Unwrapping the World of Christmas Ornaments: the tradition of Artist Christopher Radko

In this special end-of-the-year Christmas themed podcast, I cover the fascinating world of Christmas ornaments with none other than the "czar of the Christmas present" himself, Christopher Radko of HEARTFULLY YOURS.
This spiritual discussion is packed with stories that glisten with nostalgia and sparkle with joy. Christopher shares his journey from a child enchanted by Christmas to a renowned ornament designer, whose charming creations have adorned homes and hearts worldwide, including the White  House.

We'll also talk about his new venture, Heartfully Yours, and his commitment to philanthropy, highlighting the magic of giving that underpins the season of love and joy.

But Christmas isn't just about tradition and magic; it's also about mindfulness and sustainability. Are you Team Organic Tree or Team Artificial Tree? Our guest provides stimulating alternatives for ornament displays that are as eco-conscious as they are beautiful. From his daily meditation routine to his belief in the interconnectedness of all beings, Christopher shares the spiritual practices that keep him grounded during both festive and challenging times. Hang in there for a ride full of holiday cheer, insightful revelations, and conscious ways to celebrate. The bells are ringing, and we're ready to get started!


This episode was sponsored by The Eden Magazine.


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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

This Heart of Show Business episode has been brought to you by its sponsor, the Eden Magazine. The Eden Magazine focuses on awareness and educational articles to promote and emphasize humane and environmental content for the next generation of animal lovers. The Eden Magazine is available online and in print to take you to the world of living a healthier, in harmony and cruelty-free world.

Speaker 2: 0:31

Welcome to the Heart of Show Business. I am your host, alexia Melochi. I believe in great storytelling and that every successful artist has a deep desire to express something from the heart to create a ripple effect in our society. Emotion and entertainment are closely tied together. My guests and I want to give you insider access to how the film, television and music industry works. We will cover dreams come true, the road, less travel, journey beginnings and a lot of insight and inspiration in between. I am a successful film and television entrepreneur who came to America as a teenager to pursue my show business dreams. Are you ready for some unfiltered real talk with entertainment visionaries from all over the world? Then let's roll sound and action.

Speaker 3: 1:29

Hello to all my listeners of the Heart of Show Business. As I told you on some of the pursuits the extraordinary in all things not necessarily in Hollywood and in filmmaking and television Every once in a while come some certain human beings who are truly doing extraordinary things. One of them is my guest today, christopher Radko. He is actually called the czar of the Christmas present, as spoken about in the New York Times magazine. He is a businessman. We are going to hear about how he became the man for all really beautiful ornaments that are just done in a unique way with glass and done out of Europe. They decorate the White House, they are ornaments in celebrity trees. But that's really not what it's about, because Christopher now has a new company, or not fairly new, but a new brand of his Christmas ornaments, which is called Heartfully Yours, and I am thrilled to talk about all things Christmas charities, your genius, your designs and everything else in between.

Speaker 4: 2:45

Yay, what fun. Well, let's make it happen. Time to spread a little sparkle and joy.

Speaker 3: 2:51

Time to spread. So. So here's the thing. So I see that you graduated from Columbia in 1981. So obviously you're smart, which is a good thing, did you have? I know that you almost destroyed a tree when you were 22, but was that really the trigger that said I am going to go and start designing Christmas ornaments? Or was there an artistic little bug inside of you even before that happened?

