This episode is part of a live conversation series between The Craft and IDS Vancouver, recorded at this year’s show on the Vicostone Main Stage.

On September 26, The Craft sat down with James Nexw’Kalus-Xwalacktun Harry, a contemporary Coast Salish artist whose practice is challenging how Indigenous design intersects with art, architecture, and the built environment.

The son of Xwalacktun, a master carver and keeper of Coast Salish cultural knowledge, James grew up immersed in a tradition he continues to carry forward through monumental sculpture, digital fabrication, public art, and architecture.

The conversation begins with his childhood and the meaning of cultural inheritance, before opening into a larger exploration of identity, tradition, and possibility. For James, Coast Salish design isn’t a historical style to be preserved or applied as decoration: it’s a living, generative system with the potential to reshape how people think about space, structure, and the environments they inhabit.

From the crescent, circle, and trigon to the symbolism of portals, James shares the thinking behind these forms and their potential to move beyond the gallery and into the structures of everyday life. His work also challenges the Western tendency to separate art, architecture, objects, and space into distinct disciplines, opening up new possibilities for how Indigenous knowledge might inform contemporary design.

This conversation is about cultural continuity, the future of architecture, and the power of ancestral knowledge to shape what comes next.

Please enjoy this thoughtful dialogue and Q&A with the incredible artist and futurist, James Harry.

Sound engineering: @alikadong

Photography: @mrjeremywong

Marketing support: @maizmcknight

[TIMESTAMPS]
25:50 - Growing up

28:04 - How he viewed the inheritance of artistic skill when he was young versus now

35:02 - Portals and the significance they have in Squamish culture

40:15 - What he would say to his daughter

41:51 - What can Coast Salish design could become

44:47 - Audience Q&A

This episode is part of a live conversation series between @wearethecraft and @IDSVancouver, recorded at this year’s show on the @Vicostoneglobal main stage.

On September 27, we sat down with Chad Falkenberg and Kelly Reynolds of @FalkenReynolds, one of Vancouver’s beloved design studios, to explore the lives and experiences that came before the design. Because neither path for them was particularly straightforward.

Kelly grew up in Richmond surrounded by sports, construction, and a father who spent his career in the VPD, while Chad grew up on a chicken farm in Alberta, surrounded by horses and a family connected to construction. Their paths to design were anything but linear: Kelly moved through the military, policing, aviation cabin crew, and eventually interior design. Chad studied business, lived in Lithuania for seven years, travelled extensively through Europe, and found his way to interior design in Barcelona in his 30s.

Woven through those experiences are the early influences, from materials and buildings to making, movement, sport, and the natural world, that would quietly shape the way they see and create.

And we explore the evolution of Falken Reynolds, too. In the early days, Chad and Kelly were immersed in the making: building, experimenting, meeting new people, and learning as they went. Today, their roles have shifted. They lead a team, bring ideas together, and increasingly act as quarterbacks of the work.

Then there’s their annual travel (they climbed Mount Kilimanjaro one year!). We talk about the places that have shaped how they see, the value of travelling without work in mind, and the pull of getting off the road and into the unknown. Of making something, being somewhere completely different, and experiencing a place without needing to turn it into a project.

It’s about the winding paths that lead us to our work, and how the lives we build outside of it inevitably find their way into what we create.

Please enjoy this conversation and Q&A these wonderful, one-in-a-million friends of mine, Chad Falkenberg and Kelly Reynolds.

Much love,

May

Sound engineering: @alikadong

Photography: @mrjeremywong

Marketing support: @maizmcknight

Born in Vancouver and shaped by the spirit of the 1960s and 70s, Gary Lenett—founder and CEO of denim brand DUER—grew up between two contrasting parental influences.

His mother was cautious and conservative, a loving stay-at-home mom whose anxiety left a lasting imprint. His father, who lost his own parents at the age of twelve during the Great Depression, was larger than life: charismatic, courageous, and comfortable with risk—sometimes a little too comfortable.

A former teacher and lawyer, Gary is no stranger to starting anew, with these two forces of caution and boldness continuing to inform the way he moves through the world and navigates business.

