Film + Editor
For me, Stria showcases a love of craft and belief in hands. I will continue to delve into west coast craft businesses and showcase their stories here.
About
Striations or grooves are marks left on handcrafted work as a byproduct of the production process. Stria explores the terrain of specialty handmade products in British Columbia. In essence:
Stria is a resource to explore and get to know artisan & hand-crafted businesses in British Columbia. We encourage you to be curious, to personally engage with local craftsmen, and to see for yourself the effort, skill and beauty visible in their work.
This artisan archive builds the narrative of each individual company through the deconstruction of their stories, products, and local interconnections. These are craftsmen with strong relationships to their materials, craft, and the communities that they actively work and collaborate in.
Who We Are
Sean Brouwer
Elisa Dametto
Writer + Graphic Design + Film
When she isn't busy burninating content, Elisa goes around making sure people draw consummate v's.
Liam Leyland
Film + Editor
The solution to any communication problem: "Lets just make a video about it!"
Jeffrey Qua
Web Design + Audio + Film
Jeffrey loves to handmake everything including the Stria site. He carefully handpicked each pixel to make sure the site is fresh and delicious.
Ariana de Ryss
Producer + Writer + Film
Ariana a.k.a. Rogue works on film projects when she isn't reading up on her studies or flying around and fighting with the X-Men.
Chungwon Yang
Producer + Graphic Design + Film
Her love for typography, strawberries and all hand-crafted things motivate her to continuously help local artisans vocalize their unique stories through Stria.
Contact
Contact us naw mean?.
"We do start from the raw material and we do everything on-site right up to the finished product."
Pemberton Distillery prides itself on offering the highest quality organic spirits. Each spirit eloquently captures the lush terroir of the BC region, formed to a refined palate, without over-distillation. Based out of the small farm town Pemberton, the Schramm brothers saw new industry for the potato family using local ingredients to produce premium grade vodka.Headed by Pemberton’s Scotland-trained brewmaster Tyler Schramm, the small distillery uses traditional, hand-operated copper stills and energy efficient distillation.
Narrative Map
Product Essence
"We are one of the few distilleries that actually has a system like that."
Product Essence
Best Potato + Best Water = Best Vodka
Glass
Since Pemberton Distillery only orders small amounts of glass for their business, they purchase their glass bottles from a small manufacturer in France that is willing to support their smaller shipments. These bottles are filled and often sealed by hand with the distillery’s spirits.
Malted Barley
Malted barley is used in the distilling process because of their natural enzymes. Pemberton Distillery chooses to use them instead of chemically made enzymes to help break down the starch in the potatoes and convert them to sugar to induce fermentation.
Pemberton Potatoes
Potatoes make up the bulk of the ingredients that go into making the potato vodka. These potatoes are supplied by local organic farms in Pemberton. The use of potatoes yields a more traditional vodka with a potent and distinctive flavor.
Glacial Water
Pemberton has some of the cleanest water in the world with pristine glacial water from the mountains and Pemberton's valley creeks.
Herbs & Botanicals
Their organic certified and award-winning Schramm Gin uses 8 organic herbs and botanicals. Essential in creating the aromas and flavors, some of the herbs include traditional elements of gin such as juniper berries and coriander seed, but also some locally-inspired elements such as rosemary and hops.
Pemberton Distillery
Suppliers
& Affiliates
& Affiliates
Across the Creek Organics Farm is Pemberton Distillery’s main supplier of the organic potatoes used to make their spirits, including their organic potato vodka. They are a small, family-operated farm in Pemberton, BC.
Pemberton, BC
Araxi is one of very few local restaurants where one can enjoy Pemberton Distillery’s spirits. Their dishes and drinks are all derived from local farms and businesses
around the Pemberton Valley, with whom they frequently interact with.
araxi.com
Whistler, BC
Whistler, BC
With a strong commitment to sustainable business practices and using only local, organic ingredients and products, Alta Bistro is an active supporter of local farms and industries around Pemberton and Whistler Village. Pemberton Distillery’s organic potato vodka and gin are both featured among the spirits offered at Alta Bistro.
altabistro.com
Whistler, BC
Whistler, BC
Across The Creek Organics
Araxi
Alta Bistro
"That is the hard part though is finding the wood... it's challenging, but it is the fun part too..."
Product Essence
Founded by Craig Pearce, Union Wood Co. is a team of craftsmen designing custom, reclaimed wood furniture and accessories. Salvaging materials from deconstructed warehouses to century old theatres, the personality behind their work comes from the natural character in the wood and antique materials. They reuse and repurpose findings to fit every project, developing a unique personality for each along the way.
