- Born in Greensboro, North Carolina, Christopher Royal grew up in the south and went on to study Theater at the North Carolina School of the Arts from 1982 to 1987. After graduation, he mocved to Chicago where he worked as an actor for six years.
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- In between acting jobs, Royal began making and selling a successful line of contemporary jewelry and in the process learned to maipulate a full range of metals. His quest to create something truly unique and his facination with architecture and design led Royal to create a series of miniature chair sculptures made from brass, copper, steel, glass and intricate beadwork.
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- In January of 1995 his art chairs caught the eye of the window designer for Tiffany & Company, and she displayed the entire line in the windows later that month. 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 accross 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, which have the added allure of function. Each chair has a clip incorporated into the desing in order to hold photos, place cards, business cards, etc. Royal's "Clip Chair" designs have been extremely popular and continue to sell in fine stores all across the world.
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- In the fall of 1998, Royal met Fred Garbotz of Rockledge Design Studios, and the two began discussing plans to translate the miniature designs into full size chairs. This has developed into a full line of furniture including chairs, barstools, tables, lamps, mirrors and accessories and more.
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