Our mandate is too practise and share our skills in traditional craft, inviting the community to understand how we work. We will furnish your home, adorn your table, fill your belly and keep the sun off your face. We love to share our passion for our craft with others.
We are not just any artisans. We are accredited by an International Tourism Organisation, ECONOMUSEE® Network Society and we have provided a developed bilingual reception for our visitors to read, experience and shop with us. We will give visitors a program where they travel to 4 different unique experiences within the Columbia Basin. Our Artisans at Work Tour will offer our guests the opportunity to connect with their inner selves, unleash their creativity, and find inspiration in the heritage crafts.
Coming to the Kootenays which has Nelson as the #1 Arts Town in Canada , we appeal to the arts Seeker. Currently visitors are directed to shops and museums. We, as the artisans, invite you to visit our studios and production bakery directly. We provide travellers with a unique opportunity to pause, reflect, and connect with the heritage crafts of artisanal baking, fine woodworking, hat making and ceramic art.
We cater to those seeking inspiration. It’s really all about people who want to see, touch and speak about the arts. Those people may have come to the area for recreation and are ready for something more to inspire them.
We have developed a tour that will offer local bilingual artisan education and experiences serving the community by enabling visitors to meet the artists and witness their practice that is based on their development of the traditional crafts. This project will provide a dependable authentic experience to the community while assisting the artisans to present their work in a fun and engaging way.
Behind the showroom of the Lillie & Cohoe studio, a dedicated team of talented women collaborate on the design and production of next season’s hats using the finest fabrics and notions gathered from around the world. But don’t expect a frenetic atmosphere here – these professionals have many years of production behind them, and their calm demeanor and quiet determination reflect a long tradition of excellence.
Visitors can enjoy a tour of Lillie & Cohoe’s substantial workspace or spend time in the well-appointed boutique. Learn about yourself through the fun of hats. The company’s international reputation for helping women and men express their style is well earned.
The aesthetic of these hats is more than visual, it is in the fit and functionality, in the wearability built into the design through fabric choice and the flat pattern design. Each hat is worked on from beginning to end by one seamstress. Their skilled hands are required to use a mix of tailoring and dressmaking techniques. Each step is carefully planned and executed.
Stay in the Gallery Suite with 5 star accommodation complete with local art hung on the walls (which is for sale!), a king size bed and sofa pull out, and a fully functioning kitchen. The view from the kitchen offers a stunning panorama of the Kootenay Lake and the mountains.
Living in the beautiful city of Nelson since 1991, Diane Walters invites you to visit her ceramic studio; eARTh Studios. On site, you will discover a landscaped outdoor tour as well as a gallery and studio where Diane Walters welcomes you. She is keen to share her passion and her ceramic craft. She also offers various workshops and artistic stays in her B&B, the Gallery Suite.
I Believe That There Is Nothing More Important Than The Communal Act And Art Of Eating. The Social Reciprocity Of Sharing A Meal Together Dates Back Through The Human Story On A Global Scale.
~ Diane Walters
I have always been drawn to the story behind form and surface…one that speaks of human centred values and nature. The cliff faces of the Kootenay Mountains in the BC Interior where I live, the female form as birther and bringer of bounty and replenishment, the water from which my clay is born from, the chemical, cosmological and geological history of evolution written into the DNA of clay and the glazes we use on form. These things speak to me of the eternal, and unravelling patterns which relate to our earth and human presence and invention. The quest to find answers lead to more questions and the pattern continues as experiments in both form and surface unfold. I am more comfortable now with the unfinished, with the ever changing story I try to create and represent through my functional pottery. The play of opposites and centering into a certain stillpoint is infused into every piece I make. I find deep satisfaction in knowing that they bring a silent conversation to the dinner table.
D.E. Walters pottery pieces are designed for everyday use, not just for special occasions. They range from mugs to plates to bowls and are easy to care for. Her collection also includes sculptural fountains, basins and ongoing experimentation with form, shape and colour.
Philippe dedicates himself to bringing art into everyday life. From buttering your toast at breakfast out of an extraordinary butter dish to finding another stunning work of art to receive your coat and hat, when you get home in the evening. Works of art that will call your attention, asking you to look at it; begging you to touch it, caress it and make it yours to use every day of your life.
Walk in the shop, walk in the creative process and join the excitement to imagine, to develop and to make beauty. You will sometimes find a bustling and noisy production shop begging you to roll up your sleeves, other times, a quiet reflective environment inviting you to join in the maturation of an idea, the refinement of a process. All of it is creation! Be an artisan for a day! Come practice some of the skills, make them your skills. Join us for a day and enjoy the pleasure of creating your own wood art with your hands.
While Emotions in Wood’s initial and emblematic product is a uniquely crafted butter dish, all designs for the kitchen and table bring you the joys of the warm wood combinations, the awe of a unique design, the appreciation of a perfect execution and the excitement of its everyday practicality. The butter dishes, knife racks, coasters, cutting boards, butcher blocks, coat and hat racks, counter tops and other unique pieces of furniture, are an invitation to see, touch and smile.
Heirloom items are not only for adults. The alphabet cubes set is an ideal gift for children to learns skills using natural, durable and beautifully crafted toys. Emotions in Wood also applies the same attention to quality, design and beauty to making bee hives for the backyard beekeeper. Enter the world of bees with us and give your bees a uniquely designed and locally hand made Langstroth type beehive equipped with many features to keep you and your bees happy.
The Kootenay Bakery Cafe Co-op journey began in 1986 in Alberta with the founding of the Manna Foods organic bakery in Edmonton by the four Desilets sisters, Deborah, Barbarah, and her baker husband Leonard, Ariah and Jackie and their families. Four years later, the business was sold. In 1991, the Kootenay Bakery Cafe Co-op opened in Nelson, British Columbia.
This bakery is known for its sourdough bread, which is available in 11 varieties. The age-old techniques involved with making sourdough bread fit perfectly with the Kootenay Bakery Cafe Co-op’ philosophy of providing healthy, natural food to as many people as possible.
Its know-how goes far beyond its stoves. The cooperative cultivates the values of mutual aid, solidarity and equity among its staff and the surrounding community. It also strives to forge close ties with its customers and suppliers, whom it considers to be members of the family.
In a warm and friendly atmosphere, you will discover what makes the Kootenay Bakery Cafe Co-op unique. Its history, values, expertise, signature products, and stories about the first bakeries to open in Nelson are presented in a way that encourages discussion about this passionate and committed cooperative.
The Kootenay Bakery Cafe Co-op offers more than 300 fresh, nutritious products with natural ingredients. Whether you’re vegan, gluten, milk or egg intolerant, a raw foodie, a home-cured, grass-fed beef or organic chicken lover, The Kootenay Bakery Cafe Co-op has a tasty menu to suit your dietary needs.