Narrative Map
"Spend a little money on tools maybe instead of buying furniture, maybe I'll buy some tools and make my own furniture..."
Union Wood & Supply Co.
Suppliers
& Affiliates
& Affiliates
Union Wood Co. often enjoy working with local retail & commercial clients including Meat & Bread, a sandwich shop dedicated to using the highest quality of meat and local produce. Locally reclaimed wood was used to produce the serving trays used for all Meat & Bread’s sandwiches.
meatandbread.ca
Vancouver, BC
Vancouver, BC
Joel Berman Glass Studio is a design and manufacturer of architectural glass, located in Vancouver, BC. The salvageable wood found Union Wood Co. in this case, as the studio brought in salvaged timber from one of their studio warehouses to be reborn as unique furniture.
jbermanglass.com
Vancouver, BC
Vancouver, BC
Using over 100 years old oak barn wood, a country-style porch swing for the entrance of graphic design and letterpress printing studio Porchlight Press was constructed. In return, Porchlight Press is currently helping reinvigorate Union Wood’s branding.
porchlightpress.com
Vancouver, BC
Vancouver, BC
49th Parallel Coffee Roasters is a Vancouver-based coffee bean roaster that strives to produce the highest quality of coffee, believing in having a direct relationship with their suppliers. Union Wood and Supply Co. created for them a set of handmade custom aprons and serving trays.
49thparallelroasters.com
Vancouver, BC
Vancouver, BC
Meat & Bread
Joel Berman Glass Studios
Porchlight Press
49th Parallel
Product Essence
"When we first started, we actually made the boards out of fibreglass and old plywood..."
"We've got a lot of help from the ski and snowboard and so our first presses looked a lot more like snowboard type presses"
Initially a fun venture to build personal longboards, Landyachtz helped begin the lowered board revolution. Childhood friends Mike Perreton and Thomas Edstrand founded the company in 1998, originally operating in the basement of a Whistler cabin. Drawing inspiration from the sensations and carving of skiing, they were driven by the desire to build the highest quality performance boards. Now pioneers in the sport, their boards offer durability, a fun mode of travel, and enhanced maneuverability in professional racing.
Narrative Map
Product Essence
Canadian Maple
The current material that composes most of Landyachtz’s boards. Grown in eastern Canada, the sheets of wood are glued together in Landyachtz custom-made presses that creates the company’s notorious longboard shapes and designs.
Foam Core
Landyachtz’s 100% fully developed in-house, high end longboard. The core of the board is made of performance foam that is strong but more importantly light. This core combined with the carbon fibre finishings on the edges of the board make a product that is extremely high performance and made for the most serious of longboard racers.
Bamboo and Birch Core
Other products are comprised of bamboo and birch cores in order to make the board more flexible. This core is sandwiched between fibreglass that is brought in from Quebec and then laminated in-house. This ride design is close to the original creations that Landyachtz made in the early stages of the company.
Technology R&D
A key aspect that separates Landyachtz from other skateboard manufacturers is their investment in advancing longboarding technology. Everything in the design from the wheels and trucks to the board’s core are constantly tweaked and modified by manually cutting, molding, pressing and assembling boards. These developments are shaped by contributions provided by professional racers.
Sport
Since 1998, Landyachtz has been a big contributor in overseeing the rise of longboarding as a sport. They have become extremely well known for their “dropped platform” style longboards due to its ability to give the rider a lower centre of gravity and improved stability while racing. Professional riders work in cooperation with Landyachtz in order to perfect their rides for competition.
Landyachtz
Suppliers
& Affiliates
& Affiliates
A member of Landyachtz’s Eh Team, Dillon Stephens both assists with in-house board innovation and is a media promoter of Landyachtz. He is one, among many professional racers, that have a very close personal connection to the longboard manufacturer.
Andreis Preis is an illustrator and graphics artist based in Amsterdam. His artwork is featured on a number of Landyachtz’s longboards. He also collaborated with Landyachtz to create the Chinook charity raffle board for the Sierra Club of BC.
designerpreis.com
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Amsterdam, Netherlands
A member of Landyachtz’s team of sponsored athletes, Kyle Martin also frequently works with the company to develop more functional and innovative longboards for racing. Together, they continue to push the evolution of longboard designs and propel the sport.
