Craft Community of Canada

At the One of a Kind Show we had out own little section and the ten of us became quite neighborly. The criteria of our section was that we all had to be nominated by a Canadian Institution. I was lucky enough that Emily Carr was willing to help me out with this, I suppose there has to be some advantage to being Alumni.
Here is a little information on each Craft Community member.

Julie Pongrac

Julie is also from Vancouver and is very surely a Master Knitter. Her hand-knit lace work is exquisite, making traditional (but certainly not ordinary) pieces such as shawls and scarves and less unexpected items like delicate lace bowls. The bowls are so delicate, it seems they might melt away like morning frost.


Shuyu Lu

Shuyu was nominated by the Ontario Crafts Council for her textile pieces. She was mainly exhibiting printed pillows and embroidered art pieces. Her work is quite playful and filled with bold, bright colours that are whimsical and eye catching. Conceptually her work deals with nostalgia for her childhood in China and her observations on the Western and Eastern culture. Her embroideries are very dynamic, combining traditional skill with a modern aesthetic using highlight colours and gossamer thin fabric to embroider on.



Lauren Blakey

Lauren's ceramic pieces feel like relics of time past or altered by nature. Their structure and texture evoke mosses and lichens. Created in a set shape of either cube or 'boat', within that shape the ceramic runs wild, seeming like an enlarged microcosm or magnified slice of ecosystem.


Carolyne Brouillard

Carolyne's glass work is playful with bright, bold colours and swirling gentle forms. Inspired by the undersea world her forms are evocative or corals and sponges and her colours similar to all those of the brightest reef.


Caroline Gamiette

Caroline's textile pieces include lamps and light boxes. The fabric in each of these is treated with a variety of traditional techniques such as screen-printing, shibori, dyeing and folding. Light is also an important medium within her work, transforming each piece with the flick of a switch. It lends the textiles a warmth that works well with their abstract shapes and colours.

Patrycja Zwierzynska

Patrycja's jewelry is astounding in its beauty. Each piece nods towards nature in is organic forms but is informed by a very minimal design aesthetic. Working mainly with silver and gold she has captured many forms and textures that seem incongruous but work very well.



Chari Cohen

Chari is one of the most dynamic women that I have ever met. One afternoon when traffic was slow I looked up to see her tying a fly for fishing. Nature is very much a part of her life and her work. Her slip cast ceramic pieces have all the rough imperfections of nature and this makes them all the more elegant in their ceramic state.




Nicole McInnes


Nicole's pieces for Oh Dina are both elegant and playful. Her use of traditional hat making materials with her own eye-catching aesthetic is very successful for her. There was quite literally a line up at her booth as crowns of women tried on her creations.



Cathia Finkel
Cathia's table runners and placemats seem informed by two very different ideas. On one hand her hand work seems very traditional, using embroidery and hand dyeing to create linens. Her use of colours and textures is bright and very refreshing.

One of A Kind Recovery

In March and April I was a vendor at the One of A kind Show in Toronto. The experience was amazing, but totally exhausting. Which is one of the reasons that I haven't written anything about it until now. I was part of the Craft Community of Canada Section all of us emerging artists in our field. So much talent to be included with. And what a close knit bunch we became. There will be a post on all the wonderful ladies coming up very soon.
I only took one photo of my booth:

Fine for documentation purposes but not very dynamic. Thankfully Lisa from Wicked and Weird took some detail shots of my booth.
Check out her post about the One of a Kind Show here.
There were over 400 vendors, the show ran for five days and over 60 thousand visitors came through. So it was a little tricky to get a chance to see any of it myself, let alone all of it.
Luckily, Odette from International Birds came to help me. This preserved the shreds of sanity that I had left and also meant that I could spend some time catching up with her. She is delightful and hilarious and was such a great help.
It also meant that I was able to browse a little bit. With so many vendors there is something that would appeal to everyone. And everything was incredibly made, whether or not it was to my taste.

Atelier L.A.F etsy
I traded with Laura and Andrew for this necklace. And after the show drove to Montreal with them. So it was not only their work, but the two of them that are favourites. Their work was so skillful and perfectly captured both the soft and harsh sides of the natural world.


Cokluch is also a favourite. Laurie and Christine make gorgeous leather goods from recycled material. They combine structured tailoring with a feminine silhouette and screen-printed images. They have a little shop in Montreal that carries my t-shirts.

Jacinth Brind'Amour Jacinth's ceramic pieces are solid and beautiful I particularly like her combining of light and dark clay to produce a rather delicious swirl. She is also a delight in person.

Imagine Wood
Each one is hand made and suited to a very specific kitchen task. I didn't buy one of these utensils and I really should have. If I go back for another of these shows I surely will. But will probably have a good deal of trouble choosing which one will be the most useful.


jenna rose makes beautiful textile work with a soft airiness to it that I find very appealing.

Needless to say I was delighted to take part in the One of A Kind show and will definitely take part in one in the future.