Christian Klein
Principal, Owner & Founder
With a background as diverse as the projects he has tackled, Christian brings a range of expertise to every job. He got his start in the shipyards of Mississippi and Louisiana with formal training in Naval Architecture and Marine engineering. Years of shipbuilding program management in New Orleans led into fabrication in Austin, followed by a Masters of Architecture from Louisiana State University. Christian worked for a couple of architecture firms while in Baton Rouge. Following another stint as a fabricator in Austin, Christian taught architecture and Fabrication in Punjab, India for a semester with his wife Christy, where he met Matt and Mari who were also teaching.
After returning from India, Christian started Drophouse in 2012 out of a warehouse full of “burners” (Burning Man fabricators) in East Austin and was quickly joined by Matt. After a year and half there, they moved the shop to E 12th street. The day after signing the lease on the second space, Christian's daughter Frankie was born and has grown up in the shop learning to weld surrounded by her shop aunt and uncles. Not afraid to tackle anything, the shop quickly grew in scale with a diverse portfolio and over 25 employees.
In his downtime, you can still find Christian working around the shop on one of his numerous vehicle projects, in the desert racing, or out at the skatepark with Frankie and Christy.
_2021 Texas Society of Architects Artisan Award
_2017 AIA Montana Annual Conference Guest Speaker