Support Vancouver-made brands and local designers this Christmas

Vancouver has no shortage of creative talent, especially when it comes to homegrown designers. Designers, who create fabulous fashion, bold designs, carefully crafted hand-made jewellery, stylish ceramics, homewares, art and accessories.

Therefore, this holiday season make sure you consider independent retailers when it comes to looking for seasonal inspiration and thoughtful stocking stuffers. In doing so, not only will you discover unique gifts made in Vancouver, but you will also be supporting local designers.

With Christmas Day fast approaching meet three locally based designers and their contemporary crafts below.

Brooklyn Designs – Brook Mosher

Please tell us a bit about your product:
At Brooklyn Designs we design and create a modern boho-inspired jewellery collection that is great for layering and wearing everyday. Delicate in design, our jewellery pieces are very versatile and retail for $30 to $155. We also have a fun and functional hair tie and headband collection that are made with custom prints that we create in house. Our hair ties double as cute bracelets and retail for $8 to $10.

What makes your product unique?
We have had the pleasure of working with amazing costume designers and stylists for some of TVs hottest shows. You can see our jewellery designs on shows such as The Bachelorette, Scandal, Arrow, Once Upon A Time, Bones, The Vampire Diaries and many more! Our customers love being able to purchase a piece of jewellery that their favourite TV character has worn and we love how special that is to each of them.

What do you base your collections on?
When I am designing a new collection I pay close attention to what is currently selling and try to create more of what my customers love. Meeting my customers and speaking with them in person whenever I can is such a treat and I always learn something new about what they like and dislike. Nature is a heavy influence on my designs, as well as my own personal style and what I like to wear. When I am creating a new collection I let all of these factors speak to me and the end result is always so exciting and I can’t wait to share what I have created with all of our great customers and fans.

Where do you pull your inspiration from? Does Vancouver as a city inspire you? And if so, how?
Yes, Vancouver and all of her beautiful surroundings provide endless inspiration for me. I am very drawn to leaves, feathers and ocean inspired hues when I am designing, and these pieces are some of our strongest and most popular items. I also want the jewellery that I create to be lightweight and not fussy. Our customers love being able to layer our necklaces and bracelets together to create their own signature look.

With the holiday season upon us, is there anything particular potential customers should look out for?
Our bold geometric gemstone necklaces have been very popular this season as well as all of our As Seen On TV jewels. Most women don’t treat themselves to jewellery very often and that is why it makes such a lovely gift to give. Choosing something symbolic like our Infinity or Vitalia (Tree of Life) collections would be perfect for a special loved one, while our hair ties make for great stocking stuffers.

Where can people find your work?
You can find our collection online at www.brooklyndesigns.ca, as well as the following retailers: La Belle Vie in Cloverdale, Wish On a Star in Port Moody, Get Dressed in North Vancouver, YYoga locations and Livingroom Home Decor in Fort Langley.

8EIGHTY8

Please tell us a bit about your product.
8EIGHTY8 is a fashion and leather goods brand specializing in what we call ‘street luxe’ headwear. Essentially, we design and create premium trucker and baseball style hats.

What makes your product unique?
Our products are unique in a sense that you don’t really see too many trucker and baseball style hats in the luxury category. Each of our hats are individually handcrafted with different combinations of fine leathers and materials.

What do you base your collections on?
Although we do switch up our collections from time to time, we don’t really let too much outside influence direct what our newest collection is going to look like. We candidly cater to individuals that have a taste for simplicity, edginess and staying ahead of the trends.

Our clean, sleek designs, and the use of premium materials are intended to attract attention without much effort and so they shall remain. We aim to provide our customers with pieces that they can continue to pull out and wear for a long time without having to worry about whether or not it’s still in season.

Where do you pull your inspiration from? Does Vancouver as a city inspire you? And if so, how?
To be quite frank, we like nice things. But who doesn’t? We can appreciate and are inspired by other luxury accessories such as the different designer bags, watches, sunglasses and shoes. Why not design hats that can equally be matched to such items?

With the holiday season upon us, is there anything particular potential customers should look out for?
At the moment, we are actively working on finally expanding our accessory line, as intended. Stay tuned, as you can expect to see that we can do more than just hats.

Where can people find your work?
Our hats are currently sold online on our website www.8EIGHTY8.com and can also be found at Romeo + Juliet Clothing Boutique in Cambie Village. On social media, we’re @8EIGHTY8ltd or 8EIGHTY8. You can check us out on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

Fleet Objects

Please tell us a bit about your product.
We love working with natural materials like leather, wood and cotton but we’re best known for our ceramic products. We make glowing porcelain lights and jewellery inspired by fishing buoys and a ceramic tableware collection inspired by pools of water.

What makes your product unique?
They are all hand-made in Vancouver and are all original designs. We try to make things that we are passionate about and that you won’t have seen before.

What do your base your collections on?
Each collection takes shape around something that interests us, either in shape or material or process. We are very inspired by the way porcelain glows when lit from behind. That was a real driving force behind our lighting collection. That same collection is also inspired by the graphic shapes and colors of fishing buoys. Another couple of collections are inspired by fisherman’s knots.

Where do you pull your inspiration from? Does Vancouver as a city inspire you? And if so, how?
We’ve always been fascinated by the ocean and the things that live in it and on it. That’s a lot of the reason why we live here. All of our products are inspired by water in some way or another. The colours are either water toned or marine inspired. The shapes are inspired by things like fishing buoys or marine knotting or pools of water.

With the holiday season upon us, is there anything particular potential customers should look out for?
We are introducing some new colours in our camera straps and key lanyards!

Where can people find your work?
Vancouver Special, Charlie and Lee carry our ceramics and The Block and Eugene Choo carry our jewellery. To view our entire collection head to www.fleetobjects.com.