Growing up, Chris Krok dreamed of building aircraft and rockets. He never would have considered himself an "artist," although he always enjoyed working with his hands. Caught up in the zeitgeist of the early 1980s, Chris painted his first car camoflage, with great attention to details and accessories. Today, this would be viewed as a statement about the "pervasive influence of the military-industrial complex on consumer society." Then, he was just being a teenager. Chris studied hard and went on to earn a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering from SUNY Buffalo in 1990, and a Ph.D. in Aeronautics from Caltech in 1997. He remained at Caltech for several years as a project engineer, designing and building experimental facilities.

Througout his years at Caltech, Chris favored time in the machine shop over time in front of a computer, building hardware for his experiments, parts for his motorcycles, and even furniture for his apartment. Using wood, steel, or both, Chris strove for simple designs with bold, clean lines. This was as much a way to accomodate his limited free time as it was a design ethic. Chris also found ways to mix creative design in with his engineering tasks, even if it were as simple as adding space-age weight reduction holes to structural pieces.

Chris eventually realized that, through all the years of school and work as an engineer, he was only truly happy when working with his hands. Scrap materials in the shop and abandoned electronics in the instrument pool had called on him to give them new life. Inspired by his mother's own career as an artist, Chris decided to leave his job as an engineering consultant and become a productive member of society. As an artist and designer, Chris now has time to explore the influences of Art Deco and Mid-Century architecture on his own designs, and to create art for its own sake.