Speaker 4: 3:23

Well, that's a great question. I always loved Christmas and for me Christmas was a time of year that things seemed heightened, more special, more sparkly, more magical the food, the music, the people coming together together around the Christmas tree. It was a time of connection and creating memories. And I remember, even as a little boy, I would come home from school and turn on the Christmas tree lights and do my homework by the light of the Christmas tree, or I would scooch underneath the branches when I was a tiny little kid and kind of look up at all the sparkly lights and the comet ornaments and the rocket ships and the stars and just kind of imagine this fantasy world, this celestial galaxy of Christmas kind of sparkling all over me, and I kind of almost transported myself into that magical kingdom. That was different than growing up in the Bronx back in the 60s or 70s. So it's a little rough, I guess, but at Christmas my fantasies kind of took me to another dimension and I think the little boy in me always held on to those memories. And so to what you had mentioned. Yes, when our family tree fell over, my grandmother had said Christopher, what have you done? You've ruined Christmas forever because everyone blamed me because I got a new tree stand and the tree stand wouldn't hold the weight of this 12-foot tree. And when the tree crashed, something happened that I didn't really think through growing up all those years, which is that for every member of the family, each ornament had a memory behind it, a story of where it came from or how old we were. When we received her From my grandmother, there were ornaments from the early 1900s when she was a little girl. From my parents, when they got married, they had a collection of ornaments. So all those memories, if you will seem to shatter and evaporate. And so when my grandmother told me I'd ruined Christmas forever, really she was saying that her connection to all those heartfelt memories was severed and so I had to find a way to make good. I couldn't live with all that guilt. So I looked in all the local stores in New York, some of the department stores, and nobody had glass ornaments anymore by then this was the early to mid-80s Everything was plastic or styrofoam, a lot of things made who knows where, but not with the tradition of the old glass ornaments. And so it really.

Speaker 4: 6:08

It wasn't until the following spring, when I was visiting some family in Europe, that one of my cousins said hey, we still have glass ornaments here. If you want, well, find a glass blower, maybe you can take home some ornaments with you. And I thought, yeah, good, that would be great. So I quickly sketched some ornament ideas that I remembered from when I was a kid, some of my favorite ornaments, and when the glass blower saw them he said these are like the ones my father and my grandfather used to make 40 or 50 or 60 years ago. And he made them for me and I brought him home with me and before I knew it, all my friends wanted to buy them from me. They kept saying you know where'd you get these glass ornaments? You know, our grandmother had great glass ornaments, but you can't get them anymore. So I started selling them, first as a hobby you know, just a, you know, on my lunch hour, if you will but before I knew it it kind of rolled into a full time business. So and actually curiously, because I know of your Hollywood connection I was working in the mailroom of ICM, international Creative Management, you know, thinking I would become an agent.

Speaker 4: 7:17

Instead of becoming an agent, I started my own business. But I'm so glad that that's what I do for a living. I love what I do. I feel blessed that I get to follow my heart every day when I wake up. And I'm not saying having a business is easy, because it's not.

Speaker 4: 7:37

There's a lot of issues. You know raising money. You know getting things made on time. Everything's made by hand. You know importing the whole deal.

Speaker 4: 7:46

It's a lot of work, but at the same time I feel that I'm making a difference in my own way. I'm making a difference and the ornaments are a vehicle for that. They bring joy to people. They bring a smile to people's faces. They become the memory makers of tomorrow. And I, you know, I kind of know that 100 years from now, long after I'm gone, you know, the great, great grandchildren of the people who are buying them today will enjoy them on their Christmas trees. I won't be here, but a piece of my heart will be on those Christmas trees, wherever they are. I mean, we'll probably all be living on Mars by then, I don't know, but wherever, whatever planet you know our future takes us to, you can be sure people are going to take their, their heartfully, your ornaments with them, because their memories. They're magical and and yeah, I sometimes have to pinch myself. It's like is this what I actually get to do for a living? It's like I'm grateful, I'm super grateful.

Speaker 3: 8:51

Well, it's so much better to be an agent of joy than being a Hollywood agent in this day. So I think that was a wise choice, christopher, and I love what you said about memory making with the ornaments, because I have a lot of memories, of course, attached to my Christmas ornaments. But what I also like every time that I get to decorate the Christmas tree is that I I say a prayer or I make a wish. So whenever I pick something and I put it in the tree, every time that I put an ornament, it has a specific wish attached to it, and I love doing that every year. And what I love about it is there is a reason why the Knobcracker is one of the most successful ballets you know in the world, and I don't think it crosses faith. It crosses belief because there is a childlike wonder of the ornaments coming to life and all the kids that want to see Knobcracker. There's gotta be a reason for it, right?

