Today we’d like to introduce you to Christina Boy.
Hi Christina, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
After High School I did several internships after which ended up doing a 2.5 year apprenticeship in an office and commercial design showroom in Bonn Germany, paired with once a week trade school at the Furniture College in Cologne, Germany. During that time i fell in love with modern classic furniture from the bauhaus era and early to mid century Scandinavian designs. After I passed my board exams for for my apprenticeship I managed the showroom for 2.5 years. While on a backpacking trip through Italy in late 2001 I stopped in Venice and was mesmerized by the glass blowers of Murano Island. The thought of wanting to learn about glass blowing and furniture design lead me to VCU in 2003 where I majored in Craft and Material Studies with as focus on wood and glass. Post VCU i was accepted as a Core Fellow at the Penland School of Craft where I got to deepen my studies and learn from and meet artists from all over the country during my 2 year stay.
in 2011 I built my own studio with the help of my Husband and Father in law and am now a full time studio artists with a view of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Madison County, Virginia. I sell my work at Fine Art and Craft Shows along the east coast and at a few galleries in Virginia and North Carolina.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Giving up living in Germany and moving to the US was a huge step: leaving family, friends and a secure job behind was scary, but also an adventure to figure out. I cherish my years at VCU, the friends and connections I made there and, although it was quite difficult in the beginning: navigating a new system and being several years older than the general student population.
We all know about the “Struggling Artist” phenomenon, and that has most definitely been a part of my journey. As a Core Fellow at Penland we worked in exchange for room/board and classes and received a stipend of roughly $20/week while classes were in session. thats not a lot to live on or save up – so starting my post Fellowship life was starting from scratch. I worked many random jobs, mostly in the restaurant industry, did a self guided crowd funding project to raise money to build my studio and collected tools where I could. I still work at a vineyard 2-3 times a month, however, it is not primarily about making money, but mostly so stay connected to people and my community as I work alone all day.
Being a female woodworker also comes with its own struggles. We are often assumed to be less experienced or capable to execute our craft to the same standards as a male woodworker. I’ve experiences chauvinism shopping at lumberyards and working in cabinet shop with only male coworkers. During shows I am questioned multiple times if i really made the work I am selling myself despite my name on display and it feels like i have to work harder to get noticed and the get taken seriously as a furniture maker.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Christina Boy Design is a one woman woodworking studio at the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Madison, VA. Im my studio I design and make every piece, be it small batch production items, one of a kind pieces or the collaboration with my clients to create custom pieces for their home. I use North American hardwoods that I source locally and love adding color to my work.
The furniture I fell in love with 25 years ago – the sleek, classic lines of the bauhaus era and their philosophy of “less is more” and the early to mid century modern Scandinavian designs still inform my work. However, now I am also incorporating my current environment. My rugged, rural landscape here in Madison County has me incorporating textures and patterns. I love to combine my love for the classic modern with the rawness of my home environment – to achieve this fusion I use textures, patterns and colors to add compelling elements to my stylized, simple, modern shapes of furniture. I have adapted my philosophy to be “less with more” by adding that texture, color, and pattern I find inspiring, be it in the siding of an old barn, the patterns that fields are sown in, the colors of a spring or autumn day, or the tracks and design tractors leave behind. I believe what sets my work apart from other handmade furniture out here are the different textures and colors I use in my work. it is fun and its engaging. It has a lightness about it and it makes people smile.
Some of my favorite things to design and build are tables and benches of all kinds – for tables they can be anything from a little side or accent tables, to coffee and console tables, all the way to large dining room tables: they all offer their own charms and challenges – an accent table can add that little pizzazz you wanted to brighten up a corner and the dining table will gather friends and family for shared experiences. Benches too are a great canvas and can be so varied – yet they too bring people together and help build community.
Lately I have been playing with carving more and more shapes on my bandsaw – one of the things I am now known for are my xxxxx patterned/ bandsaw carved rungs and legs that I have incorporate into many pieces. Another are the mirrors I started making about 2 years ago that have become very popular. The frames are coopered sections of wood that are bandsaw-carved before assembly to create unique shapes, then, once assembled the frame gets painted with several layers of milk paint and is lightly distressed to make the texture and patterns pop, while the layering of paint give it depth.
While I make a lot of stand alone items or sets like dining rooms, I have also worked on larger scale commissions. One of the first ones was making about 20 benches and stools for James Madison Montpelier exhibition “The Mere Distinction of Color” – an exhibition about the slaves James Madison kept. The majority of the white oak wood used for the benches in this project came from the grounds themselves and it was a huge honor to have played a small role for such an incredible exhibit.
One of my largest projects to date is the new tasting room at Revalation Vineyards in Madison, VA. For this project we also used wood from Montpelier grounds, and used the live edge cedar slabs for tables and benches. Aside from that we repurposed cut-outs from the timber-frame beams to create floating shelves, made 2 of our signature Patchwork Chairs, some barrel stools with corks as seats and wrapped the bar with over 1200 little square we cut out of old heart of pine beams salvaged from a home in Church Hill in RVA,
What has been the most important lesson you’ve learned along your journey?
one important lesson I have learned over the years is to never give up. Don’t give up on your dreams. Don’t give up on making your work, and stay true to your values and the vision you have for your work. I had to learn to that my work has value and that I can charge appropriately. And that i need to take deposits when I get an order so that the client has skin in the game.
I had to learn and have to keep reminding myself that if I don’t sell a lot at a show, its not because I suck or that what I do/make is terrible. I know am planting seeds and that those seeds need to germinate and take root. A piece of furniture isn’t a impulse buy. Furniture is a long game. When someone does buy from you, you get to enrich their home and often get to create something special that will get passed down through the generations
Contact Info:
- Website: https://christinaboydesign.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/christinaboydesign/?hl=en
