Lauded as the best “low profile event space” by Vancouver Magazine, Blim is a community-based arts and crafts facility where people of all levels of craft prowess can try their hand at screen printing and button-making, they might book time in the Blim Open Studio, or else be inspired by a gallery of indie artists’ works.
Those who got a chance to check out the Blim Holiday Market Centre on the 14th of December experienced a taste of the eclectic Blim style via 50 hand-selected indie vendors with handcrafted goods and art objects. If you missed it, be assured there will be many opportunities to take advantage of Blim’s resources in the new year … including getting your hands on a cat onesie. Sad Mag’s “craft correspondent” Kait Fowliechatted with Blim director Yuriko Iga to find out what’s in store.
Sad Mag: Who comes to Blim?
Yuriko Iga: The nice thing about Blim is that it is open to whoever is open to Blim. I like that our clientele is equally male and female. For a craft facility, it is sometimes hard to break the gender barrier, but I feel we have succeeded in that arena. We have clients from age 5 up to 75. Older people like to shop here because it reminds them of how they used to dress and how fun it was, and younger people like to shop here because they think that indie retro is cool.
We also have a clientele with diverse economic backgrounds. I am flattered when celebrities come in and are excited to find such a unique shop. As well, I am flattered that residents of the downtown eastside feel comfortable enough to come in and shop as well. We try our best to keep things affordable [so that] a wide range of people [can] enjoy our products. Even thought our roots are as an experimental venue for arts and music, we now have people from all walks of life taking the workshops. Creativity is for everyone!
SM: How and when was the concept for Blim thought up?
YI: When I was 4, I had a really vivid imagination. I got upset every time I dropped my stuffed animals because I thought they were real and would get hurt. So I created this imaginary animal kingdom called Blim Blim. I would go through this intense ritual of Blimatization to immunize all my animals from pain and suffering. Together, we lived in the land of Blim Blim. In order to be Blimatized, they needed to be given a Blim name, so all the animals had a first and last name. Some of the names included Sachan Bgwier, Snoopy Liachin, and Bigew Sanchez.
SM: Your ‘About’ page says you believe that “creative expression is a hallmark of health, both on an individual and societal level.” Can you elaborate on that?
YI: I believe that if all people practise creativity, it makes us happier and healthier. I believe that art practise should be part of preventative healthcare for mental and physical health. [Art] is a natural part of human behaviour that should be encouraged and practised regularly.
SM: What kinds of holiday gifts have been hot at Blim this year?
YI: Anything with cats and people [have been] making personal prints in the workshop to give to friends.
SM: What are your plans for Blim in the new year?
YI: We will be launching the new instructional video for the level 1 workshop, a project I worked on with a video group from Barcelona called Miniature Films. On January 4, 2014 at the first level 1 workshop of the year. This special video will only be available to those who take the introductory workshop.
…Blim is also launching a new line of adult onesies. Info TBA… (!)
Pip & Pin is the brainchild of Katie and Meghan, two sisters from Abbotsford who are enviously dextrous, crafty and enterprising. The grandmother-taught crafters specialize in one-of-a-kind, handmade knitwear, from chunky infinity scarves to cozy shawls to headbands. The pieces are in the works all summer—& now’s the time things start heating up for Pip and Pin.
If you need some seriously well made, love-injected gifts for your pals this winter, you’ll have plenty of chances to check out Pip and Pin’s cozy creations before the holidays—the duo has 5 craft shows before the big ‘uns for local crafters—Make it!and Got Craft? It’s clear that Katie and Megan couldn’t be more excited for the holiday handmade craziness.
Sad Mag caught up with the sisters to find out what it’s like to be fiercely committed chicks with sticks in a world of cookie-cutter clothing.
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What’s it like to work with your sister?
Megan: It’s wonderful! We’re so different, but we really know how to talk to each other and communicate effectively. A lot of the time, the things I don’t like to do she’ll do, and vice versa, so it works out well.
Katie: Because of our divided skill sets, it works well. It’s fun for us to hang out together, too. We always have a good time doing it.
