Canadian Dollar (CAD)
Paul Farina
Boston business magnate Paul Farina has a penchant for collecting beautiful things. Since his first Manhattan New York Custom Knife Show over 40 ago, Farina has honed an ever-evolving valuation of craftsmanship — the perfect articulation of artistic intention — in an effortless eye for beauty in all its forms. Particularly the sharp and shiny variety. Paul might best be known as the longtime owner of Farina Corporation, Boston’s leading commercial and residential HVAC firm since 1958 and his familial legacy. And it has certainly been a defining part of his life: he began fabricating sheet metal duct work in the business when he was only 12 and has had an uninterrupted presence with the company since. It is also where his lifelong fascination for metal’s duality, its luster and its strength, first took root and it has provided an apt metaphor for the life that has followed, one built on blue collar ethics and the integrity of calloused hands, but inspired by the possibility of more. Of art.
Farina began his personal collection in ‘81, gravitating first toward knives and then — as he made contacts in the brokering world, traveled, and learned — to various antiquities and the range of fine collectibles destined to become them. “This is true craft,” Farina smiles. “My love is the guy in the shop taking raw steel and making something magical, building an unbelievable piece of history.” After years in the industry, both brokering and collecting, Farina has finally realized a passion decades in the making in Farina Fine Arts. Here, he showcases pieces from his personal collection and the distinctive wares of a lifetime of artistic discernment.
Ashley Childs, Manager & Creative Director
Ashley Childs is the manager, creative director and one of the photographers for Farina Fine Arts. From fifteen years in the jewelry business and fine jewelry designer, to blacksmithing and production knife-making, Ashley Childs is thrilled to take on Farina Fine Arts - learning everything she can about the best knife-makers in the world.
With an education in sculpture, art and tool-making, Ashley is incredibly grateful to be a part of the knife world. Her enthusiasm for the craft runs incredibly deep since attending her first Bladeshow in 2018. As an artist and knifemaker herself, her appreciation for the makers is significant given how much time, materials, tools, trial and error, attention to detail and experience it requires to make such exquisite and collectible knives. Not only does she manage the website, inventory, photography and creative direction, but she is also a knife collector herself, with a penchant for knives by C. Gray Taylor and Reinhard Tschager. As the manager of Farina Fine Arts, Ashley is thrilled to have the opportunity to travel the country, meet the makers and speak with knife enthusiasts like herself.
“Ashley Childs has an eye for detail, never wandering far from the world of form, function and beauty… and her unique skill set brings grace to an industry known for its grit. Infamous for her minimalist, sculptural aesthetic and talent for swinging a hammer, Childs’ large life has taken her from the fashion runways of New York City to an iron forge in Buenos Aires and all the way to the Wyoming mountains.” Read her story here.; Read, "If I Had a Hammer" by Jeff McElroy; Photography by Garrett Grove, for Patagonia's Blog: The Cleanest Line.
Have questions about knives, antiques or collectibles in the gallery? Contact us directly: studio@farinafinearts.com or text/phone us directly: +1 (406) 624-8335.