“I’m at my best when I’m in a creative space that allows for quiet and experimentation,” says designer Corie Humble. Today that space is in her 1930s Oak Cliff apartment, where she’s huddled over an oak table manipulating brass, copper, and Plexiglas with a drill press and a few tools nearby. Intermittent breaks are only to string geometric pieces together on delicate chains or to check structure, weight, and balance.
The longtime designer crafts delicate, large-scale mobiles, some spanning two feet wide by three feet tall, that dangle in any interior in need of floating sculpture. It’s a medium she stumbled upon while taking jewelry classes at the Creative Arts Center of Dallas. Not that she needed formal training—Humble studied painting at the California College of the Arts and accessory design at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York before launching a handmade leather goods company, which she ran for more than a decade.
A stint as a technical engineer at Coach followed by a transfer to Richardson-based Fossil led her to Dallas, where she has now returned to freelance design.
Mellow yet sociable—and often found working in paint-covered pants—Humble exhibits the patience necessary for hand-sanding acrylic or tempering with locally sourced metals she has water-jet-cut. Her limited-edition kinetic sculptures, which cost $250 to $360 each, are sold at Kettle & Brine in Austin, Calliope in New York, and Chairish online.
Though more of a metalsmith, Humble still creates leather pieces and has moved into lighting and home decor. She collaborated with Aaron Garcia of Oak Cliff’s Small Brewpub on light fixtures now hanging from the rafters. Her hope is to move into larger-scale installments and custom projects.
For now, she divides her time between Austin and Dallas and continues creating original work, whether in mobiles or commissions. “I try to think about my work as a feeling rather than thought so that it feels human,” she says.