Megan: We both grew up in Abbotsford, and I live there now. Katie lives in Vancouver.
Pip & Pin's chunky knit cowl scarf in emerald green
Were you crafty as kids?
Katie: Really crafty. There’s a big age difference between us though, so we were little at different times – we didn’t really craft together back then.
Megan: I worked with a lot of fabric. I remember at grandma’s house, I would hang out in her craft room and make doll clothes. She had all this crazy yarn and fabric in there.
Katie: I illustrated a lot, I was into painting. Our whole family is artistic though. Our grandma actually taught us how to knit. We learned at the same time, Megan was young I was a teenager.
Was it love at first stitch?
Katie: I was terrible at it for a long time but I just found that it’s so methodical and relaxing. I started knitting a lot when I was in school and had a crazy schedule. It would chill me out in the evenings. Then all of a sudden, we had all this knit stuff on our hands. Then Meghan found out about Etsy and she was like, we have to sell this stuff!
Megan: When I was living in Manning Park for a year working at the lodge at the top of the ski hill, I wasn’t working for a month or so during the off season, I’d knit hats for people in exchange for homemade dinner. I got a lot of good leftovers.
What inspires you?
Katie: At the beginning, we started with the collection of our grandma’s wool, and we had so much of it but none of it matched. The yarns inspired us. We kind of create things from that. Megan and I will pull form the same stuff, but our tastes are so different it makes what we have so diverse. People drop off bags of yarn for us because we love putting together random pieces of yarn.
Megan: The first time it happened it was our first market in Abbotsford, this woman came by and loved our stuff – later that day she came back with a huge bag of yarn she’d bought for her daughter and she never used it. She was like “here, you guys are awesome, take this!”
Katie: Yeah, a random customer, that was so lovely! Friends grandmas and moms will give us yarn too.
Megan: And people cleaning out their closets.
knit headband in rust red
What do you do when you’re not knitting?
Megan: I work at a coffee shop, but I like camping and in the summer lots of outdoor adventuring.
Katie: I’m a graphic designer for mid century modern furniture. I also do freelance work for a hotel, and a bunch of other things. Aside from working, there’s no time for anything else. Christmas at Mycroft is our first show, then Make It, then a couple small ones, and then Got craft is our last one. We have to be knitting all year to have enough stock.
Megan: Which is hard in the summer, we can get lazy.
How is your stock different in the summer?
Megan: We don’t tailor much to the summer right now because winter takes up so much of our concentration. Even in summer, we’re making all these big chunky pieces.
Katie: We did make other stuff this year so we could participate in some spring shows this year. We made these hand-dyed jersey knit infinity scarves. We haven’t taken pictures of any of it yet. It was fun it was unexpected results. What I had envisioned the dying process would create was different. I guess that’s all it is, an experiment. It was a new medium for us.
Megan: We had no idea what we were doing.
Katie: Hopefully next year we’ll get involved in one spring show well see how it does.
What are you most excited about for the holidays?
Katie: I was just saying to Megan how much we used to love Hallowe’en, I’d always go out and make a costume it was always a fun holiday we put so much effort into. Ever since we started this company, its like Halloween doesn’t exist. It’s just straight into holidays and knitting and preparing for shows now.
Megan: We turned into those people.
Katie: Holidays are so different for us now. I find that actually Christmas to be relaxing. We’re done then. Because, from mid-November to mid-December, we don’t have day off, were crazy at the markets, we’re on, were having fun and talking to other crafters and customers, and then it’s over and we have all this time.
Megan: We get to see friends and family, clean the house, that usually comes first.
brioche stitch infinity scarf in antique blue
How long have you been doing craft shows?
Katie: Fieldstone Vintage Market in Abbotsford. That was probably our first one. The year after that was when we decided to be serious and apply for the rest of the markets. You can’t just decide to go to the market and go, it’s a whole process.
Megan: We were shocked we got into the first year we applied to all lot of the big markets.
