections of his mother, Timo began riding on a YSR 80 when he was just 14 cementing his passion for two wheels, as well as his rebellious spirit. “When I was five, I was walking through my hometown and a group of Hells Angels rolled through and I remember stopping in my footsteps, my jaw dropping, and thinking to myself, ‘holy shit those are some bad motherfuckers right there’,” explains Richard, “With a motorcycle you don’t have to go very far with it to discover why you would like a motorcycle. I mean who doesn’t like motorcycles.”
After a detour performing in the French-Canadian hip-hop group Radio Radio, Timo returned home, and began focusing on his passion for motorcycles as a possible career choice, “I had 1972 DS7 two stroke street bike while I helped friends in bike shops, doings some airbrush work, and I wanted to get into pinstriping,” explains Timo, “At the same time, I felt I should look into stuff that no one was into, and leatherwork came into the picture. I got into leatherwork because it was meant to be.”
At first, I didn’t know much, or nothing at all,” says Richard, “The first saddlebag and seat, that I still have, were Dremled with a woodcarving bit. I didn’t even Google leatherwork to know the process to make something. It was brand new to me, so I just went at it.” After learning more about leatherwork methods, Timo would go on to work on friends’ projects that would lead to launching his new line of work, “Soon I made a seat for 1972 XS650 for a friend because I was apprenticing at his bike shop,” explains Timo.
Before long Timo had to put a name to his operation, what transpired next was a mystical alignment of happenstance and opportunity. “When I started doing leatherwork my yard was full of squirrels and I was kind of bitter at the label when I left the band. The label had a logo that was a squirrel holding a diamond, and one day in my yard this squirrel came up and it chewed through this pinecone and I thought to myself that this squirrel is mad,” explains Timo, “I was doing pinstriping at the time and I was doing some research to make my own brush and I found out that the brushes are made from squirrel tail hair,” he continues, “It just made sense to me. The name Madsquirrel came about that way.”
But the synchronicity doesn’t stop there, Timo explains, “Four or five years after I started, I was asked by a native friend if I knew the meaning behind mad squirrel. It forced me to do some research where I discovered an old legend from local native tribes about the mad squirrel who’s action made squirrels become small,” says Richard, “Or in 1999 when I was studying animation, I did a character design sheet, and one of the sketches I found a character design I did of a squirrel that was mad. So that with the leatherwork and all that – the universe came together and gave me Madsquirrel. I think, I believe it.”
Beginning a new business is always a daunting task but beginning one in a remote area of New Brunswick has specific challenges with getting your name out there. “Instagram is my main social platform because I am from the boonies. What I have been able to accomplish with Madsquirrel is because of Instagram,” says Timo, “If social media wasn’t there, I wouldn’t be where I’m at today.”
It is through Instagram that Timo learned of Paradise Roadshow, and event that would eventually pave the way for Timo collaborating with new people. “I haven’t done too many collaborations, more recently I have done more. After the band I had some trust issue. When you run your own business or studio, and you’re independent, you don’t have too much money to gamble with,” says Timo, “Collaborations can be a gamble, so I always held back. It all started when Lourdes asked me to do some patches, now I am working with Elders. It has all depended on who the company is, what they stand for and the person behind it.”
“Elders happened from me meeting Will two years ago at Paradise Road Show,” says Richard, “That lead to him carrying my product and inviting me to Japan to check out his stuff. Two months later I the gloves came out. Everything has been very organic and has happened very naturally.”
Unfortunately, the 2020 Paradise Road Show was one of the last bigger shows for many of us – as the Covid-19 outbreak hit soon after. “The last year was great and truly overwhelming. It is shitty what is going down, but it is also a blessing in disguise because now I can think about things about what I want in life,” says Timo, “There’s a blessing in everything – I am refocusing and re-rooting what I want. Because life is quick, and sometimes you get lost in the mix.”