Speaker 4: 9:49

Absolutely no. That's a magical show to see each year and it's done in so many languages and so many different styles and it's great because a lot of families there are kids can actually be in the Knobcracker in a local production, and I just, yeah it's. You know Tchaikovsky, I mean just the music, everything you know, the the wonder. It all happens at night, you know, and Clara, you know, has that whole experience and she is transported through the magic of her Christmas tree, you know, to another world of whimsy and magic and playfulness, and you know, it's a place where dreams come true on that level. And so, yeah, there's.

Speaker 4: 10:35

I mean I love so much about Christmas and, you know, for me, I, I eventually we moved to Scarstale in Westchester County and many of my friends were Jewish, most of them were, and so I was like the one odd guy out who, you know, had a Christmas tree. But all my friends would come over and it's like, wow, this is so cool, it's so sparkly. And I started to have this feeling that even though there's a religious aspect, if you will, to Christmas, it's even bigger than that. It's spiritual, it's about all our hearts, it's about light coming out into the world and how we can all be expressions of that light. You know, again, I respect when you know people you know have the tradition of the religious aspect and I love you know the old carols and midnight masterminders. They're, you know, beautiful customs and traditions that we can enjoy.

Speaker 4: 11:34

But I think, especially in this country, christmas can be for everyone If you look at Christmas as a chance to open your heart to other people, to remember that we're all connected on this earth, we're all really one human family on this little planet, you know, in this huge cosmos, and and and and. Christmas is an opportunity at least to connect and to realize that we're all a family in spirit and and and that you know, if we can be a little warmer, a little kinder, a little bit more considerate of other people, help other people, share some of our riches, some of our bounty, some of our know-how or time or or, or you know, suggestions or advice with other people, just to you know, help people.

Speaker 3: 12:26

I mean just it's a good feeling, it's a good feeling, and to meet Christmas is all of that, all of that that's beautiful, christopher, and you know, while there is, I always believe that there is a reason why certain things are successful or people are successful. I think if you have a true sense of purpose, that translates because how on earth and I'm curious about this how on earth would you be able to have your ornaments in places such as guiries, or even you know celebrities or you know the White House picking up your ornaments and not somebody else's? What is that is?

Speaker 4: 13:06

I think, well, okay, I'll tell you a little secret, all right. So when the ornaments come in from Europe and they're made in countries like Poland, germany, italy and the Czech Republic, so I, you know, I work with many, many cottage families and you know it's the great great grandchildren of the glassblowers from a century ago that are still making these ornaments today, using the same techniques and artistry that was developed, you know, as far back as 150 years ago. So when these pieces come in from Europe and they're not mass produced at all, they can't be because they're made by hand. It takes a human breath to breathe life into every single ornament. It takes a whole week to pay just one of them. So I mean, that's why they can't be mass produced. But when they finally do arrive to my warehouse in New York State, when everyone goes home from my office and all the warehouse folks, and then I kind of like leave the light on in my warehouse and I walk up and down the aisles and I call the attention of all the ornaments, I say now listen up, your job is to go to homes all over the country, maybe even all over the world, places I cannot go to because it's not possible for me. But you will go there as emissaries and your job is to bring a smile to people's faces. Your job is to lift the spirits of the people who have these ornaments in their homes so that they will create new memories and they'll feel a little better, a little bit more embraced by magic and wonder that Christmas and each Christmas to come. So I give them their jobs. That's their job, that's their mission. And they all say aye, aye, sir, and then the UPS man comes and takes it off to the stores and wherever. So I try to program them with that mission. That's their job.

