www.cloudandlolly.com

Tell us a little bit about Cloud + Lolly. How did you come up with the name?

Cheryl: You know that often creative people’s heads are in the clouds; well, that’s how Cloud came about. And Lolly just sounds good. And the name fits in perfectly with the first initials of Cheryl & Laurie.

Laurie: Cheryl can take full credit for the name Cloud+Lolly, I came on board once it was already up and running!

You are sister. What is it like working with you sibling? Do you ever fight?

Cheryl: Definitely. (we used to fight over crayons when we were toddlers, that’s when it started) and disagreements happen. We’re both so different and have different ideas and sometimes struggle to makes things work. I think because we have a common goal, that helps us keep moving forward & growing, both personally & professionally.

Laurie: Yes, we fight…….luckily, because we are so different (me- bossy & controlling, Cheryl- quiet & non-confrontational) we seem to be able to work things out.

Growing up did you always dream of running your own business together?

Cheryl: No! We did run lemonade stand before Cloud+Lolly and we helped out with the family sod farm for 20 years. I’ve always had an entrepreneurial spirit and it’s definitely the path I wanted to follow.

Laurie: Never could have imagined this in a million years!!  Not with my sister, or anyone else!

What does a typical day look like at Cloud + Lolly HQ?

Cheryl: We both work out of our homes. This time of year is super busy as we’re prepping for the upcoming summer farmers’ markets & shows etc. and making stuff & packaging everything like crazy!

Laurie: My scene is a wee bit different than Cheryl’s…..days consists of making jewelry, ordering supplies, making more jewelry, sales calls, store visits…..add 3 young children into the mix…..my days are CRAZY!!

You sell online, in stores and at shows. Do you think it is important to diversify?

Cheryl: Definitely. We’d be silly not to! There are so many avenues available to get our products in front of as many

people as possible. It’s lots of work, but totally worth it!

Laurie: Absolutely! There are so many fun and exciting ways to get our product out there, face to face direct sales at shows like Make It! (PS; you guys rock!), online sales, wholesaling, consignment, home parties with our family and friends. We anticipate a great deal of growth this year!

What is your favorite part about selling at Make It?

Cheryl: The overall atmosphere. There’s such a great vibe going on from the organizers, to the vendors to the customers.

I love seeing the talent & creativity out there as well as the ear-to-ear smiles on the customers faces.

Laurie: It has been really exciting to be able to be a part of Make It over the last few years! Watching the show grow into an event that people really look forward to attending has been great. I love meeting and networking – two of our wholesale accounts met us at Make It!

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www.shprixieland.com

1. Tell us a little bit about how ShprixieLand came to be?

Well, our nicknames are Shpriken and Pixie and one day a clever friend combined the names and called us the Shprixies and it stuck.
In 2002 we bought this place on Kootenay Lake in B.C. that consists of two houses connected by a foot bridge. Our dream was to have multiple art studios for pottery, filmmaking, painting, woodworking, you name it we pretty much wanted to do it. But the place was a real fixer-upper and instead of being able to make art we had to do all of these home renovations. It became sort of gruelling until we realised that the home renos could be just as much of an artistic expression as anything else. Our home became this huge sculpture and the name ShprixieLand just seemed to make perfect sense.

2. Your style is very unique and eclectic. Do you think it is important to differentiate yourselves from other potters?

We’re lovers of art. We collect a lot of other peoples art and pottery and handmade creations. I think that what we like most about it is that everyone has a unique voice that can come through in whatever it is they’re making if they take the time to cultivate it and to really listen to who they are and what they enjoy about their craft.
I think that this is all that we’re doing. It’s like we’re part of a dance with all of these other creative beings and everyone adds to the dance by sharing some free creative expression of who they are. So, no we haven’t actually decided that we need to differentiate ourselves from other potters. Instead our work has just naturally become what it is because we’re playing and because we have a lot of fun trying new things.


