Meet Christian Thew | Business Owner & Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Christian Thew and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Christian, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
I initially started my business when I was 13. I had broken my hip and wasn’t able to do much since I couldn’t walk. I started making hand-painted minifigures. I had accumulated so many that I had the idea to start selling them. I asked my mom, who owns her own business, how I could start selling them. She loaned me $300 and I used that to get supplies, and a table at a local craft show. I ended up making that money back and more! I paid back my mom and put the rest into my business. Over these last 6 years I’ve grown from minifigures into custom POP figures, action figures, completely original figures, my own art production company for all non “figure” related creations I make, and more!

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
With my art, I strive to build off of creative work. So many different things inspire my desire to craft, and with that comes an avalanche of different ideas running through my brain. I take the best pieces and put them together to make whatever I see fit. One of my favorite things is innovating new ideas. Whether it’s revamping an old design or devolping something, I strive on the new and diffrent.

After my hip healed, I started selling my figures at more craft shows, Comic Cons, and even had my own consignment spot in the Citadel Mall at one point. All of this changed when COVID happened. I had to completely revamp my business into an online format. I started working more on social media, as well as selling on Etsy. After a few years of excessive fees and overly strict unforgiving policies, I ran into some issues with Etsy resulting in my shop being shut down in August of 2024. This was a huge deal as Etsy was my main source of income. After a day of sulking, I started the whole process over again from scratch with my own website through Shopify. After some social media marketing and strategic postings on different platforms, I got my Shopify site up and running. Even with the struggles, it is a much better home for my business and I have been steadily growing since.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Well, I’ve lived here my entire life so I have a lot of places I’d like to shout out. Some of my favorite food spots include East Coast Deli, Taste of Philly, Sushi Spot, and China Cottage for a good at-home meal. I’m a vinyl record head, so I love hanging around the shops in town. My favorites in no particular order are Leechpit, What’s Left, Tiger Records, and Earth Pig. All staffed with amazing people who I could talk to for hours. For a fun time I definitely recommend checking out the SuperNova Barcades. I love retro videogames and the staff are amazing too!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I would like to thank my Grandma for always supporting my art since I was a little kid. She would always take me to craft stores after school, and we would cook up all sorts of things, which really helped guide me into having such diverse avenues. To this day, she still showcases some of my earlierst work, even my first grade scribbles.

Website: https://christians-custom-figures.myshopify.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/christians_custom_figures/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ChristiansCustomFigures

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@BigMauer

Other: https://www.instagram.com/creative_corner_productions/

https://www.facebook.com/Creative.Corner.Pro

I also make music so I added that as my YouTube.