Speaker 4: 15:02

And I think people sense that they might not be able to verbalize it. It's like I don't know, but there's something about these. They're really special. Look at them and it's my heart. And it's not just me, it just comes in from the divine or the universe or God or whatever word you would like to use. But I feel like I bring it forth through me and I mean it's this light that the ornaments contain and I'm a lucky guy because I get to, in a sense, put that light into the ornaments and then send them on their way, and that's what I do. I'm kind of like that guy in the middle and they want to come on stage. Right, it's like, okay, I'm the stage manager and look, okay, here you go, here's your chance. You know we're doing this trade show. You got to shine and sparkle. And then next year there's a whole new bunch, because I'm always designing new designs, so it's so beautiful.

Speaker 3: 16:04

That's a little bit like living like you're making the nutcracker cracker come to life almost in this podcast and I love that, and I also love that you have I saw that you're donating 20% of your earnings on those ornaments to go and help certain causes. So do you get to pick the charities that you want to support or do you just see every year what charities are most in need and then you decide how to allocate? You know where your charitable work goes to.

Speaker 4: 16:38

Right. Well, you know it's interesting, but because we have a Facebook presence and an Instagram presence, a lot of charities will contact me directly and say, listen, we have a fundraiser or can you possibly, you know, share or whatever, and so to some degree that's one way that I do it and you know it's so. It's so interesting that we were just talking about the Nutcracker, because this year I'm doing the official Nutcracker ornament for the Houston Ballet and they have their annual this is in Houston, texas, right, and so I. They have, like I don't know, 200,000 people come to this big event, their Nutcracker Ballet event, and it's a fundraiser, right. So you know, a lot of people set up their booths and so there's a store that is, you know, featuring my ornaments to raise money again for the Nutcracker Ballet, because it's so magical and you know they do. They do Christmas big in Texas, that's for sure. But additionally, yeah, no, no, big time, big time.

Speaker 4: 17:42

But I, my heart is is especially with four causes. One is heart disease, but especially heart disease surrounded for women. My mom died of heart disease and we found that the doctors, most of who were men, did not understand that there are some ways that a female heart is different than a man's heart and that you should. You know there are different chemistry, the stress things kind of work a little differently. It's not cookie cutter, and and so they missed, they kept misdiagnosing my mom and I just realized that these guys they're just not. There's not enough training in the medical school for cardiologists to understand how to properly provide care for women's hearts, and so so I really care about supporting causes that do research and and and go into the cause of women's hearts, you know, to keep them heart healthy. Then another cause is age, research and memory of my sales rep, jimmy Odom. He died in 1995, I believe from AIDS, but he was a top sales rep for a decade for me and he really taught me how to sell, and so each year, you know, I keep that in mind in his memory.

Speaker 4: 19:06

Also, breast cancer. I lost my sister to breast cancer about a decade ago. So you know there's still a lot more research to be done for breast cancer. She had a particular form of it that unfortunately took her life really quickly. They just didn't see it coming and then it was almost too late. Well, it was too late because we lost her.

Speaker 4: 19:27

And then and then my last cause that I'm passionate about especially is food insecurity, because there are so many people that don't go to sleep with the meal right, or even a hot meal, and just there's so many people that are still hungry. And I mean, I saw it during the pandemic. You know, the all the food pantries and shelters that you know asked for food. The lines were so long, long, long long. Each Saturday morning people would go with empty bags and it's like yikes, you know. So I mean there's, I just I don't. I think if, if people weren't hungry to begin with, there would be less trouble and strife in the world. I really believe that, and that doesn't mean I support Monsanto or or GMO foods or anything like that. I don't at all.

Speaker 4: 20:16

I'm talking about healthy food, not plastic food. But I sincerely believe that, I know it in my heart, that if, especially in the troubled parts of this world, that if people weren't hungry they would approach life differently. You know they would. You know, you think when, when you're, when you have food in your stomach, you're not as aggressive, you know you're just you're, you're more calm, you know peaceful, because you're not struggling just to take care of that basic human need of eating. Anyway, those are the causes I care about. But there are so many good ones pet charities, diabetes, I mean there's just, there's, the sky's the limit. I used to do a lot of ornaments with former President Jimmy Carter, you know, for habitat for the humanities. So, oh, that's beautiful. There's so many good causes, why not?

