Maker City KC newsletter: You gotta fight for your right to design, meet Chris Conway of Wee Woodworks
Blending the modern art of graphic design with the ancient art of woodworking has become Chris Conway’s passion. A Kansas City native, his hometown pride has become a huge influence in his designs for his company Wee Woodworks. He creates unique wood items and offers laser services to hobbyists, companies, and anyone needing something cut or etched. Everything is handmade and Conway spends a lot of time mixing his own stains, experimenting with different color schemes, and designing one-of-a-kind pieces.
One design garnered quite a bit of attention recently. When the Chiefs won the Super Bowl and a certain player enthusiastically shouted the lyrics to every 80s kids’ favorite Beastie Boys song: “You gotta fight for your right to party,” The Kelce Mixtape was born.
Conway has always leaned toward the creative side and was influenced at a young age by his extended family. “Growing up, I spent a lot of time with my grandfathers. Both were big characters who impacted me indefinitely. One was an artist. We were always drawing together in his studio and looking through his art books. The other was an engineer and a renaissance man who had a wood shop, giant train set, and makeshift greenhouse in his basement. I didn’t realize how much of an impression they made on me at the time, but what I’m doing with Wee Woodworks is a perfect 50/50 split of the artist and the engineer,” Conway says.
Woodworking hasn’t always been his profession, though. After graduating from Shawnee Mission West High School, Conway attended Kansas State University and majored in Visual Communications/Graphic Design. After moving back from Manhattan, he took an in-house graphic design job at Kansas Sampler and was responsible for the creation of flyers, billboards, television graphics, and digital arena advertising at Kauffman Stadium and Sprint Center along with local college stadiums, amongst other design projects. After a few years with Kansas Sampler, he took a job with Kansas City’s famous greeting card company, Hallmark.
“I got to work on an innovation team at Hallmark a few years ago and really liked the maker aspect of it. I had only been working in graphic design up to that point, spending the day in front of a computer, but I really started to love working with my hands to get a physical, end product. I eventually had the idea of layering painted wood and making little ornaments and gifts, so I purchased a laser cutter and Wee Woodworks was born,” Conway says.
Currently, he is a freelance illustrator and designer and spends half his work week creating for and growing his Wee Woodwork brand. His home serves as his wood shop, studio and factory. “My basement has pretty much become a chaotic shop with little pieces of wood everywhere. I design, laser cut, paint and assemble all the pieces myself. I used to really love concepting and assembling everything after painting it but I’ve really grown to love sanding the wood, and mixing stain combinations,” Conway says.
His designs are meticulous, featuring bright and bold colors in layers of wood. His Loch Ness piece has Nessie swimming in the lake with a moon and stars and green hills, each a different layer and color, which creates a 3-D display. “Up until recently, I would say my best sellers have been the Yeti and Lochness designs. People think they’re fun and apparently there are more believers out there than you realize. I’d say my Travis Kelce mixtapes are the best sellers lately, though. Those don’t really need an explanation. I mean, how about those Chiefs?” Conway says.
He has some sage advice for up-and-coming-makers: “Don’t overthink things: try everything! That’s something I’ve realized is really important. Also, don’t be afraid to fail. I would actually recommend failing, which sounds counterintuitive. I think it’s easy to overthink things when you first get started. Will this work? Should I do this? It’s usually better to just start, see if your idea works or doesn’t, and move forward. It’s like failing fast to get the process started,” Conway says.
You can find Wee Woodworks online, on Instagram, in Local Foundry in Lee’s Summit and at The Strawberry Swing Indie Craft Fair’s Spring Swing May 2-3 at 8201 State Line Road.