Much of Christina Pattison’s creative inspiration she attributes to her parents. She has childhood memories of watching her mother create woven breadbaskets, animal cookie pins for teacher gifts, and paintings in the family’s kitchen. While her father loved to study and sketch people. “My parents were both very busy people, but each had a need, and made time, to create and express themselves through art and craft. They taught me to see the world through a creative and colorful eye,” said Pattison.
Working her way through college and spending ten years in corporate America at one of Fortune 500's top five companies prepared Christina for the many roles she would need to fill as a business owner.
Her educational and work experience, combined with her passion for creative arts, led to the birth of Classic Cottage Accessories Inc..
Christina's original workspace consisted of her kitchen and backyard, with artistic materials and sketches, spread over every available counter and table. Acrylic painting, frame-making, and ceramic mosaics were just a few of the creative paths she followed on her winding trail toward her true inspiration and passion, decorative bed crowns that could also be adapted to other design uses.
"I do not recall ever actually noticing bed crowns before I thought of making my own crowns," she said. "But, I was driving on a road trip when I suddenly had all of these exciting ideas about personalizing curved crowns, using lighthearted colors, monograms and beautiful embellishments of ribbon, fabric, crystals or wood. I couldn't wait to begin sketching."
Christina poured out her ideas over the following hours, sketching and dreaming up beautiful, unique crowns, and quickly realized she was already well on her way to committing her creativity to a business plan.
The next few weeks were filled with the sounds of scrolling jigsaws, electric screwdrivers and hammers, until the basic bed crown designs came to life. Another few months of hard work, creating and preparing products, led the way to the 2005 launch of Classic Cottage Accessories bed crown line in Atlanta at the Americasmart temporary exhibits.
" Launching at Americasmart was absolutely thrilling and one more (important) step toward fulfilling my personal dreams. The oohs and aahs we heard as storeowners caught sight of our booth, and their excitement as they placed opening orders, is an experience I'll never forget. I was convinced I was on the right track," Pattison said.
"My goal, as it was in those first inspired moments of imagining a limitlessly creative line of bed crowns, is to bring this wonderful room embellishment once reserved for only the highest-end custom rooms, to the market at large. Anyone who loves beautiful beds and bedding, will be inspired to enrich and expand their decor by visually tying the top of the room to the bottom with an elegant crown. This is why we say, “Life is beautiful, celebrate it to the full, decorate to the TOP”, and truly believe that everyone deserves a crown!”