Rocketbuster Creates Cowboy Boots With a Little Help From AI
Nevena Christi has been at the helm of Rocketbuster Boots in El Paso for nearly three decades. In that time, she’s put just about anything you can think of on a pair of cowboy boots: song lyrics and cattle brands, motifs inspired by Otomi embroidery and Talavera pottery, pinup girls and the Virgin Mary. Her client list is similarly varied. She’s designed custom kicks for corporate executives, rodeo queens, military veterans with prosthetic legs, and some of the biggest names in Texas, including Willie Nelson, Beyoncé, and Leon Bridges. Christi is no stranger to highly specific requests. But late last year, one order had her stumped.
A customer in London wanted all of her favorite flowers strewn from one boot to another, like they’d been scattered by the wind, and painted in the style of the Dutch masters. Christi immediately thought of the opening credits of the TV drama The