A trip to his in-laws and a sketch of a carriage in Williamsburg started Chris Jones on his path to building intricate, fairy tale-like rooms that are sought-after by international hotel chains, major TV studios and notable residents throughout the United States and abroad.
A graphic designer by trade, Jones began working with his hands again once his son, Nate, was born in 2002. Jones owned a design agency and was focusing on corporate identity work when he had his first kid, but the desire to work with his hands, something he had always done from a young age, was his outlet for creativity. “I did my kids’ rooms and went crazy with them and that started me back into working with my hands again,” Jones says. “I did it for myself, then friends started to see it. People shared it online and [the now defunct] Posh Tots used [my] carriage crib on their cover two times. That is when I started to think that I should start doing this all the time because there was so much traction in it and it was so much fun to do.”
He split from his job and began working on interior jobs under the name Kidtropolis. A job at the Iniala Beach Resort in Thailand put him in touch with his now co-owners (Anthony Hughes and Matthew Thorpe) of Thinkterior, a company that brings any child’s, or parent’s, imagination to reality.
Now Jones travels the world bringing his designs into hotels, resorts and residential homes, all from his Ashburn design studio.
Each project starts with a Skype call. Jones talks with clients about who they are, the age of the kids, what they are into and how long the client wants the room to last for aesthetic purposes—do they want to go full throttle on a toddler’s fascination with robots or do they want to have a design that will bring them through the teen years? Then, dimensions of the space are conveyed along with a budget. “The worst thing is to come up with some amazing design that the client loves but can’t afford to do it,” says Jones of his projects, which run anywhere from $25,000 to $200,000.
From there Jones works on two sets of designs, plus revisions after client feedback. Once the design is complete it moves into the fabrication stage, where all work is custom-made for each client and worked on by skilled artisans, Jones among them. The pieces are then shipped to the location where either Jones, the client or a contractor can install them.
“There are three steps: design, fabrication and shipping/installation,” explains Jones. “The client can pick all three or one or two. I can just do design, do design and fabrication and ship it, or all three where I come and install. Installations, depending on the project, take about five to nine days. Everything is finalized here and made to be installed quickly.”
And though these rooms Jones dreams up and executes are at the core of his business, he is working on bringing another one of his designs to the masses. His MyWall system, which he currently provides clients in custom room designs and businesses (The Sports Junkies, NBC, CBS Radio in New York), is soon to be brought to a larger scale.
MyWall can hang on any room’s walls, allowing you to use shelves or connecting pins to hold or display whatever you want. MyWall also has space behind it so you can run wires and not have to worry about covering up outlets. And, it is strong: you can put pegs in and climb if it you want.
Jones and his partners are close to receiving a patent, and once that comes through—hopefully within the year—panels will be available through Amazon.
“As the company grows I always want to have products like MyWall, but the most fun is coming up with unique things for people, or solving people’s problems,” says Jones. “I don’t want clients to waste their money on something that isn’t going to last forever. With MyWall, we can do an infant room and then 18 years later those panels can be used in their dorm room. Longevity is also something to think of too.”