He has spent decades in the apparel industry, building one of the largest denim manufacturers in North America. At 48, he lost everything while raising three young children, beginning again with a deeper understanding of risk, resilience, and what truly matters.

But this conversation is about far more than business.It is about the opposing energies that shape us: openness and discernment, discipline and surrender, fear and trust.

From a young age, Gary sensed something profound within but didn’t yet have the language to describe it. A lifelong admirer of The Little Prince and a self-described “curious skeptic,” he eventually found his way to meditation and a philosophy rooted in presence, honesty, compassion, and non-attachment.

In this open-hearted episode, we talk about failure, fear, profit and purpose, and what “enough” means after a life marked by both collapse and renewal. It’s a dialogue about being self-led, surrendering to what is, and the art of building not only a meaningful business, but a meaningful life.

[TIMESTAMPS]
00:00 Introduction to Gary Lenett

02:30 Contrasting Parental Influences

10:48 Career Transitions and Personal Growth

15:06 The Collapse of a Business

19:32 Ego Death and Rebirth

20:40 Finding Fulfillment After Loss

23:57 Navigating Fear and Anxiety

26:42 Openness vs. Discernment

29:42 Lessons from The Little Prince

32:50 The Concept of Effortlessness

35:47 Experiencing Flow in Life

39:52 Overcoming Anxiety and Staying Present

43:30 The Nature of Risk in Entrepreneurship

46:11 Lessons Learned from Business Failures

50:00 Choosing the Right Business Partners

53:16 The Deeper Impact of Doer

56:49 Legacy and Life Lessons

The luminescent Genevieve Kang grew up between Chinese and Portuguese cultures in a small, predominantly white city, learning early on what it means to exist at the edges of belonging, to be fluent in more than one world, and to quietly build a self from whatever felt true.

She was the youngest of four to two hardworking parents, a maker & creator with her hands from a young age, someone who resisted school but fell in love with theatre and the emotional aliveness of being on stage. At 18, she was diagnosed with Lupus. And then, in a move that took deep courage and trust, she stopped medication cold turkey and chose to heal herself through food, land, and listening. Nearly twenty years later, she is symptom-free.

Food became her language and a philosophy: for care, for culture, for grief, for transition. She trained as a holistic nutritionist, is an actor & model for many beautiful brands, built a catering practice KIKAN and ran a food truck. She grew things, tended to animals. She spent long stretches alone in Ucluelet on Vancouver Island—just her and her pup partner Reishi—letting the land ask things of her that people never did.

Now she's in the midst of another unraveling. Closing chapters, simplifying, making space for what wants to come next. Portugal might be calling, or maybe Southern California. She doesn't yet know exactly what form it takes but, as she’s always done, is letting it all unfold. And she's learning to be okay with that.

[TIMESTAMPS]

5:15 – Growing up

9:45 – Finding inner belonging

12:45 – The wisdoms her parents gave her

22:34 – Creating with her hands

26:13 – What being on stage gave her that life off it didn't

29:55 – What her diagnosis awakened in her about agency and mortality

37:37 – When food became more than nourishment

44:33 – The version of herself she's grieving most

47:53 – What the land asks of her that people never have

53:32 – Who she is in two years — and what it feels like

56:35 – The throughline she can see now that wasn't visible before

58:58 – The final question

1:02:29 – Where to find Genevieve

[TODAY'S SPONSORS]

Excited to welcome Before Company as one of our season five sponsors! I’ve been using them since day one—especially the whitening formula. It turns brushing into a small, grounding ritual, and the tube looks gorgeous on my counter. Use code thecraft for 20% off your first order → www.beforecompany.com.

As some of you know, I'm also a certified sound therapy practitioner, intuitive channeler & founder of otō healing. Whether you're new to sound baths or seasoned and curious about trying one of my experiences, email otohealing at gmail.com to get 10% off your first private, in-home sound therapy & channeled guidance session.

Braden Parker—the new CEO of Westbeach—grew up in Cochrane, Alberta—a small town of fewer than ten thousand—obsessed with the Titanic and dinosaurs, building lemonade stands with his siblings, and raised by two teachers who believed deeply in curiosity and going after what you want.