Katie: I branded us in school, when we started the company. I went to school originally for interior design and then I went for graphic design. I was in school for graphic design when we started our business. My teachers let me pull the company into my projects. I created our logo and all our brand name and we had a website so we looked for real.
Meghan: We looked for real – whether we were or not.
What’s next for pip and pin?
Katie: Megan designs most of our patterns, she’s, technically speaking, better at knitting than I am. We decided this year at Knit City to launch our patterns, so we’ve been selling our patterns and they’ve been doing well.
Meghan: Hopefully we’ll have a booklet we can put together for next year.
Katie: We do have some crazy plans but I don’t know if we can do them while we’re working jobs. I really want to do a knit furniture design launch, but that’s a really big project. We might need help with that one.
Megan: I’ve always wanted to transition well into spring and summer so that we can potentially one day have this as our full time business as opposed to something we just do in the winter.
Katie: We have a bunch of knitting machines we haven’t learned to use. We need a Grandma to take us on and workshop us on it. They’re really complicated machines. We got them at thrift stores.
Megan: We have like 3 and we haven’t touched them yet. One of them I got from my friend grandma’s friend who’s in a clothing guild. She also spins wool. All she wanted was a donation to her church for it. I was like “I can do that!”
You don’t feel like you’re giving away all your secrets?
Megan: It can be a little hard to let go sometimes.
Katie: People that knit will know they can knit and go knit it, but sometimes you just want to appreciate the product without having to do it yourself.
Megan: You look at something and think, I could do this, but am I actually doing to do it?
What do you love most about being part of Pip and Pin?
Katie: One thing that’s been great about taking this on is being involved in the craft community has been an amazing experience. Everyone shares equipment, gives each other tips and we’ve made so many friends.
Megan: Even if you’re “competition,” everyone is still so supportive and welcoming. It’s a great environment.
Designers Lisa Rose and Rachel Dian (AKA Fox & Fancy) are two cunning and creative business partners. Their vintage-feel necklaces and earrings, sourced from found objects, repurposed leather, papers, and fabrics, are handmade from prototype to packaging. Through Fox and Fancy, the duo explores their unique inspirations (think: geometry and wildernesss gardens), a true love for the local craft community, and friendship.
These ladies only stop crafting when freelance design work (Rachel) and teaching (Lisa) requires it. Sad Mag’s Craft Season correspondent Kait Fowlie nabbed the pair for a chat on a Sunday afternoon on the cusp of the holiday craft show frenzy.
Sad Mag: How did Fox & Fancy start?
Rachel: It seems like a lifetime ago. We have a mutual friend in Toronto who wanted to introduce us a few years back. He thought we’d be friends because we both always wore dresses. Oddly enough, he wasn’t wrong.
Lisa: He likes to brag about that.
Rachel: Anyway, after I moved here we started working on creative projects together, and eventually realized that we’d make a great team. We had some ideas about some jewelry we wanted to make – mostly it was stuff we wanted for ourselves.
Lisa: Rachel knew I’d always wanted to sell at craft shows, but was afraid to do it alone. We decided to go for it when we saw the call for vendors at last year’s Got Craft? show. We found out about 7 days before the deadline, so we spent an entire week putting together prototypes, a website, photographs and social media for our application. It all got done with moments to spare.
Rachel: We really didn’t think we’d get in at all. It’s so competitive.
Fox & Fancy model Gina Loes wears the ombré bunting necklace
SM: Is there one particular area you each specialize in?
Rachel: In terms of our workflow, we do most of the conceptualizing together. Pretty much everything we do is a mutual decision. We both do the crafting, but we definitely each have strengths and weaknesses.
Lisa: Rachel does all our web design, branding, and the organizational admin stuff. She’s in the process of building a new site for us, with e-store – hopefully everything will be up and running in December.
Rachel: Lisa is really good at the meticulous small detail stuff, so when I do inventory and all the web mastering, she gets tasked with all the finicky little jobs.
Lisa: The little tiny stuff. Like cutting really tiny things out of other things. If I had a superpower, that would probably be it…cutting tiny things out of other things.