Speaker 3: 21:14

Because obviously, speaking of causes, we're looking also at the environment, right, and climate change and how. You know the droughts that are going around the world and you know people have been advocating for not cutting the trees anymore, right, including the Christmas trees, and and using the plastic one, the artificial ones. Do you feel that your ornaments will be just as beautiful in a non-real tree? Would that be okay? Cause I'm sure there's gonna be other people who say, well, christmas trees, we're trying not to cut them out. You know when you talk about that, that's a show of fun?

Speaker 4: 21:59

That's an amazing question. The ornaments are great on either, you know, an artificial or a fresh tree. Here's the thing, though I am an advocate of fresh trees they are sustainable, they can be grown organically and while they are growing they give us lots of oxygen and they provide nesting places for birds and you know it's just and little forest woodland animals. So while they are growing they do all of that, whereas otherwise you might just have an empty field or they might grow, you know, gmo corn or something like that. So the thing about artificial trees is, hopefully, if you buy one, you'll keep it for, you know, 10 or 15 years if it's well-constructed. But there's a big carbon footprint to artificial trees and you know they're plastic, right. So there is a carbon footprint involved in making artificial trees. So you have to kind of weigh that and say, well, maybe having a live tree, if it's sustainably grown and organically grown, might actually have a smaller carbon footprint than getting an artificial tree. You know the numbers keep changing each year and it's hard to assess because right now a lot of the artificial trees come from China and so it's really hard to know and to measure in truth what the carbon footprint is out of China, because you're not necessarily gonna get 100% accurate data is my opinion. But you know, the live trees are growing here in the state, so you can actually, you know, check them out and see if they're growing sustainably and organically, you know, are you know? How are they? You know how are they taking care of them? There's it might not be, you know.

Speaker 4: 23:56

And then there's a yet an entirely different alternative. There are many ways to use the ornaments. You don't have to hang them on a Christmas tree. You could take birch branches or men's Anita branches and just paint them with white paint and just hang the ornaments from branches. Or you could hang them from ribbons, you know, from the chandelier or in the window. Or you can create a garland made from a vineyard, you know, a grapevine garland, you know, and then just hang the ornaments from that. So there's so many ways to display the ornaments. If you don't have the place or the time or the interest in having a Christmas tree, you can just fill up a big crystal ball with them and let them sparkle. You know so many, just so many ways to show them off.

Speaker 3: 24:49

I love those great solutions and those great alternatives because I know the readers of, also Data Magazine. Some of them may go well, I do not know. So you gave me just perfect answer. Last question, before we end up and I always ask that of my guests and I also know that Data Magazine likes to ask that is there a spiritual practice, a way where you go quiet, where you introspect, that allows you to center whatever that is, whether it's your faith, whether it's, you know, a mantra from somebody who gave it to you on how to get to the dark times, because obviously we're leaving a lot of dark times right now. Where do you go to get yourself out of the negative vibe, as they say?

Speaker 4: 25:38

Thank you. Thank you for asking that question. Indeed, yes, I mean, I have my own spiritual practice. It's my one hour of power, if you will, in the morning, and I absolutely refuse to look at emails or texts I always give at the moment. I wake up, you know, I brush my teeth or whatever, and I take my dog outside for a walk, but then I come home and I have a meditation room and I don't let the cares of the world enter my mind until I've done my one hour of time for me, for connecting with the divine within me Truly.

