Tony Cordiliko from Toi Ano

A conversation with the designer and harness lover

PHOTOGRAPHY BY IAN LEWANDOWSKI

The designer Toi Ano hard at work.

New York City has long been a hub for creativity and innovation, and Toi Ano continues that tradition. The brand’s founder Tony Cordiliko has become a rising star in the world of leatherworking and harness design. After losing their job at a vegan restaurant, Cordiliko found solace in the craft of leatherworking. Starting with basic wallets and tote bags, they eventually found their niche in designing and crafting harnesses. The brand’s provocative name, Toi Ano, is derived from a combination of words that roughly translate to “spit on my hole” — a name that embodies the brand’s boundary-pushing ethos. Despite not having a formal background in fashion, Toi Ano’s designs have caught the attention of many with their unique blend of sensuality and craftsmanship.

In this interview, Cordiliko opens up about their background, from growing up in a small town in Connecticut, obsessed with the local freaks at the mall, to their time studying TV writing at NYU.  For this self-described “online slut,” there’s no sense of completion like making something with their own two hands. Join us as we dive deeper into the world of Toi Ano.

How should we refer to you, Toi Ano or Tony Cordiliko? You can use either. Toi Ano is the name of the brand but most people think it’s my name and I’ve stopped correcting them. I kind of like it.

When and how was the brand born? I started teaching myself how to work with leather after I lost my job at a vegan restaurant in 2015. I was working at Pure Food and Wine just before the owner went MIA and stopped paying her workers (as seen in the Netflix doc Bad Vegan). I had no money so I had to take some time off school and move back home. I had a lot of anger towards her and the entire situation. I was determined to figure out a way to make my own money on my own terms so I picked up some leather and tools. Partially an act of revenge against the vegan and partially because leatherworking is a great skill to learn on your own. It’s a craft with a cheap entry point and all the information you need is on youtube. I started with basic wallets and tote bags. Eventually I decided to rebrand making harnesses.

How did you come up with the name of the brand? In 2019 Toi Ano ended up on a shortlist of name ideas because I liked the way it sounded. After some googling I found out toi was an onomatopoeia for spitting and ano is Spanish for anus, so Toi Ano basically means “spit on my hole.” I knew that had to be the name. (Wikipedia also suggests that toi is short for teufel, the devil, so alternatively it’s the devil’s anus.)

How long have you been in NYC? I moved to New York for school in 2013 and have been on and off living here over the last decade. Various setbacks sent me back to my parents’ house in Connecticut a few times but I’ve been firmly back in Brooklyn since the summer of 2020. My parents were selling their house at the time and thought it would be tough to sell with one of the rooms as a harness studio, so I had to go.

Where did you go to school? I went to NYU to study TV writing so I don’t have much of a fashion background! But even then, when all my friends were getting their writing out there in the world, I was in my apartment building desks for them to write on. I’ve always had a love for crafting and making things. There’s nothing quite like being done with a project and having a finished piece in your hands. Writing is a never-ending process and never gave me that same sense of completion.

Where are you from? I was born and raised in a small town in Connecticut. Not much was going on there. I think it’s the home of the graham cracker.

Who was the first person you ever saw wearing leather? As a kid, when my mom would take us to the mall, she used to say “the freaks always come out on Friday night.” It took me a while to realize she meant it as a pejorative, but I was obsessed with watching them. A lot of piercings, tattoos, studded leather pieces, and crazy haircuts. At the time I didn’t have any desire to look like them but I took comfort in being around people who looked bizarre. I envied their freedom.

What was your first time wearing a harness? I made a harness version of Cher’s top from the ‘86 Oscars for a party.

How did you end up designing leather harnesses? One of my biggest passions in life is being a slut online for attention. I started making some harnesses as an excuse to post pictures of my ass and that led to people DMing me asking to buy them. The synergy of it all was too good to ignore and I ran with it.

What’s the first item that you designed under the Toi Ano brand? I did a lot of basic beginner harnesses to start, so the first piece wasn’t very exciting, but there was one piece where I just kept adding chains and rings and hardware. That sort of opened up a lot of possibilities for what I could make.