Rachel: She’s got great eyesight – I have to wear these magnified prescription glasses I stole from my Dad! I’m pretty useless without them.
SM: Where do you love to shop?
Lisa: We like to do our holiday shopping at craft shows.
Rachel: Yeah, it’s hard not to spend all of the money we earn right away. The Shop Handmade movement is definitely a favourite.
Lisa: In Vancouver, we love the stretch on Main St. with all the consignment and vintage stores. One of the best things about the community is that businesses all around Commercial and Main feature the work of a lot of local crafters. I always think, oh good for them. If you can buy it from someone local instead, like if I need something for my kitchen, I’d rather go to Welks than a big store.
Rachel: Like Williams and Sonoma.
Lisa: Not that we can afford to go there. But that’s a separate issue.
Anna Tidlund in Fox & Fancy three tone leaf necklace
SM: What are you most excited for this Christmas season?
Rachel: Shows are always a really fun time. Getting the floor plan and looking up who our neighbours are is exciting. Many other craft businesses are predominantly run by women who are doing this as a full-time or part-time endeavor. It’s a really great community to be a part of.
Lisa: This year we’re going to be at Make It! (Nov 28th – Dec 1st) and Got Craft? (Dec 14th-15th). Last year at Got Craft? I couldn’t believe how many people they got through the door in the first few hours of the day. They have really great community support. Andrea and Robert are really good at promotion and getting people to come out. They moved to an even bigger location this year, the Maritime Labour Centre.
Rachel: This will be our first time at Make It!, which has over 200 vendors and is at the PNE Forum, which is a huge location. Make It! also does silent auctions to support good causes. They give back in a tangible, interesting way.
Lisa: All together, we will be selling at shows for six days this year. This is the most we’ve done so far. Some crafters do shows almost every weekend, and we are very impressed with that.
SM: Sounds like lots of work!
Rachel: Totally! Figuring out what you need to sell and getting the right amount of product for a show is definitely a juggling act. You have to believe in your product. We might make 60 of one item, and we don’t know if it’s going to sell or not.
Lisa: There are some things we made in our first year that took so much effort and just weren’t as successful as we thought might be, and other things we didn’t expect to be popular that sold out in the first couple hours of a show. But it’s all just part of the creative process, finding out that not everything speaks to people in the same way it speaks to you.
Rachel: There’s a time and a place for everything. It’s fun coming up with the prototypes and sourcing materials – I love that. Not everything’s a winner, but it’s a fun process.
Lisa: That’s Rachel’s superpower – sourcing.
SM: What advice do you have for other crafters who are starting out?
Lisa: Just try out a lot of things. When it comes to shows, it’s a lot of work, so you really have to think things through and put the work in. You get out of it what you put in.
Rachel: And don’t underestimate the power of branding.
Lisa: And friendship. I can’t imagine having tried this alone. We’ve had a lot of friends offer to help us. We just put out a lookbook and our friends modeled for us, because they’re the most beautiful people we know. Our friend and occasional Fox & Fancy model Anna Tidland is an amazing photographer, and she loaned us her really good camera and helped out with our latest shoot.
Rachel: And our other friend Gina Loes, the singer of the Ruffled Feathers, played us song and we got to put out a cute video of her – that was a really fun afternoon.
Fox & Fancy bow cuffs
SM: Can I touch some of your jewelry?
Rachel: Oh yeah. People always want to touch it, it’s a tactile experience. We use lots of different materials and repurposed leathers, which makes our jewelry a little bit special because you wouldn’t know what it’s made of just by looking at it. We also have a Found line that features raw brass and miscellaneous one-of-a-kind items. We’re always on the lookout for things that can be incorporated into our necklaces.
Lisa: We also use nickel and lead-free chain – and test them on allergy sensitive people.
Rachel: A.K.A. me. We also have leather cord necklaces that are really soft and comfortable (and great for men, too). We wanted to make our jewellery accessible for everyone. We’re hoping to extend to men’s stuff next year.
Lisa: Sometimes our male friends complain that we don’t have anything for them.
