Christopher Royal is a principal designer for Rockledge Design Studios, an art-furniture manufacturer located in Florida. A native of North Carolina, Mr. Royal moved to Chicago after graduating from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts and began making and selling a successful line of contemporary jewelry. His fascination with architecture and design led Royal to create a series of miniature chair sculptures made from brass, copper, steel, glass and intricate beadwork which became popular sellers at the Museum Of Contemporary Art here in Chicago. In 1995 his art chairs were displayed in the windows of Tiffany & Company, and Royal went on to design and build sculptural display pieces for countless Tiffany windows over the next several years. At the same time, Royal’s “Art Chairs” were selling in galleries across the country and eventually became so popular that he could no longer keep up with the demand of producing such labor-intensive handwork. This led to the creation of a new line of miniature chairs cut from nickel silver and copper which have a clip incorporated into the design in order to hold photos, place cards, business cards, etc. Soon Royal was represented in over 400 retail locations in the US, Canada, Europe, South America, and Asia. In the fall of 1998, Royal began a partnership with Rockledge Design Studios and developed a line of full sized furniture including chairs, barstools, tables, lamps, mirrors and accessories.

“My Jewelry collection is inspired by my popular series of kinetic sculptures and utilizes the same materials and a similar design aesthetic. The featherweight earrings are hand wrought from stainless steel and then dipped in a translucent resin dyed in a wide array of colors. The ear wires are surgical steel.”