Ask anyone and you will find that Vancouverites have fond memories of the annual holiday market that Circle Craft Co. Carefully curated each year and filled with wondrous creations, we never missed the opportunity to make a day of it complete with a splashy Aquabus trip from downtown to the foot of the bright yellow Bridge’s Restaurant.
Of course, the pandemic has messed with this tradition and Vancouver’s Circle Craft Co. has come up with a new and ambitious challenge for shoppers this holiday season. The Granville Island-based artist cooperative is launching their initiative #ShopYourCircle, a call for British Columbians to shop within a 50 km radius to find the best handmade and local goods from creators who could use the support.
The pandemic has made it near-impossible to host craft fairs, so independent artisans and craftspeople are struggling to ensure that they can reach their customers. Circle Craft Co-operative represents over 130 artists from across BC and usually hosts a busy market during the holiday season.
Several local artists are being showcased as a part of the #ShopYourCircle initiative.
Yookyoung Yong
Yookyoung creates handcrafted clay pieces inspired by her travels around the world (she picked up pottery in Vancouver after studying Buddhism and living in Europe for a decade). You can find many of her clay cups and bowls on display at Vancouver Marriott restaurants.
Chi Cheng Lee
Chi works mostly with sterling silver, gold, and semi-precious stone, crafting her unique pieces from her studio in West Vancouver. Her style blends Eastern themes with Western modernism, reflecting on her long career working and living in New York, Hong Kong, and Vancouver.
Minori Takagi
Minori is a glass artisan from Shizuoka, Japan who uses the Tombodama technique, working with glass beads that are created from an ancient lampworking method. Her lily earring and necklace set is a fan favourite, and many of her other pieces use a distinctive chain design.
Mary Fox
Creating in Ladysmith, Mary Fox is a self-taught potter who specializes in both functional and decorative works, and recently released a new book called My Life As a Potter. Lately, she is spending time working on a legacy program for young ceramicists, where she hopes to see an artist residency program run out of her pottery studio in the future.
Circle Craft Gallery is open for safe, in-person shopping at 1 – 1666 Johnson Street on Granville Island.
Author Profile
- Helen Siwak is the founder of EcoLuxLuv Marketing & Communications Inc and publisher of Folio.YVR Luxury Lifestyle Magazine and digital women's lifestyle magazine EcoLuxLifestyle.co. She is a prolific content creator, consultant, and marketing and media strategist within the ecoluxury lifestyle niche. Post-pandemic, she has worked with many small to mid-sized plant-based/vegan brands to build their digital foundations and strategize content creation and business development. Helen is the west coast correspondent to Canada’s top-read industry magazine Retail-Insider, holds a vast freelance portfolio, and consults with many of the world’s luxury heritage brands. Always seeking new opportunities and challenges, you can email her at [email protected].
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