Bumblebird

Troy Custer, Bumblebird’s resident artist and owner was born when Joy to the World was topping the charts and Jim Morrison was making life’s grand exit in a Paris hotel. Troy is a product of the ’70s, a passionate Italian mother, a private investigator father, nuns posing as teachers and a mix of California and Idaho living. He sought diversity and a fresh perspective by way of The Art Institute of Seattle and found his way back to Boise to start a graphic design career. After collecting business cards from a publisher, paper company, two engineering firms, a television station, four sports teams, and a couple of ad agencies, he longed to exercise the other half of his brain. Today, Troy blends his passions for graphic design, architecture, technology, mathematics, and engineering into creative works from his small, multi-discipline art studio, Bumblebird. Drawn primarily to mid-century, Eastern, and urban geometric patterns, bold colors, and the texture and pliability of organic and discarded manmade materials, Bumblebird’s works typically begin life as pencil sketches, photos, and Siri dictation. That inspiration is processed and manipulated through a gauntlet of CAD software, #2 X-Acto knives, hand tools, and lasers, to emerge as objects of beauty and utility with a precise, pleasing, touch-and-feel appeal. From modern felt handbags, cork earrings, coasters, wire-bound journals and colorful clocks to greeting cards and gift boxes made from upcycled record album covers, each piece and its beholder benefits from the sum of its unique parts and unconventional fabrication methods.