There are a ton of talented people in the geek community. The talent that comes out of this community is pretty inspiring and a lot of fun. Here at Temple Of Geek we are passionate about sharing the stories of some of those artist and creators.

Regal Robot, Inc. creates themed furniture, art and decor to bring what you love into your home and life in new and exciting ways.  They are producers of unique and tailor made  items.

We spoke with Tom Spina of Regal Robot on his uniquely geeky furniture.

Tell us about yourself and about Regal Robot. How long have you been around and how did you get started?

I’ve had a sort of creature fx and restoration shop for over a decade now, www.TomSpinaDesigns.com, where we do everything from sculpting bronze busts, wax figures and monsters to creating giant themed props and restoring original props and costumes used in movies. There we had the good fortune of recreating some Star Wars monsters for various commercials and such, and working with Lucasfilm on a fairly regular basis on everything from events to restoration for the old Lucasfilm Archives.

Personally, I got drawn into this sort of work by my love of films and TV as a kid. King Kong, the Muppet Show, Star Wars™, Land of the Lost. Even as a child in the 70’s, I knew there were people behind the scenes making cool stuff for these shows and that fascinated the heck out of me. It still does.

Regal Robot grew out of work we were doing with Tom Spina Designs, where we’d take some of our sculpture and theming talents and try to bring that into people’s homes in interesting ways. I wanted to create a separate identity for that work. TSD does so much, it’s tough to tell folks what we do! With Regal Robot, we can say, “we may cool furniture, art and decor!” Plus we got to design a cool old timey robot for the logo!

 Your Star Wars products look amazing. How did this all come about? What was it that inspired your creations?

Thanks! For many of us here, Star Wars was the spark that got us all into the business. It’s the ultimate inspiration. Having worked with Lucasfilm for years, I felt, “what better license to launch this new venture?” We were lucky to meet some great folks in their licensing department along the way, and connect with some wonderful people at Disney as well.

Is it different creating Star Wars products as opposed to your own original designs?

Every project has its own charm, but Star Wars has such scope and breadth, and it’s just so visually interesting! There’s just so much to pull from in that universe and that makes it a real joy. Me being a huge fan doesn’t hurt either.

You have a section on your website for Star Wars Custom Requests, what kind of request have you gotten?

How exciting is it that we can do custom work? I think it’s fairly unprecedented for a company to offer made-to-order, designed-for-you official Star Wars items. We’re so excited to offer this service and have gotten some very interesting requests thus far! Right now, we’re creating several custom pieces for a client’s home theater, ranging from a custom metal door handle to a pair of really cool seats. We’ll share more about this project on www.regalrobot.com and our social media when we can.

How long does it take to make one of your designs?

That really depends! Some happen quite quickly, over a few weeks. Our Mandalorian Skull Plaque ( http://www.regalrobot.com/shop/star-wars-furniture-art-decor/mandalorian-skull-plaque/ ) was something that was hand sculpted within a short time. I love the inspiration on that – the logo on Boba Fett’s armor. It’s a small thing on the costume, but I love doing realistic/interesting interpretations of those sorts of details.

Others, like the Millennium Falcon Asteroid Table (http://www.regalrobot.com/shop/star-wars-furniture-art-decor/millenium-falcon-asteroid-coffee-table/ ), can take months, as we’re working with quite a few different elements, like hand sculpted asteroids and rocks, engineering the support structure, 3D modeling using ILM assets for the ship, which was then printed and reworked by hand for further accuracy and production needs. Then molding all of those elements. It was quite a complex task!

Do you have any favorite designs from your various collections?

I love the Falcon table, and the Han Solo Carbonite Desk, of course, but at the moment, I really love our limited edition Pewter Mandalorian Skull. It’s our first limited piece (just 300 will be sold), it looks sharp but it just feels so cool in your hand. Each is solid metal and weighs over a pound! You can see more here: http://www.regalrobot.com/shop/star-wars-furniture-art-decor/pewter-mandalorian-skull-mini-sculpture/

Which one of your items is the most popular?

In terms of volume, our Mandalorian Skull Mini Sculpture (http://www.regalrobot.com/shop/star-wars-furniture-art-decor/mandalorian-skull-mini-sculpture/ ) is our breakaway big seller. We make these in the USA and paint every piece by hand and we’re just doing what we can to keep up with sales right now!

What do have anything new that you are working on?

We have a lot of cool stuff in the works that I’m very excited about, but can’t share just yet. Keep an eye on our website, or follow us as @RegalRobot on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and we’ll share more as soon as we can!

What are your hopes for Regal Robot in the future?

Just to grow and continue to create more cool stuff for people’s homes and fan caves!