SM: What are some things you want to do next with Fox & Fancy?
Lisa: We both love screen-printing, and would love for that to be a bigger part of what we do. We’d love to expand our stationary line as well. That’s coming up, hopefully.
Rachel: One of the most rewarding things I noticed when I was a crafter in Toronto was seeing a stranger wearing your stuff walking down the street. I really hope we see more of that.
Angela Fama is all about sharing with sincerity. The Vancouver-based artist, who specializes in photography, is interested in breaking down the walls of ego between people. Drawing attention to the relationship between our “online image” and our honest image, Fama’s work explores vulnerability as a strength.
… she even wants you to read her preteen poetry. Her current in-the-works project, Wabisabi Butterfly, is a book of unedited journals from her youth. Stay tuned for her cross-America RV tour / DIY book launch next fall, where she will promote her bold new project. I met with the gutsy and multi-talented artist at Coco Et Olive on Main to talk photography, being in the moment, and feeling it in your toes.
Sad Mag: Who are you?
Angela Fama: I am Angela Fama. Artist. Photographer. Life Enthusiast.
SM: How are you?
AF: Good! I think the universal answer for how are you used to be used to be “really tired,” now its “really busy.” I’m really busy, but I’m satisfied.
SM: We have similar tattoos! What does yours mean?
AF: It means Wabisabi. Wabisabi is, for example, artwork that becomes more valuable when it becomes imperfect. Like clay pots, if one of them one cracks in the kiln, it takes a new form and becomes something entirely new. We always aim for perfection, but that’s not what life is all about. I like the imperfect circle on my arm as a reminder that. Wabisabi is also the name of the book I’m working on.
SM: Are you a writer?
AF: I never actually considered that I’m a writer. Wabisabi Butterfly is straight up, transcribed journals from age 15 to the present. Sharing is the intention of the book. I just want to puke out what’s truthful and whoever can relate, relates. It’s about sharing, not selfishness.
SM: Are you publishing it yourself?
AF: I’m not sure if I’m publishing it myself. It includes some pretty touchy subject matter, so I might go with an American publisher. I’ve had some interest [from publishers] but I want to complete the transcribing before I make any concrete decisions on the exact route—I only want for it to be the true transcribed journals, no changing or editing. My truth, straight up.
SM: Bad teenage poetry and everything?
AF: There’s a lot of really bad poetry. I had to stop at 18—I was like, I can’t read anymore of this. But I reached a point where I’m starting to say things like “maybe it’s better to speak clearly?” And it’s true—people get lost behind really complicated language. I started to be like, I don’t even understand this—how many different ways can you try to say one thing?
In Elizabeth Gilbert’s Ted Talk she references one female poet, Ruth Stone, who explains how a poem “passes through her.” Creativity doesn’t come from any one person. You’re collaborating with energy. It’s not about me gaining, it’s just about giving.
SM: Will there be a book tour?
AF:Next fall I’m going in an RV by myself across America. A few friends will join me. I have different spots to hit on the way for book talks in little places, so hopefully it’ll be a book launch. Maybe I’ll start a blog. I have 23 more journals to transcribe yet though.
SM: Will the book include your photos?
AF: I’m not sure yet, I’m pretty sure it will.
SM: Tell me about MIRRORFACE, your portrait series.
MIRRORFACEwas my portrait project. After MIRRORFACE is Profileface. MIRRORFACE was more about the internal ego. When people showed up [to my photobooth] I didn’t tell them what we’d be doing. They were alone in the room when they gave their expression to the camera. There are two pictures—one picture that looks like passport, I just said here’s a mirror, I’m going to play your music, get ready to go, just like a daily thing where you’re getting dressed. Everyone gave a similar look. It’s very different from the look people give when they know they’re being seen. And then I asked them to give the face that was pure ego—their online image. I asked them to create that image.
Fama with MIRRORFACE portraits
SM: Tell me about your project with The Acorn and Capture Photography Festival for Car Free Day.