3. I noticed you have a well updated blog. How has social media impacted your business?

We’re very new to the whole blog thing. Actually it was the Calgary Make It in November of 2010 that motivated us to create a web presence for ShprixieLand.

Life here in ShprixieLand is a very colourful and often rather surreal experience and we felt that having a blog would help us to share this story. The work we make is so entwined in who we are and what our daily experiences are that the blog really helps to put it into context.
ShprixieLand is something of a hobby farm. We do a lot of gardening, we have our own laying chickens and so there is a definite rustic sort of element to our lives here. At the same time it’s sort of like this psychedelic fantasy with all of these bright colours and this scrolled out trim and surprising little details everywhere you look. I guess that we feel that the story of our work is enhanced by the story of the place where it was made.
As aficionados of the hand-made we love to know something of the story behind the items we bring into our lives.

4. ShprixieLand sounds pretty awesome! What is a typical day like for you guys?

We have our regular daily chores of letting out the chickens and collecting eggs, feeding the dogs, cat and parrot but for the most part we try to make up our days as they come and go without really holding ourselves to a schedule. This means that we need to be conscious of the fine balance between practical daily things that need to be done and the freedom to be spontaneous and to be able to drop everything because you have just gotten some great idea for something you’d like to make.
We’re very tied to nature here so our lives go through cycles with the seasons. Depending on the season a typical day could consist of anything from chopping firewood, cleaning out the henhouse or working in the garden, then throwing a set of bowls to experiment with some new stamping technique we’ve thought to try. Or designing a new curved front porch that will complement the cement patio and the huge blue spiral that is etched into it. Then later sitting together at the kitchen table in our pyjamas doing an assembly line production of Christmas ornaments while watching a movie. Each day is it’s own unique little painting and not everyone of them is a masterpiece but they’re all different and they each have their own inspired little moments of splendour.


5. What is your favourite part about selling at Make It?

We had lots of fun at Make It last November. We danced so much while working behind our table that by the end of the weekend we felt like we’d been at a three day party.
Make It is a veritable candy store of hand-made goodies so trading our wares for other’s wares is definitely a highlight. Not to mention that it’s located at the Chinese Cultural Centre so there are great places to eat on every block. Eating at ethnic restaurants is something we get to do rarely living as we do 45 minutes away from the closest town.

www.superflylullabies.com

1. What inspired you to start Superfly Lullabies?

4. What is the best part of your day?
Oh!  I am a lover of life!  I love every part of my day …particularly when it doesn’t including the whining of two darling children.

But if I’m getting specific, one of my faaaavourite things about doing what I do, is the mobility it brings: after dropping the kids off at their respective day-gigs, my morning ritual includes a large, daily dose of the finest cuppa joe, this side of the Fraser River at the Watershed Arts Cafe, a local haunt for all of us little business people, needing to get out of our own spaces for a bit of community {+ free wifi}, and do the techy part of my work.  I can literally feel LIFE creeping into every part of me, drinking that coffee, chatting with friends, plugging away on photos and spreadsheets… and of course, catching up with my little twitterverse.

6. What is your favorite part about selling at Make It?
Getting to talk to my customers, face to face… because it’s becoming more and more common to depend on emails, and texts and calls, and whatnot.  I’m a people-person.  I thrive in the Make It environment!  I luuuurve talking to, and just hanging out with my clients!

And of course… the vendors.  I get so excited when it’s Make It time!!  The hype before the shows… even hauling all my stuff in, is such fun, because of the community there!  There’s always someone to lend a hand, there’s always someone to say hello to, there’s always someone to bounce ideas off: the wealth of knowledge I’ve acquired and depth of friendships I’ve forged at shows like Make It have been so unexpected, and if you’ll forgive the gushy-sentimentality; probably what I treasure most, in being a part of the Make It community!

Also, live djs on-site, and a licensed bar is certainly nothing to complain about now, is it.

Patrick Markle – The very talented artist from Fernie BC is the designer of the week!

