A Look Inside: The Amazing Artists Featured in Founding Farmers Tysons
Our newest Farmers Restaurant Group restaurant, Founding Farmers Tysons (FFT), is much like our other Founding Farmers restaurants: a labor of love.
We love collaborating with and being inspired by our external team of amazing designers, artists, and craftsmen who bring our concepts to life. We celebrate the artists near and far who’ve given FFT its interesting, whimsical, and unique character.
Nathan Loda. Drawing on past experiences hiking through Virginia’s beautiful countryside, Vienna, VA-based painter created a uniquely interesting host stand Mural depicting a horse within the lush, rolling hills and Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia.
Susan Fuller, Fuller by Design. Susan’s mantra is: Life is what you make of it, so make something every day. And make something she did. Utilizing more than 50 fabrics to create a 13 Star Flag Quilt for us, the flag quilt embodies a contemporary take on the iconic 13 Star American Flag. A visible tribute to our military and government, the flag quilt also embraces the fun, modern aesthetic of the Founding Farmers brand.
Karen Jackson, Day Basket Factory. Hailing from Elkton, Maryland, Karen is a prolific basket-weaving artist who relishes the traditional art of using a natural, renewable resource and turning it into a lasting, functional piece. To create the Woven Baskets for our Golden Egg Lights, Karen used an intricate pattern of white oak, brass nails, and hardware.
Faryn Davis, Fernworks. Faryn’s love of nature is evident in the Resin Dreamscape Vignettes she custom made for us. Her objective: create a narrative series of paintings referencing Virginia mountains and farmland. The result: beautifully, hand painted pieces utilizing embedded elements, such as hay, grass, chicken wire, and chicken feathers, set in resin sent from our North Dakota Farmers Union partners.
Rachel Denny. Rachel finds endless inspiration, honesty, and beauty in animal imagery. As demonstrated in her adorable Knitted Bunnies, Rachel is a fan of incorporating playful, whimsical elements into her interpretive art – and we couldn’t be happier!
Eden Hovenga. Inspired by mycology, botany, and moments of discovery while exploring wooded areas, Eden’s design for us, Driftwood with Porcelain Flowers, is meant to translate a link between the landscape’s reality and that of her own imagination and creativity.
Noella Cottem, SIGN IT Signs & Design. Having whittled wonderfully whimsical carved wood critters for all of our Founding Farmers restaurants, it was only natural for us to call upon Noella’s talents when developing the FFT design. We love having her critters live with our restaurant.
Katya Krupko, Muralist. Hailing from Kaliningrad, Russia gives Katya a fresh perspective on our country, especially when painting scenes of America’s heartland. Her Virginia Field Bar Die Wall acrylic, is a texturized mural representing her vision of a farm essential: a stalk of wheat glittering in the sun. And the North Dakota Night Sky Mural features a starry-sky and dandelions, both symbolic of making wishes come true.
Kiki Carrillo. A fine artist, from Chevy Chase, Maryland, Kiki was happy to work with our team in order to produce the Tysons Gothic oil on canvas painting as a special FFT feature.
In-Ho Park. Our team saw Mr. Park’s work on display while visiting his native Seoul, South Korea, and we immediately knew we wanted to locate this talented artist to work with us. And we are so glad we did as the amazing farmyard of Metal Farm Animal Sculptures now happily resides in their new home at FFT.
We can’t speak to FFT’s spatial design without acknowledging the skilled staff at Hagerstown, Maryland’s Beachley Furniture. A DC-local area company we are thrilled to partner with as they share the same green practices and sustainability methodology we do.
*NOTE: we have created a unique, interactive map which contains a link for guests to click on to not only view each of the artists’ pieces, but also view their placement within the restaurant.