His dad was offered a sabbatical at Stanford university, moving the family from the Prairies to Silicon Valley, where Braden’s world opened wide: multicultural families, friends whose parents were shaping the future at places like Netflix, and an early sense that you could design your own path if you were willing to build it.

That instinct became a lifelong throughline, from being a snowboard coach for kids to becoming a UBC Sauder School of Business student. Then a door-design entrepreneur, followed by a career in real estate. He experimented with selling cricket pasta and conjured up concepts for a luxury toothbrush before landing on Casca—the footwear brand he co-founded with Kevin Reed at 26. He’d work his day job and fly to China for Casca on vacation days, walked factory floors, learned cross-cultural communication, and tried to create the perfect everyday shoe. Seven years later, he exited at 32, stepping into an identity shift that backpacking through East Africa helped reorient.

And now, he’s in his next era, reviving Westbeach—an iconic Canadian surf, skate, and snow brand steeped in community, quality, and technical culture. A third space, a mini skate pipe, a coffee shop, and a small, tight team building its next chapter with intention and care. It’s a return to levity, craftsmanship, and the spirit of a legacy that shaped generations.

This is a conversation about possibility, reinvention, realism, and knowing when a door is no longer the right door. About building what feels true. And about the courage it takes to begin again—especially when the legacy is bigger than you.

[TIMESTAMPS]

5:12 – Childhood & early influences
13:39 – University years and formative experiences
17:11 – Life after graduation: exploration and early ventures
22:33 – The birth of Casca: founding the brand
24:31 – Why Braden and his cofounder believed a new shoe brand could make an impact
30:00 – Cross-cultural relationship building and communication in business
35:03 – Realizing it was time to exit Casca
43:30 – Reviving Westbeach: first questions for himself, the brand, and the team
53:29 – Redlines he will never compromise on
54:23 – Advice he encourages other entrepreneurs to adopt
56:11 – His perspective on life today
58:50 – The final question
1:00:18 – Where to find Braden

[TODAY'S SPONSORS]

Excited to welcome Before Company as one of our season five sponsors! I’ve been using them since day one—especially the whitening formula. It turns brushing into a small, grounding ritual, and the tube looks gorgeous on my counter. Use code thecraft for 20% off your first order → www.beforecompany.com.

As some of you know, I'm also a certified sound therapy practitioner, intuitive channeler & founder of otō healing. Whether you're new to sound baths or seasoned and curious about trying one of my experiences, email otohealing at gmail.com to get 10% off your first private, in-home sound therapy & channeled guidance session.

In our first episode of season five, we begin in the suburbs of Coquitlam, where a young boy sketched houses and dreamed of becoming an architect. For West Coast Modern Homes founder Trent Rodney, his story has always been about home.

Raised by a hardworking single mother, he inherited not only hustle, but also an early reverence for the spaces we live in. His career began in finance at the National Bank of Canada in the investment division where, over nearly a decade, his natural instinct for marketing revealed itself through cold calling and developing large-scale educational events that drew speakers like Kevin O'Leary of Dragon's Den. Post-finance and after a short stint with a start-up real estate developer, he did odd jobs and was drawn to the forest, where laying on a particular granite rock in the middle of a river helped him heal and recalibrate.

This eventually led him to architecture itself — not through blueprints, but through Frank Llyod Wright and a deep fascination with the cultural life of homes. He began researching architecture, spending hours in libraries, tracing the lineage of design. There, he found modern architecture and began cataloging British Columbia’s modern houses, even walking the streets and doorknocking to find them. Don Gurney of Openspace Architecture encouraged him to sell architectural homes in the province, which sparked something in Trent. After discovering The Modern House from the UK, West Coast Modern Homes was then born.

Trent doesn’t see homes simply as assets, but as living artifacts — vessels of culture, memory, and human well-being. And its owners, the custodians. In his work, he often likens himself as less in real estate and more as an art dealer: someone who preserves, champions, and passes along pieces of history.

In this conversation, we explore the philosophy behind that view: The genesis of his love for homes; creating marketing campaigns that stop people in their tracks; the art of architecture; what it means to treat homes as cultural touchstones; how architecture shapes our emotional and spiritual lives; and much more.