Speaker 4: 26:21

For me, the message of Christmas is not that it is just one day a year. It's a way of living 365 days a year where you let the light from within you shine forth. So we all have light, whether you have faith in a particular traditional religion or you know. However you hold that in your heart, we all have that light, that inner magic that we can bring forth to the world and to me. That's my connection with the divine, that's the divine expressing through me. It's as though I were a ray of light from the central sun. I'm an aspect of that Christmas, that infinite Christmas love, and I'm one expression of it on earth one, but we all are. We can all be an expression of that love on earth. Whether you call it the divine Buddha or Krishna or whatever your traditions are, it's all. They all kind of come together where Einstein was telling us this 80 or 90 years ago, how, in fact, we are all one due to our micro, tiny, tiny atoms and electrons, all kind of. We're in an ocean, we're in a sea, and I show up. I'm the little wave that pops up and says I'm Christopher, but I'm also part of this ocean, I'm part of the sea. And you pop up and say I'm over here, but you know that you're also part of this infinite ocean where we're all connected.

Speaker 4: 28:03

And so I meditate and I refresh or I renew that awareness within me each morning that I have this heightened connection to all that is and that I see spirit. I call it spirit in everything, and you and me and my plants in my house. I see an expression of that divine energy everywhere I go, including me, and that brings me huge amount of joy. It's like I spurts my copilot in life. You know like you're flying the plane and you know who's sitting next to you.

Speaker 4: 28:40

Well, spirit, call it God or Buddha, or Krishna, or Jesus or Mary or or Quan Yin, what it's all really essentially the same. It's a divine, infinite, loving force, if you will, and she's here to come to life through us. We are the vessels to express that every day, and so I do that meditation. And so, yes, there is negativity, there's war and fighting, and I know that underneath it all the people, they're not in touch with that divine within them, they're not in touch with this deeper, knowing that we are one family. We are, we always have been, and I just know that, like you know, like eventually we're all going to find out that there are millions of you know millions of people who are in touch with us and you know, you can just see them shaking their head. What are these humans thinking about?

Speaker 4: 29:44

one little planet a pipsqueak of a planet and they're all fighting with each other like grow up, kids, grow up. They're all fighting up to to the universe level, to this like galactic civilization. If you're still fighting it out on earth like kids in a sandbox, it's like come on, come on the world, the earth can sustain all of us. It really can. We're done lovingly and carefully, not abusing the earth, not polluting it, not polluting the oceans, not, you know, not using tons of weird chemicals like ground up and all that stuff. But I mean we, you know we can get energy from sun, from wind, from the ocean, from roaring rivers or natural sources of energy, and we have to rely on fossil fuels. We don't, we just don't.

Speaker 4: 30:35

And so I think, you know, I expect that at some point. You know, people are going like like, oh my God, what a nasty dream I just had. Or or like, was I really that person? I, I just like, oh God, I can't believe it, you know. And they step up to the play and they become like galactic humans and it's like and that's heart, it's about heart, the heart opening your heart gets you there, it just gets you there. And it's about being heart based, which is why my company is called heartfully yours.

Speaker 3: 31:07

And what that's why my podcast is called the heart of show business, which is great match, and, I have to say, you truly are. You truly do embody the Christmas spirit and and it's no coincidence that you are successful with this and I wish you so much more success and it's been such a joy to have you on my show and I can't wait to write the article on the Indian magazine and it's a beautiful photos of all your amazing ornaments and thank you, chris, for coming on my show.

Speaker 3: 31:39

And everything you do, of course. Have a beautiful afternoon and for all of you listeners, if you enjoyed this episode, you got inspired. Go get Christmas started. We're not.

Speaker 4: 31:50

Yes, in our hearts.

Speaker 3: 31:51

Yes, let's get Christmas started. We don't have to wait till December, especially right now. So if you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, rate and review. I'd love to hear from you and thank you for listening, ciao.

Speaker 2: 32:08

Thank you for listening to this week's episode of the heart of show business. If you enjoyed it, please share it with a friend. You can also subscribe, rate and review the show on your favorite podcast player. If you have any questions or comments or feedback for us, you can reach me directly at the heart of showbusinesscom.