dewy mornings, crispy air, snuggles by the fireplace; fall has arrived in full force .. que in SPLAT AND CO! mike and jamie (a husband and wife duo) are not your typical felters, they ooze with love and clever fun designs .. it doesn’t stop at gorgeous cozy knitwear but say hello to funky dryer balls and felted animals and coffee cozies OH MY! we were pleased to hear they were joining us this september so we wanted to hear a few little bits more about them .. xo
we are an Eco Punk Lifestyle brand who believe strongly in sustainability and supporting our local Canadian industries and brands. In such all of our eco friendly products are handcrafted using Canadian wool from a small mill in Alberta who also have Eco friendly practices
we have both been creating for as long as we can remember. Mike’s background is in photography, writing, painting and sculpting and Jamie’s background is in the fibre arts
after the birth of our daughter we moved from Vancouver to the Okanagan and started to really examine our environmental impact in our day to day life and started creating as many of our household products as we could. Our company was born out of wanting to create items that were fun and environmental for our daughter Bean. We started this journey three years ago and haven’t looked back!
what is the number one thing you inject in your brand that gives us the true reflection of who you are?
we have, both, always been very active but also liked to have our own unique style, therefore, our knitwear line is designed to be funky but also very functional. This is clearly exhibited in our overall designs but also the materials we choose and even where we source said materials
lets go back, what was your very first creative something you made?
mike – when I was six I was internally motivated to create my first poem, while it wasn’t for school I felt a pressing need to put the words down.
jamie – my first real item I created was a scarf when I was 12. my grandmother taught me to knit and I created a scarf that was full of holes and went from thin to wide to thin and with the worst yarn ever, but the skills she taught me led me to where I am today
share with us that appetite in a typical day of stepping into your studio for creating what you love
our day begins at 4:30 am. We wake up grab our caffeine of choice and settle into felting for the morning. We try to get as much done as we can before our daughter wakes up for the day. Once Bean is up (usually around 7:30) Mike gets ready for his day job (commercial painting) and I try to squeeze in a bit more felting and then put it aside to start our day. During the day I squeeze in knitting everywhere I can. I knit on the bus, at the park, library, water park, wherever and whenever I can knit a few rows. Once home for the afternoon I will work on social media, photography, knitting and getting orders together in between getting dinner started and laundry etc. Once evening hits I’m usually off to bed and Mike stays up to wind dryer balls, stamp bags or any other tasks that need to get done. It’s a lot of juggling at this time in our life but we are happy we have been able to have me home with Bean. Next year will be a little less juggling with her heading off to school and Mike and I both working full time on our business
success comes with failures; give us an example that honed your craft from a mistake
when we began we were too spread out in our product offerings. We were doing t-shirts, dryer balls and sewn items from wool. Once we honed into just wool products and having distinct product lines within those we were much more focused and I feel we now come across as a stronger brand
what or who may have stirred the inspiration towards your ultimate dream to create what you do?
our biggest inspiration is our daughter, we started off on this journey because we wanted to create fun items for her and now we continue to be inspired by her amazing spirit and the goal of being able to do what we love while staying home and raising her
if you were to describe yourself as a car, which one would it be?
the Baja Bug because much like the Volkswagen Beetle our knitwear and dryer balls are functional and purposeful however they are funky and individualistic much like the unique Baja Bug!
shout out of love – Spread the love for some of your favourite creators:
Love Making Designs out of Revelstoke
Bamboletta Dolls based out of Vancouver
you can meet mike & jamie along with 40+ local artisans in our Portobello fall market on september 17 & 18 at the Creekside Community Centre (located 1 athletes way, vancouver) 11-5
find more of Splat and Co. over here:
W: website
T: twitter
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IG: instagram