[TIMESTAMPS]
5:52 - Growing up

12:12 - Where the love for design and homemaking came from

14:44 - His time in Finance

27:58 - The transition from finance to design

36:57 - Why he describes his work as being an art dealer

40:26 - How he approaches homes as cultural artifacts

58:22 - The role he sees architecture playing in shaping the wellbeing of humanity

01:02:48 - What he would say to his mother about how much she influenced the importance of a home to him

01:04:12 - Final question

01:06:11 - Where to find him

[TODAY'S SPONSORS]
otō healing: https://www.instagram.com/otohealing/ - email otohealing at gmail.com to get 10% off your initial sound therapy session

There is great depth to Jess Reno, who has a soul and heart that are as deep as they are wide. He’s the founder and CEO of Nemesis Coffee and Dope Bakehouse — but these titles alone don’t come close to telling his story.

He grew up in Scarborough, Ontario, in a neighborhood that demanded toughness, in a family shaped by poverty, hardship, and resilience. It made him grow up, fast. After his dad made the radical decision to get straight in his life, he applied to Emily Carr. That choice would change the entire trajectory of their lives, eventually bringing them to Vancouver — where Jess eventually got a job at Caffe Artigiano and, unknowingly, setting himself on the path to becoming one of the most intentional and creative hospitality founders in the city.

In this episode, Jess shares parts of his story he’s never spoken about publicly — coffee as comfort & solace from a young age; what it meant to grow up quickly; navigating generational trauma; healing a long-time chip in the shoulder; running his first coffee shop with family; taking the risks that eventually allowed him to build something of his own. We talk about entrepreneurship, identity, family, leadership, heart and the quiet responsibility of creating spaces where people and patrons feel safe and seen.

[TIMESTAMPS]

7:44 - Growing up

30:39 - Who he thought he was becoming

34:12 - What about coffee provided solace for him

37:08 - What was the turning point for his leap of faith

41:03 - Things he unlearned after his travels

43:31 - The meaning of their logos

01:00:50 - If Nemesis were to vanish tomorrow, what would he hope that people will remember about how it made then feel

01:02:03 - His relationship with the chip on his shoulder now

01:03:31 - Final question

01:04:36 - Where to find him and Nemesis

[TODAY'S SPONSORS]
otō healing: https://www.instagram.com/otohealing/ - email otohealing at gmail.com to get 10% off your initial sound therapy session

Catherine Roscoe Barr is a neuroscience-based wellness coach, a longtime fitness professional, and a lifestyle journalist whose work has quietly transformed the lives of many. Her new book, FEEL BETTER NOW: The Life-Changing Power of Simple Pleasures, is a powerful offering — one that invites us back to ourselves through the rituals, reflections, and rewilding that make life feel not just livable, but delicious.

Her story is one of deep personal transformation — from growing up in a home where emotions lived beneath the surface, to finding her own voice through movement, writing, and eventually, helping others do the same. She has built a life’s work from lived experience: turning her healing into curriculum, and her curiosity into a business that’s as intimate as it is expansive — from private coaching to retreats, keynotes, and now, her beautiful book.

In this conversation, we talk about how home is shaped by movement; how long love can grow when it’s met with intention; what people often misunderstand about wellness; the quiet courage it takes to rescue yourself; and much more.

[TIMESTAMPS]

2:28 - Growing up

10:01 - What she started to understand about the mind-body connection

17:31 - Her meaning of wellness then vs. now

18:45 - Her book, Feel Better Now: The Life-Changing Power of Simple Pleasures

23:13 - Rewilding and why it is important

25:50 - What it is like to evolve together with her husband after many years

31:22 - If there was a point where she felt her lived experience around wellness could be translated into a medium that could help others

34:25 - The Life Delicious

36:21 - A tip for those who can’t yet feel deliciousness

38:37 - Her retreats

43:29 - How to be an expansive person for others but also being able to enforce boundaries

46:07 - What people get wrong about wellness

53:27 - Final question

[TODAY'S SPONSORS]
otō healing: https://www.instagram.com/otohealing/ - email otohealing at gmail.com to get 10% off your initial sound therapy session