American Lifestyle Magazine

Kidtropolis is highlighed in an article next month including an interview with Chris about the Fairy Land room.

CHILDHOOD:I grew up building models and forts. As I got older, I made more and more things from scratch—building with my own materials rather than relying on kits. In high school,I was the guy that made the floats, and made the sets for the plays and musicals.I joined the National Guard my junior year of high school and served active duty during Operation Desert Storm.I then attended West Virginia University and Corcoran School of Art and Design in Washington, D.C., and graduated from West Virginia witha BFA in graphic design. After leaving school, I worked for the CIA in graphic design and then worked for PRC (nowNorthrop Grumman) before starting a company with my current business partner, David Frank. David and I have run a marketing/graphic design firm for the past fourteen years now.After having children and in the midst of always creating things for family and friends’ rooms, David and I decided to open up an arm of MediaWorks called “Kidtropolis.” The name was taken from a neighbor’s joke referring to my home.

WHEN DID YOU DECIDE YOU WANTED TO CREATE INTERIORS?: I was in my first year at West Virginia University, initially majoring in Wood Science Engineering—of which I was not excelling at. I found myself at one point doing research and building a scratch model of a Greek trireme galley ship. My roommate,Ken, probably thought I was a little crazy. It was at this point I realized I should be in design. I also turned a bus into a movie theater during Desert Storm, among other interesting and random projects.

TELL US ABOUT THE FAIRY LAND PROJECT: This particular project spanned a bedroom and bathroom area,stretching approximately 225 square feet. Before I was brought into the project, the room was used as a master bedroom for the parents. The clients had a basic idea of a fairyland bedroom for their daughter—the daughter loved fairies and Tinkerbell. The only specifics were: a space for a television, a crib/bed that could be grown into, and a play room.

“The  detail was inspired from a small company that I found in Georgia that creates these very small houses. I had the idea of purchasing three of them—repainting them to fit my colors and using them as the supports for the overall shelf structure. One of the houses also has an LED light inside for use as anight light.”

To read the full interview click here to download the current issue. His article starts on page 21 (printed page 38)

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