Custom Woodworking and Design

Fine Arts and Museum Services

 

This web site features a selection of projects that I have completed over the years.

Included are works of furniture, cabinetry, carpentry and other projects designed and executed by myself and in cooperation with commercial and private clients, designers, architects, fine artists, museums and galleries. Also included is biographical information.

Please contact me if you wish to make an inquiry.

Sincerely,

Christopher Colt

began woodworking as an avocation in 1986 while employed by Guggenheim Museum painting and objects conservator Orin H. Riley in New York City. Orin hired me to work in his studio, more or less I think on a whim. We had met while I was working at the Martha Jackson Gallery. He was brought in to repair a painting by Antoni Tapies that had been damaged in shipment from Europe. We got along right from the start. Orin recognized my talent for and love of working with my hands and eventually encouraged me to go it on my own. He died two years later from smoking related lung complications. I credit him in many ways for inspiring me to follow a path that for the past twenty five years has afforded many rewards.

I learned woodworking as I went. Because my mother and father ran fine art museums, I grew up constantly surrounded by artists. They showed me how to find my way intuitively. While in NYC, I had the pleasure of working with many masters of the trade. They afforded me an immense and vital amount of very useful information and techniques. I also credit many specialty vendors of woods, veneers, surfacing materials, hardware, tools, finishing supplies and so on, as they were always willing to teach me about materials and methods.

 My first shop was in the basement of a small building on West 36th street. Less then a year later, I moved to a 2,000 square foot space in a loft building down the street. Six more years and I found myself in a 5,000 square foot industrial space in Brooklyn.  Some of my corporate clients in the New York City area included: Saks Fifth Avenue, The Whitney Museum, AT&T, Knoedler & Company Galleries, The Asia Society, Chase Manhattan Bank and Citibank as well as numerous private clients, architects, designers and contractors. Currently, I work from my home studio and a small shop in Miami, Florida and travel to suit my clients needs.