We only get one Earth, that's why our Canadian makers are committed to respecting the environment and taking the welfare of our world into account when creating.
From their choice of materials to their manufacturing process, they embrace the extra steps that come along with being kind to the planet and are always pushing the limits of their art, one creation at a time.
As a child, Tania was surrounded by art. Her father and aunt, who used to be art teachers, had their own studio for a long time and contributed to her artistic vision. Her favourite game? Playing "art shop!" This instinct for beauty never left.
To bring her delicate hand-painted and screen-printed textile works to life, the artist draws inspiration from the changing seasons and the exquisite surprises that pop up from making things by hand. Using an ingenious approach, she makes her own natural dyes and inks using black walnut, oak gall, and sumac, which she often collects on her local walks.
"I don't try to work around obstacles, I work with them. I draw inspiration from the object in front of me to create something new."
In an effort to re-value material, glass-blower Caroline Couture works exclusively with recycled glass to create eye-catching lights. Since she started her project in 2012, she has developed a network of partners in local businesses that provide her with empty bottles they would have otherwise tossed in the trash. The glass she gets inspires her to make unique and bright creations.
Passionate about goldsmithing, Pilar is also fascinated by the history that jewellery carries with it. Each piece is a form of expression and often represents a moment in time, a celebration, or a commitment.
Those feelings are what she strives to immortalize in her timeless and sophisticated pieces that she makes with upcycled metals and precious stones from old jewellery. While creating, she always adds a bit of new material to make sure the refined material is clean and workable. In a way, this also marks a new beginning.
After major flooding in 2019 that destroyed her inventory and forced her to start from scratch, Catherine Therriault got right to work collecting our country's rich resources and fashioning them into her line of reinvented care products, free of chemically produced fragrances.
Proud of the Canada she calls home, the designer gathers natural ingredients from coast to coast to make her products. In her small batches, you'll find clay from glaciers in British Columbia, Gaspé algae, Labrador tea, verbena leaves and maple syrup from Quebec... all of them treasures offered up by Mother Nature that celebrate the boreal beauty of our land, our roots, our identity, and our reality.
Due to the lack of interest of industry leaders to reduce their environmental impact, Felix Böck, a designer and engineer, wanted to act. So, he started harvesting chopsticks and collecting what others in his city view as waste in order to give it a second life.
Today, the "chopstick collector" travels to restaurants around Vancouver harvesting post-consumer chopsticks to transform them into appealing designs that are innovative, sustainable, and most importantly, carbon-negative.
With their innovative spirits, perseverance, and commitment to changing people's minds, our Canadian creators are helping us consume smarter, in a way that prioritizes the welfare of our planet.
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