inside the artist's studio: reclaimthethrone

who? {is reclaimthethrone}

My name is Christyn Eskridge and Reclaim The Throne is my own business, I do all my own work from hauling, ordering and demo to staining, upholstering, sewing, packing and shipping. My husband pitches in sometimes on the weekends and helps whenever there's carpentry to be done. We are fairly newly-weds and the entire business is run out of our one-bedroom apartment. Which means our living room is always an explosion of batting, tools, brushes, tacks, chair frames and an air compressor while our hallway works as our storage unit...sometimes we can't even get to the front door!

what? {inspires your design, the name}

I came up with the name for my shop because my pieces are primarily reclaimed vintage and antique chairs, it just seemed to fit perfectly. When it came to me I couldn't resist. :) My designs are inspired by things that I see, often an entire project is centered around one textile that I just had to use. I like trying to think outside the typical reupholstered furniture box. Anything that I come up with that hasn't been done before is interesting to me. Unfortunately I have way more ideas than I have time. Some interesting euro-urban-inspired designs are coming soon! I LOVE working with found objects, there's no need to manufacture new pieces when you can be more challenged by things that are already out there. I think the key to using found objects to their greatest potential is looking past the obvious and finding something much more obscure and interesting. My most avid interest in college was sculpture, but at this time in my life I have really used that interest to try to bring a more utilitarian kind of art into people's homes. I love what I do!

when? {did you decide to become a designer}

I've known since I was little that I wanted to be an artist...originally (when I was a toddler:) I thought I'd be an architect but somewhere over time that changed.

where? {did you go to school}

I went to Covenant College in Lookout Mt. GA for my bachelors and I majored in the studio arts...and literally concentrated on all of them :) I was really challenged in that art program and I owe a lot of my creative process to the profs there. I am also a part-time photographer for a wedding photography business owned by a friend of mine and have since opened my own dance studio where my husband and I teach in the evenings.

how? {do you acquire chairs}

I get my pieces everywhere...from the curb, craigslist, garage sales, flea markets, friends...I don't try to take a good chair and make it great, I take the terrible ones and make them fabulous! I draw the line of repair however at structure, if a piece is not sound when you find it, it will never be, so it has to have good bones originally. There's no feeling like giving something completely worn out a second chance, you have to always look at them and see the uniqueness and potential. I absolutely insist on my work being the absolute highest quality I can make it. If I'm not using a heavy grade high quality upholstery fabric then I will double or triple line a chair to give it the same strength. All of my materials are the best I can afford for the chairs and I will never sell a piece knowingly misleading someone if there is a flaw. I try to be completely transparent about my work as I am very proud of it and hold myself to a very high standard. I love "the hunt" of taking custom orders, usually I can go from order to shipment in about a week depending on my workload. I ship my large pieces through Greyhound Package Express to keep my shipping prices at the absolute minimum.

Visit Christyn - reclaimedthrone at the following places: Etsy shop - http://reclaimthethrone.etsy.com/

Blog: before and after processes - http://reclaimthethronevintage.blogspot.com/

Facebook page: before and after pics and updates -

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Peoria-IL/Reclaim-The-Throne/107522666389?ref=ts

Twitter: @ReclaimedThrone