Tell Us Your Story. What motivated you to start your business? Why are you passionate about what you do?

Daniel and I worked together for several years for other businesses, before realizing we work so well together, it's time to build something for ourselves. The first question we asked was, 'what do we love?'. To which the answer was, food and design! But since neither of us were professional chefs or bakers - we went for design. A lot of our community were designers who moved away because there wasn't a lot of space for them here, 16 years ago. We had a vision to create a space we could share with them and help to amplify and educate our city about design, while building community back up in Cambie Village (after the Canada Line). With that in mind, we set out to build a design shop that celebrated our local makers, while embracing international design and made sure to curate an offering that could be accessible to most. We wanted to be a contemporary design shop where everyone felt welcome. Over the past few years, people have been saying that brick and mortar is dead. We believe that couldn't be further from the truth. That was further reinforced during Covid, when sometimes Daniel and I would be the only people some got to see in person. We are a safe space for people to convene, peruse, share, connect with others, and find delight in seeing and touching things in person. By being an independent small business, we are not only actively contributing to the arts and culture of our city, but to the safety of our neighbourhood by being open 7 days a week. The more vibrant our neighbourhoods and community are, the safer they are for everyone. We're passionate about brick and mortar business because we act like a third space for people of all kinds to be welcomed, seen and heard in a joyful, warm space.

Describe and demonstrate, including metrics, your community support. How do you support and uplift your community, and how do they show that support in return? Minimum 25 words, maximum 2500 characters.

We support our community in a variety of ways; by purchasing and selling local's work, by throwing events at our shop that are open to everyone - we've curated and hosted over 50+ events in our shop, we have been a Board Member on the Cambie Village Business Improvement Association for about 10 years, we volunteer for Emily Carr in their 3rd year program to critique and then host and sell their work (about 7 years), Caroline volunteer's to co-host PechaKucha Vancouver (6 years), we donate to local schools and community initiatives, we shop local, we collaborate with local artists and we attend several community events, we share on social media and people support us in return by writing positive reviews, by attending our events, and by supporting us so we can be in business for 15 years!

Why do you deserve to win the Business Impact award?

I think anyone who runs a sustainable business with integrity, respect, kindness, compassion and a sense of being in service to others and community, deserves to win an award! There are so many challenges facing entrepreneurs today, and to do all this with a relentless commitment to keep doing it with an authentic drive to better community is something that is not for everyone. But it is for us, and if that makes us deserving of such an award, then we will accept it with grace and gratitude.

Tell Us About Your Culture. How are you creating a sustainable and healthy workplace where everyone feels welcome? Provide examples of leadership you show in interactions with clients, vendors, contractors, staff and others.

When people come through our door, our number 1 goal is to make them feel comfortable by simple giving them a warm greeting. Our goal is not about selling them something, but rather to make sure they have a good experience in our space, so that they can walk out hopefully feeling better than when they came in. Contemporary spaces can often feel cold and unwelcoming, our space is the opposite. We are wheelchair, stroller, dog, ice cream, coffee in hand, friendly! We make a conscious effort to not only support a diverse range of makers, but hire in the same way. Everyone is treated with respect and dignity. And in order to make our business sustainable, we are always looking critically at how we can be doing better - whether financially or socially. Some of our vendors we've worked with since day 1 (and we always pay our bills on time!), some of our clients, also the same. We have honest, transparent relationships with our vendors and reps - that's why they've lasted so long. Clients who move, come back to visit us when they're back in the area or back on holiday, one of our team members has been with us for over 10 years, and we mentor and connect our team and introduce them to people who might help along with their career path. We also mentor clients or makers who are looking to bring their products to market. Our culture is one of honesty, integrity and connection.

Why do you think you should win the Premier’s People’s Choice Award?

Premier's People Choice Award? Because we are a business that extends beyond our shop. Not only do we support what/who we curate within, but because we are champions of people. Of their stories, of their passions, of their families, of their businesses - as shown not only in our events, but in all that we do outside of the shop in community; PechaKucha, Cambie BIA, local schools and initiatives, Emily Carr, and more.