COVER STORY
Deep seated KRYSTA HENRY-HOLLAND HAS MADE A LIFE OUT OF SOMETHING MOST OF US TAKE FOR GRANTED WHEN VISITING BARS AND RESTAURANTS — THE SEATING. By Berlin Green
You may not think much about the booth you slide into when visiting your favorite restaurant, but you’re often sitting on a carefully handcrafted work of art. In Oklahoma City, it’s very likely you’re seated on the work of Krysta Henry-Holland. Henry-Holland’s hands have transformed the aesthetics of hundreds of restaurants throughout the city, and like many arts performed by skilled tradesmen, the work blends seamlessly into the surroundings without calling attention to itself. She began sewing and working with fabrics in her youth, picked up a job at Hancock Fabrics then moved into management at a drapery manufacturing company. She consumed as much information as she could, learning the fundamentals and igniting her passion in the field. Then she took a breath and a deep dive, founding All in One Piece Upholstery. “I went into an upholstery shop and said ’I can do upholstery,’ which I couldn’t, but I faked it,” HenryHolland said. “I would watch these old guys do upholstery and pretend like I was going to chat with them, but I would be intently watching what they were doing. Then I would just mimic it and they didn’t ever know. I became really good friends with the owner of that company and about ten years later, he asked, ‘You know why I hired you as an upholsterer?’ I said, ‘I don’t know.’ He said, ‘Because the way you shook my hand, I knew you were an upholsterer. That’s an upholsterer’s handshake.’ And I said, ‘Well, that’s funny because I didn’t know shit about upholstery.’ He laughed and said, ‘I think you’re maybe one of the only human beings I could ever even imagine succeeding in that.’ Because it’s just not something you can just pick up, it is hard. That’s why you have a lot of apprenticeships and training in upholstery. I think it was very natural to me. I feel like I was born to do it. I was definitely born to work with fabric.” Henry studied in London before finishing out her bachelor’s degree in fashion design in Los Angeles. From there, her career skyrocketed, winning awards and landing covers, but it wasn’t the life she wanted.
“When my partner and I won an award for fashion design, that was really radical stuff. It was like the upholstery on bodies, essentially, because that’s what I’ve always gravitated towards. It was art on the runway and it was a big deal. We were on the front page of the L.A. Times and the front page of the Chicago Tribune. I’ve been in every magazine that I’ve ever wanted to be in and I just didn’t like it. I didn’t like the ‘who you know, who you’re dressing’ aspect of it. If who you knew and who you dressed paid you Krysta Henry-Holland seated in one of the booths she completed this year for The Blue Note. Photo by Berlin Green what you were worth, then it would have been worth it. I was a to achieve,” Henry-Holland said. teach it. I want younger people to well-known fashion designer and The passion she has for her work is learn it, but you have to get ready to poor. That doesn’t make any sense. evident and hopes that others will be poor to learn because nobody’s You’d have to really love it to go carry on the tradition. going to pay you very much to learn through those however many years “I’m truly honored. Blue-collar because they have to stop what they’re it would take to start generating work is underrated so badly, everydoing to teach. Plus, you have to be money in a place like Los Angeles, so where in the world, to be highlighted good at business and be good at upthe juice wasn’t worth the squeeze to at all for it, because this is what I love. holstery. You cannot just be good at me. And I don’t like that type of limeI don’t really feel like I have a choice one. It took me a long time to be good light, it kind of freaks me out, so I got in the matter. I’m not happy doing at business. I was good enough at upaway from all that. I moved back here anything else. It’s something I work holstery that I could do one piece a and did upholstery immediately,” really, really hard to make look good week, but I was bad at business, so I Henry-Holland said. and to give people a good product and failed over and over again until I In her 22-year upholstery career, make them happy as well. That’s half learned it. And we have to teach these she has produced hundreds of booths of the fun to me. The second I start trades, and more trades, because it’s for restaurants and businesses forgetting that and just thinking getting to where nobody is doing throughout the state, including about money, I’m miserable,” Henrythem. We were all steered away from Empire Slice House, Ponyboy, Holland said. trades and told to go to college. Now Summer Moon Coffee, Rock’ N Brew, A lot of time, effort and meticulous we have all of these negative spaces Eddie’s and The R&J Lounge and craftsmanship go into the trade. The where trades need tradesmen. We Supper Club. work that goes into skiving, binding need electricians, we need mechanics, “I’ve done so many that it’s hard to and tufting different fabrics and we need a pulse on upholstery because pick a favorite. When I was asked to forming cushions can be strenuous, it’s really dying because of how do the HiLo [Club], I was shocked but so it takes a lot of training and physicomplex it is. I know of ten upholstervery honored. When Chris became cal strength to stretch the fabric and ers all over the world that are online, the owner of Blue Note and called me carry heavy pieces when building or that I would give my furniture to, and for that project, I was even more restoring furniture. Factory-made that’s scary to me. Some of them are excited about that because he wanted upholstery, often seen in larger chain older and they’re great, but they’re to really put a lot of love into it. I love restaurants, is usually made by not online to market themselves. when a customer wants to do that heavily underpaid workers or specialTherefore, they’re not young enough because then I get to really do my art ized machines, and the dwindling to keep that business going. So it’s a and have a lot of fun. I love patent private industry is heavily dominated very dying industry,” she said. anything, so Burger Punk will always by men. Henry-Holland hopes to see Visit facebook.com/allinonepiebe one of my favorites. I love the black more diversity and better wages in ceupholstery texture and the tufted bar top. I’ve the field and stresses the importance always been really proud of Ludivine of teaching trades and business. because it still looks exactly the same “I’m not going to be able to physias when I installed it, which is hard cally do it forever, so I am trying to COVER STORY OKGA Z ET TE .COM | J U LY 1 3 , 2 0 2 2
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