Our Family Story

Hi. I’m Christy Austin, a children’s artist and graphic designer. My background and schooling are in visual communications, drafting, mechanical drawing and technical illustration. I have a heart and passion for Jesus Christ, my family, kids, design, typography, cuteness and vintage children’s art. I left behind a freelance career in corporate identity design to follow my dream of creating artwork for children. I want to bring smiles and happiness to children and families everywhere in the world! It’s hard to believe my dream has come true. My cute products now live on all continents except Antarctica... still waiting for that order someday. Does anybody actually live there?

I absolutely can’t wait to get up in the morning and into my studio. I design in Adobe Illustrator to concept, draw and produce all my own artwork and products. I collect mid-century vintage children’s books which make me very happy. My work is inspired by the most talented artists of that time period... Alice and Martin Provensen, J.P. Miller, Ruth Ruhman, Art Seiden, Gustaf Tenggren, Rhetta Scott, and my most favorite artist of them all, The Great Mary Blair.

I'm a transplant from Roscoe, Illinois and currently living in Sanford, Florida with my dog, Lucy. I founded Graphic Spaces LLC in May 2009 with a wall decal shop on Etsy. Wow, have things grown since then! After collaborating with my parents and brother at their wood shop by the end of 2010, new designs of the cutest wooden bookends and clocks ever were created! As a result, we decided to open an Etsy shop for our wood products. Once again, success came quickly and we started expanding our range in 2011. By the end of 2012, our personalized Christmas ornaments became so popular that we could hardly keep up with the volume of sales!

We are a family of creative perfectionists. My dad, Curt Austin, is an exquisite craftsman, designer, engineer and woodworker. He transforms my flat designs into three-dimensional products. My brother, Shawn, is also an engineer and helps with design construction details to make sure everything is functional and safe for the little people. He also runs all our vintage woodworking machines. My mom, Cindy, adores puzzles, so she naturally loves hand-assembling all the little pieces to our products. The fit and finishing details are incredible and uphold our family’s exceptional high quality standards. It’s a collaborative dream knowing we are creating such unique, handmade pieces that you and your family will cherish for generations. We give all glory and honor to God for what we can accomplish by grace through Him.

Graphic Spaces strives to create original products that make children and families happy. Our Graphic Spaces brand is wholesome and clean, illustrating the innocence of childhood and childlike faith. Our artwork is simple, graphic and geometrically stylized, yet full of personality, cuteness and life. Our products universally communicate smiles and bring feelings of joy across different languages and continents around the world. We give all honor and glory to our Lord Jesus Christ that we can serve as a family by collaborating our gifts and talents to create products for your family to cherish for many generations. It is our ministry and passion.

When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these”.   —Mark 10:14