I set up a pop-up studio in the vintage Boler on the street at Car Free Day and I photographed over 90 people that day. They all signed the release, left their shoes at the door, and they came into the bowler. It was so peaceful inside. We had a bit of a discussion, then I asked them “how are you?” and took their photo.
When people are walking down the street, their eyes are open but they may as well be closed. They don’t really see anything. Car Free Day was crazy because there was so much energy on the street. I wanted to try to break down the walls. I asked people to be with me in that space, and I just asked them “how are you?” Some of them probably had their answer prepared, but I wanted them to look inside themselves and give me the real answer. I got as many responses as there were people. Some people couldn’t break down that ego, but every person made it one step further than they set out to, that day. I could tell everyone was really present and wanting to shift. It was actually taxing for me because if I wasn’t present, it would have fallen apart. It was the first project in my life where I felt like I used every one of my skills.
[The project is] a direct conversation with Foncie Pulice, who did street photography in Vancouver in the 60s and 70s. He would photograph people walking down the street—70s cameras were crazy—he would draw everyone’s attention. Pulice photographed people doing pure ego face.
SM:You were in a car accident a few years ago.How did your car accident affect your outlook on life?
It was terrifying and enlightening. Now, I feel like I’ve been given this gift—I found something inside of me that was a lot happier than what I thought. I found this white light in me. After daily life started weighing on me again, I decided to find that place again; it is about being true to yourself at the heart.
The only way to be true to yourself is to put yourself first—it sounds so selfish, but there’s no need to try and force anything—life doesn’t need to be hard. Do what you want to do, because you’re going to die, really soon—this is it for this round! Death helped me learn that ego was keeping me from myself. The more ego I had, the less life I had. Humbleness and confidence is much more helpful without something you get—vulnerability is the greatest strength you can have.
SM: What kind of commercial work did you do before you started focusing on your art?
AF: Mostly for magazines. I work for magazines still, I like taking portraits, doing fashion when it’s fun. I worked for commercial ad agencies, where my job would have been clicking the shutter, and I just learned that’s not from me. I come from a punk rock background. I don’t shoot 14 year old girls, I get uncomfortable with that. I don’t shoot things that I want the world to have any more of—being part of my own demon isn’t something I wanted to do. I work for local designers. I don’t care about the lack of money. Art is my first and foremost. Drawing is my hidden talent. It makes me happy.
I grew up on welfare, I didn’t know you could make a living with art. Then I was like photography, cool, it’s easy! I can do that, I can talk to people! I thought I had to be a commercial photographer to succeed and I did pretty well. Then I had the car accident, and it sort of didn’t feel quite right anymore. It took a few years to fully understand that just because I can doesn’t mean I should.
SM: Any advice for aspiring photographers?
AF: If you can, spend a lot of time asking yourself why you’re doing it, and make sure the answer is for yourself. If there’s no one else doing what you’re doing, that means you’re probably doing the right thing. If it’s scary, go do it. The more scary it is, the more fucking right it is. Trust your instinct.
SM: What are your favourite strategies for getting present?
AF: I meditate. I focus on breathing. It’s more like paying attention to senses. For example, the way my feet feel right now, that voice beside us, feeling the air of that fan on my back right now. A friend of mine told me that if you think about two of your senses at the same time, you knock yourself back into the present when you’re too in your head.
SM: You’ve referenced feet a couple times. What’s with you and feet?
AF: So many people live in their heads—but you’ve got this crazy body! But how often do you touch your toes? Living in your head and getting caught in your thoughts has nothing to do with what you’re actually doing. Really, sweeping the floor is as awesome as having an awesome dinner or having sex. We label feelings shitty or good. Erase the “good” and the “bad.” It’s only our thoughts that make them that way.
I’m starting to sound cheesy, but this is what I think. When you clear out all our ideas, you feel really awesome. George Harrison says it’s like getting high. I think white light is inside all of us.
Check out Angela’s project, How are you? at the Capture Photography Festival, The Museum of Vancouver, (1100 Chestnut St.) opening Tuesday, Oct. 1.
SM: How and when was the concept for Blim thought up?
