Page 16 - CMA PROfiles Spring 2019

FEATURED SHOP: CK VALENTI DESIGNS

BY CARLA ATKINSON
BUILDING A

Legacy

Words like “fate” and “fortune” often come up when a
dramatically good thing happens to you unexpectedly – CK Valenti Designs has brought its unique
an extraordinary stroke of luck that’s seemingly beyond
your control. mix of expertise to the museum world –
providing beautiful backdrops with tech-
An out-of-the-blue experience like this set Chris and Kate
Valenti’s Chandler, Arizona, business spinning in an entirely savvy bells and whistles.
new direction five years ago. A man walked into the shop at CK
Valenti Designs unannounced one day and introduced himself
as Mike Fox. He told Chris Valenti that he had plans to build a the semi-conductor industry for several years. Eventually, he
museum and was looking for a fabricator. He then asked for a landed in Arizona, where he and Kate were set up on a blind
tour of the shop. date by mutual friends. Their friends had good instincts; the

“Chris’s shop is pretty incredible as wood shops go,” Kate Valenti couple just celebrated their 14th wedding anniversary. They
says. “He believes in keeping a tidy shop, and it’s so clean you also started CK Valenti Designs the year they got married, “so
could eat off the floor. Mike Fox had previously visited 13 shops, that was an interesting ride!” Kate says.
so when he got to Chris’ shop and talked through the project, he The idea for the business grew out of Chris's realization that
realized, ‘This is the guy I want to hire.’” engineering work was not as engaging as he had expected.

Only later would the couple learn that Fox was a “fixture in the “All I was doing was paperwork, sitting at a desk,” he says.
Arizona museum world,” Kate says. He was in the early stages of “I wasn’t working with my hands anymore.”
creating Western Spirit: Scottsdale’s Museum of the West, and He left his engineering position, and they started a business
he wanted their help to create high-end displays and fixtures.
out of their garage, incorporating it in 2005. Kate’s background
Kate Valenti says CK Valenti Designs got into museum work was in technology project management with a degree in man-
“purely by chance.” However, when you hear the company’s agement information systems from the University of Arizona.
story unfold, you realize it was far less about chance, fate, or “I was much more involved early on,” says Kate. “I have the
fortune and far more about the Valentis being uniquely prepared design eye, and he has the engineering and building skills, so
and suited for that surprise dream job.
we made a good team.” She now works as VP of Operations
A PERFECT COMBINATION for an educational technology consulting firm, and Chris runs
The accumulated skillset that made Chris such a great fit for Mike the show at CK Valenti Designs.
Fox’s dream museum had its beginnings in his childhood in New In the beginning, they designed and built custom residential
York. His father, a union carpenter, introduced his son to the craft projects that included cabinetry, furnishings, and artwork. This
at an early age. During college, Chris took jobs in residential and evolved into business-to-business projects for restaurants
commercial renovation in Manhattan and the surrounding areas.
and corporate offices, and also into a line of custom product
After getting a degree in electrical engineering, he worked in displays and interactives for the semi-conductor industry.

14 PROFILES SPRING 2019