The first ever “Landyachtz” was built in the basement of the Blackcomb Ski Club, where they helped the duo in the early days before the kick-start took off by providing them a workspace. The founders’ connections to the ski club and the sport of skiing has continually served as a source of inspiration in their approach to new designs and in honing their craft.
whistlerblackcombfreestyle.com
Whistler, BC
Whistler, BC
Dillon Stephens
Andreas Preis
Kyle Martin
Blackcomb Freestyle Ski Club
Product Essence
Antiquities
While searching old commercial and industrial spaces for reusable wood, Union Wood often finds distinct, antique industrial equipment, architectural items and other quirky objects. These antiques are incorporated into many projects, enriching the character and personal qualities behind their work by further emphasizing each piece as one of a kind.
Metal
Metal is often a feature in Union Wood’s more creative pieces. They take existing metal objects including fans or steel straps, cutting and reshaping the material to suit the specific needs of a project. The addition of recycled metal into their furniture complements Union’s reclaimed wood and allows for more versatility in their variety of fun and unique items.
Reclaimed Wood
Breathing new life into salvaged old wood is one of the most challenging, but rewarding aspects of Union Wood. They firmly believe in preserving the natural character of the wood they reuse, letting the material’s individual characteristics speak for itself. Reusable wood is obtained from everywhere; deconstructed old homes to industrial warehouses throughout North America. With each project, Union Wood carefully selects wood they deem best suited for the job, taking time to properly prepare, cut and build their handmade furniture.
Product Essence
Porchlight Press is a rarity, being a traditional letterpress print studio. Their work uses manually operated machines requiring practiced technique to produce elegant, crisp, and impressed prints. Heather Braun founded Porchlight’s identity on the idea of sharing and the warmth of welcoming neighbors to your front porch. This represents itself in their approach to work, clients, and local collaborations and industries.
Narrative Map
"Letterpress, the idea of it I realized, would be the answer to what I was looking for..."
Product Essence
Best Potato + Best Water = Best Vodka
Paper
Paper is perhaps the most essential component of every product printed at Porchlight Press. Porchlight’s use of traditional letterpress machines enable many different types of paper to be used for printing compared to modern offset printing, granting them the ability to utilize high grade and more tactile paper materials to create memorable and richly textured, handmade paper products.
Ink
Unlike offset printing or other modern printing methods, ink can only be applied with one color at a time on letterpress machines. Spot colors are also used to determine each color instead of CMYK or RGB. At Porchlight, they often use thicker ink for their prints due to the presses and continue to optimize and experiment with their inks to ensure the best quality prints.
Letterpress
Porchlight sets itself apart from other printing agencies by using manual letterpresses for their printing work. They use auto-feed windmill presses for quicker production, a manual 1907 Colt’s Armory press for dealing with more delicate paper materials, and a standard cylindrical Vandercook Press. With these machines, Porchlight can apply their craftsmanship to a wider range of printing projects.
Polymer Plates
Polymer plates are crucial for making letterpress printing a viable option with so many other forms of printing available. By replacing inefficient, traditional metal plates with light sensitive polymer plates, Porchlight can create any graphics digitally, and then make a molded plate to press their designs onto paper. This modern innovation allows the traditional methods of press printing to continue.
Porchlight Press
Suppliers
& Affiliates
& Affiliates
Love Story Media is an award-winning filmmaking company in Vancouver that produces high quality, artistic wedding videos for both local and international clients. In collaboration with Porchlight, Love Story Media’s identity was rebranded with re-designed packaging and business cards.
One highlight of Porchlight is their 1907 Colt’s Armory press. Founder Heather Braun acquired the letterpress from Jim Rimmer (1934-2010), a prominent graphic designer and printer from Vancouver. Today, he remains an inspiring figure in the local letterpress industry. Porchlight currently uses the Colt’s press for larger manual projects, carrying on the legacy and skills of the local legend.
Almost a sister company to Porchlight Press, Union Wood & Supply Co. constructed a country-style porch swing for their front entrance using over 100 year old salvaged oak barn wood. Porchlight is currently collaborating with the reclaimed wood manufacturer to rebrand their company.
Paper-Ya is a paper boutique store located on Granville Island, BC. They specialize in offering unique and high quality papers, along with notebooks, bookbinding, papermaking and stationery. Sharing a love for well crafted paper products, they are the only carrier of Porchlight’s notebook series in their upcoming product line.
paperya.ca
Granville Island, Vancouver
Granville Island, Vancouver
Porchlight Press worked with a group of students in the Graphic Design for Marketing (GDMA) program at Kwantlen Polytechnic University’s 2012 grad exposition. Together, they produced the catalogue for the week long exposition, using a combination of traditional letterpress and modern digital offset printing.
Love Story Media
Jim Rimmer
Union Wood
Paper-Ya
Graphic Design for Marketing