Travis Hyatt

Travis Hyatt is an artist-designer. His work is stylistically influenced by Scandinavian design and tells a story of his personal journey, memories, and interests. This is done through the details, forms, and materials found in his bodies of work. 

Travis Hyatt was placed into foster care in his late childhood. With little to no economic stability in his life, he joined the Army. While in, he served as a helicopter electrician in a Special Operations Aviation unit which taught him a lot of values and leadership skills. After the military he spent another five years working on private business jet interiors. His passion for woodcraft led him to design school where he earned a BFA, majoring in Product Design.

Travis's passion for furniture design pushed him into the college's wood shop. There he spent hours therapeutically creating works that would reflect him as a designer and artist, which eventually led him to be awarded the Windgate Fellowship Grant from the Center of Craft in Asheville, North Carolina. 

Travis eventually moved to the Raleigh area where he would launch his first furniture design business, focussing on the design and fabrication of bespoke commission work for interior designers and local retail spaces.  

Guided by traditional material and processes, using contemporary industrial furniture design methods, I am a craftsman.

My work blends my lived experiences with my craft-design interests. Using non-literal representations, my furniture seeks to reflect my personal memories in subtle fashions. These can be found in the details, materials and profiles that I use. Staying curious in the present, I am constantly reminded of where I come from, which guides where my work goes.

I have a unique story to tell and am constantly evolving toward an authentic voice from which my pieces aim to exhibit. From foster youth to veteran adulthood, I have overcome many trials and tribulation. Telling my story in a palatable manner, I work to implement my lessons and memories into my craftwork. First sketching through ideas and thinking of ways I can make functional furniture from them. Then puzzling through the design and craft process to execute those ideas into tangible objects.

My pieces on a superficial level, hope to display aesthetic beauty, but further investigation would reveal my niche story and elicit deeper curiosity.