What will you be selling at Make It Vancouver & Edmonton?

I will be selling digital prints and original original acrylic landscape paintings which focus on life in the mountains.

How did you get started?

After fininshing my HBFA at Lakehead University I moved out west to experience life as a ski bum and I got hooked.  When I moved to Fernie BC I began painting the surrounding mountains and doing small shows in town.  Since then my work has evolved and become more refined and I now tour BC and Alberta showing my work to anyone interested.

Your style is unique and recognizable (which is a very good thing!) What inspires you?

I have definatly developed my own style.  I like to think of it as Canadian post impresionist combined with Japanese wood block printer.  My inspiration comes from experiences in nature.  I do a lot of backcountry touring in the winter and a lot of camping and canoeing in the summer.  I always have my camera with me and I work from photos when I get back to my studio.  Most simply I am inspired by mountains, water and dramatic light.

Do you think buying local & handmade is a growing trend Canada?

I don’t know if hand made is a growing trend.  I think it has always been a big part of Canadian culture steaming from the days of the pioneers.  We have always had a big community of folk arts and crafts people, maybe because of our long winters people need something to do on those cold nights.  I think the hand made revolution is becomming much more important as consumer culture keeps canadians focused on bargan bin pricing without thinking about how and where things are made and who is making money off them.  In a world of globalisation I think its time to start thinking and buying localy.

Is it true when you’re not painting you’re also a male model?

Its true, I have had some down and out moments where art just wasn’t paying the bills.  The last time I experiences such hardship I was discovered on Whyte Ave in Edmonton by the head designer and CEO of Ole Originals.  He said he really liked my look and dubbed it the half drowned sewer rat.  He pulled me out of the gutter took some photos and paied me in T-shirts.  As you can imaging my head was a spin from the glamorise excitement of the day and just as quickly as it had started ….it was over.  I turned around and he was gone.  I was alone sporting some fresh new duds looking confused but sexy!  I often wonder if my short lived modeling career was just a dream but as soon as I step into my closet, I see my Ole Originl “Rock Star” t-shirt and I know that moment in the fassion industry was real and somehow the best time of my life.

How did We3 come to be?

We (Christine, Jessica and Glencora) started in response to our customers demand  for more essential layering pieces.  twigg&hottie had been in business for 5 years and we we’re ready for a new challenge.

Is it a challenge to work and collaborate with 2 other creative minds?

A welcome challenge.  We are really open and honest and try to keep our egos out of it.  It’s a challenge but also a benefit.  2 partners means we always think of different ways to handle business matter and design issues. The division of labour is set up to work to our strengths and we work really well together and we keep our practice tight – weekely meetings, hands on approach but with a huge amount of trust and faith in each other that we’re each doing our best for the businesses.

How do you find inspiration for each design?

Inspiration come from many places.  We usually pay homage to either nature or an historical era that we find inspiring.  This season it’s the Moon that inspired us.  We collectively choose our inspiration then go and design individually.  Then we bring our drawing to the table all together and workshop them as a group.  It’s so cool how even though we design individually there is usually a cohesive look and feel to the collection.

What does the future of We3 look like?

Our collections will continue to be a mix of essential and fashion forward designs.  We are staring to work with wovens to be able to offer to our stores pants, jackets and coats.  We want to grow the business to have 50 stores in the next 2 years and we even talk about a We3 flagship store but that’s a more long term goal.

I saw your store twigg&hottie was featured on a Today Show fashion segment for The Olympics and We3 had a write up in the Vancouver Sun. How has this type of press impacted your business?

The Today show grew our American audience and gave us a ton of websales.  We also loved that our local people saw us on the today show – they thought that was pretty cool.  Any publication with a large readership is powerful to get press in and every time we are featured in the Sun it translates into real business for us.  It’s particularly nice to be recognized by our home town!

What are you looking forward to most at Make It Calgary?

