Team Member Spotlight: Chris Von Arx
We are excited to feature another JT Unique team member this month with Chris Von Arx. He is an essential part of our team working primarily in the shop building cabinets, welding, and fabricating any kind of project we bring to him.
A Typical Day
Chris is a talented craftsman with many skills and has worked on projects from cabinets, beams, caskets, and custom wainscoting. Chris has been with JT Unique and J. Thompson Builders for about twelve years.
He thoroughly enjoys the variety of work JT Unique specializes in – it is truly something different every week! From woodworking to welding, he is dedicated and will work on any project thrown his way. Chris does get some time in the field, but mostly enjoys working on projects in the shop.
One of the most memorable projects Chris has worked on is the more than 250 feet of custom wainscoting for the Stony Creek hotel bar in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. This was a very time-consuming job but was enjoyable to work on! You can see more details about this intricate work in our previous blog post here.
Chris posing with one of the finished burial caskets.
Musically Talented
Even though Chris attended vocational school for carpentry and owned carpentry shop, he discovered a passion for music early on and worked as a full-time country musician before his carpentry career really took off. He has played gigs around Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and South Dakota for about three decades, sometimes as many as 15 gigs in a single week.
Chris even opened for well-known country artists in the 90’s. He has played in various bands, including a band with his son and identical twin daughters. More recently, Chris plays solo gigs around the Midwest at retirement homes, festivals, and fairs. We love his passion for music AND carpentry!
A Taste for Finer Things
Carpentry, welding, and country music – could Chris be any more interesting? The answer is YES! Outside of the JT Unique shop and his solo gigs, Chris enjoys making raspberry wine. There is just something about growing your own berries and fermenting them to make your own signature wine. He grows raspberries on an 80-acre plot of land in southeastern Minnesota.
He says picking the berries is the most taxing part of the entire process, but seeing the fruits of your labor (no pun intended) is very satisfying. Making about 100 gallons of wine each year, Chris lets the wine age for a few years before giving it away to friends, family, and coworkers.
Chris is a valuable member of our JT Unique team, and is just as busy outside the shop as he is in it! For more information on some of the projects he has worked on, visit our JT Unique Facebook page.