Local Love: Christina Boy Design

For our latest installment of our Local Love series, we're working with the talented Christina Boy. She approached Johannah about collaborating on a series of wall sculptures she was commissioned to create. The series was designed for a new breakfast room at Stoney Creek Hospitality in Independence, MO.

Christina and Kyle were classmates in the Craft & Materials Study program at VCU. She was also a two-year core fellow at Penland School of Crafts in North Carolina, and continues to be an active part of the Penland community. Christina creates gorgeous handmade wood furniture, often incorporating sophisticated geometric shapes and subtle color in her designs. She runs her one-woman studio out of the foothills of the Virginia Blue Ridge with a flock of chickens as her nearest neighbors.

For the Stoney Creek series, Christina took her inspiration from the exisiting elements: the rustic wood, glitzy glass, and industrial metal of both the room and the company logo. The design of the red and black mosaics was inspired by the textile you can see in the middle photo at the very top of this post. The colors in the orange mosaic were chosen to coordinate with the beautiful cherry wood of the center panel in the logo sculpture. Check out the great piece on Christina's blog for more on the inspiration, creation, and installation process, as well as lots more great photos!

Our trophy collection

They're not trophies we've won. These are trophies we've made. Handmade trophies are a great change of pace from the standard metal cup or wooden plaque. And we have to say, from the maker perspective, they're a unique and fun design challenge.

For the Greater Richmond Chamber of Commerce 2013 Impact Awards. The shape of this forged steel trophy comes from the logo of i.e.*, the GRCC's innovation initiative.

For the inaugural Richmond Creativity Awards in 2014. This mixed media mosaic and forged steel trophy mimics the event logo and the idea of creativity bursting forth.

For the GRCC's 2014 Impact Awards. Like the 2013 version, this one is inspired by the i.e.* initiative logo, but we've added color this time around.

Holiday Cheer

Some of our most fun and interesting projects are inspired by our clients. This custom forged bronze tree topper Kyle made was a great way to end the year on just such a project!

Kyle created sheet metal for this project by forging down a block of bronze to 1/16" thick. He gave the bronze some hammer texture for added depth. Here he's laying out the frustum, or a cone without it's tip, that he'll use for the base of the tree topper.

After laying out the frustum, he created a paper template to confirm his calculations of the measurements of the base.

This is the material for the base cut out prior to forging it into the frustum shape.

Here's the completed forged bronze tree topper with Kyle's full-size design.

Many thanks to all our friends for a wonderful year, and happy holidays! See you in 2015!