Looking forward to meeting the devotees of Make It – I hear they are discerning, great shoppers:)  Also looking forward to hanging with the ‘market circuit’ people.  Since we only do this market it’s a great way for us to stay connected to our comrades and get to know a new market place.

Do you have your heart set on buying anything in particular from any of the designers?

I do a trade at the end of each show for each of us at We3.  I love shopping the show for my 2 business partners even more than I like shopping it for myself.  I am so addicted to Mindan’s jewelry I end up trading with her for myself each and every time!

Get to know Brandy Dyer and her company Brandy Ink in this weeks designer of the week!

Tell us a little bit about yourself?

I live in Creston, BC where I own and operate a graphic design and print shop.

I’ve always been an artist. When I was a kid, I spent all my time drawing, painting, doing something creative. My art teacher in high school encouraged me to study visual arts. (And that’s a good thing since I was hopeless in every other subject.) I packed up my art supplies and headed to Medicine Hat College to study design and visual communications.

When I came back to Creston, grown up stuff took over for a while. I started a business, got married, had kids and then lost my husband in a motorcycle accident. Part of me always wanted to get back to doing art, but there was just too much other stuff in the way.

That is, until I started my blog. BrandyInk.com

You have an awesome blog! Do you think it correlates to the success of your business?

Thanks! And yes, I think it’s been a big part in the success of my art. I started my blog with the hope that it would motivate me to make art. I put it out there – I’m going to make art – and so you, reading it – expect me to. And then I do it. No excuses. And it’s working. Since I started my blog in January, I’ve produced 26 pieces of art. If you check out my blog, you’ll notice that it acts as a creative diary for me. As I create art, I post it to my blog along with a write up on each piece. I’m having so much fun with it and people seem to really love it.

How did you get started making cards and art?

Well, like I said, I own a graphic design and print shop. So, it’s just way too handy for me to produce prints, cards, calendars, etc. from my artwork. I love mixing my graphic design skills in with my art. It’s so much fun.

It is so cool that you got your girls involved! Was that there idea or theirs?

My kids wanted to go to Disneyland a couple of years back. I was a single mother at the time and I had just lost my husband (their dad) in a motorcycle accident a year before. I didn’t have enough money to pull the trip off but I knew they deserved it more than any other kids after all they’d been through. My oldest daughter Kienna (who was 6 at the time) came up with the idea of making crafts and selling them to raise money for the trip. I modified her idea and made it into something tangible: greeting cards.  The girls spent a lot of time coloring their hearts out. I then took those images and printed them at my shop, and finally they hand embellished them with sparkled bits and flowers. The cards were a huge hit and they sold enough to buy their way into Disneyland for three days and had enough money left over to spend in the gift shops. I was so proud of them and all of their hard work that I decided to let them continue their business. They are now working on raising enough money to travel to Disneyworld in the spring of 2011.

Why do you think entrepreneurialism is important for children to learn?

I am a huge believer in making kids work (even though making cards isn’t really work because they totally love doing it). I believe it teaches them a lot about life and that not everything comes easy. When we travelled to Disneyland, it was so rewarding to see the looks on their faces when I told them they had made enough money to go. They were so proud of themselves and they totally understood that it was because of all their hard work, that the trip was possible.

What are you looking forward to most at Make It?

Wow. There are so many things I am looking forward to at the show. I am excited to meet other artisans, because I am always looking to surround myself with artistic people. I’m also really excited to get selling my new “wine and martini” series, which I’ve made especially for the Make it show. I will have originals for sale, as well as limited edition prints, cards, necklaces, and calendars. I will also bring along my fruit series which I launched in the spring.

If you had to do it over again, is there anything you would do differently?

Nope. I really love my life.

If you weren’t an artist what would you be?

To be honest I can’t imagine what I’d do without art in my life. I think if I hadn’t gone into graphic design, I probably would have picked interior design as my second choice. There’s just something about spending other people’s money on beautiful things that turns my crank!