REVELSTOKE BUSINESS BEAT: THE BIG EDDY EDITION

A BIKE BUILDER HAS BIG PLANS FOR MANUFACTURING, A WOODWORKER IS NOW WELCOMING CLIENTS FOR CUSTOM BUILDS AND A TEAM OF POTTERS BAND TOGETHER TO FORM A COLLECTIVE, ALL IN THE BIG EDDY.

By Revelstoke Mountaineer Staff

February’s business beat is a happy accident. This month’s featured businesses are Jackalope Bikes, Purpose Built Studios and the Clay Collective, all Big Eddy businesses. During my first interview, I joked that the Big Eddy seemed busy despite the overwhelmingly industrial atmosphere. I didn’t plan to focus on the area, but it’s no joke — the Big Eddy is a happening place. Everywhere I looked, and everyone I talked to recommended a budding new Big Eddy Business. Unfortunately, we couldn’t fit them all. Those are stories for a future issue.

Long term, jack has plans to apply for grant money to do research and development for a full-suspension bike and become a legitimate bicycle manufacturer. This notion of onshore manufacturing drives him.

“These big brands, they brand themselves as ‘based in North America or Canada.’ But then, when it comes time to build their product, they send a bunch of money overseas to Taiwan or wherever. And then they get a big shipment of stuff they’ve ordered,” says Jack. “That disconnect has always bothered me as someone who builds stuff.”

He’s determined to make a competitively priced product that’s profitable. With many innovative new products, the hive-minded local manufacturing movement is on the rise. Jack wants to be part of that movement. Check out @Jackalopebikes on Instagram for more info on Jack’s custom builds.

Jackalope Bikes

Jack Sutter is the owner and builder behind Jackalope Bikes, a business that builds custom steel gravel bikes and hardtail mountain bikes. Jack’s love for metal fabrication started in high school in Reno, Nevada.

“That kind of sparked my curiosity. I just kind of fell in love with metal right away. And then, I worked for a blacksmith for about four years. That was my first real job,” he says.

After going through trade school, an associate’s degree in architectural design and welding and machine classes at night, Jack started working for the largest ski manufacturer in North America: Moment Skis.

“Being in that setting where we're designing, building, testing, and manufacturing batches of skis, and all under the same roof, that was super inspiring.”

Moment skis is an onshore manufacturing company, meaning they make their product in North America instead of looking globally.

Jack moved to Whistler in 2018, where he immersed himself in the mountain biking industry. This year, Jack used his welding skills to help execute the build of an iconic bike feature at the Crankworx Bike Festival in Whistler. Jeff Polster did the computer-aided design for the feature. As a cyclist enthusiast all his life, it was easy to transition into the mountain bike industry. He found a love of frame building.

Supply chain issues stemming from the pandemic opened people’s eyes to self-sustainability and local purchasing benefits. With this market in mind, Jack decided to leap and start a bike company.

His goal is to build eight custom bikes this year in his shop in the Big Eddy. Inspired by the challenge of building a brand and developing his company, Jack has set his sights even higher.

Purpose Built Studios

In a big commercial space tucked at the back of 770 Lundell Road is Tyler Carroll’s chapel of creativity. Tyler’s business, Purpose Built Studios, was born out of a desire for creative freedom. He attended the Selkirk College Fine Woodworking programme and honed his creative and hands-on skills. He continued his woodworking career in Fernie before deciding he needed more creative independence.

“I just got to a point where I was like, I love this job, but it’s just not quite enough for me,” he said. “I decided to take the step, take the plunge into business ownership and try and do it myself.”

Purpose Built Studios offers custom woodworking services with a purpose. Tyler says designing and building with a purpose can mean a few things. For example, designing the interior of a tiny home can feature multifunctional furniture for small spaces that make living frictionless. Purposeful building can also mean building to eliminate wood waste or bringing a custom dream to life.

“I want to help people bring their dreams to life,” Tyler says. “If you have an idea of what you want to build, but you're just not quite sure how to get there. Come talk to me. I love that problem-solving side of things. I think that's a really unique part of the creative side of woodworking.”

You can see more of Tyler’s work at @Purposebuiltrevy on Instagram or purposebuiltstudios.ca.

The Clay Collective

The Clay collective is a shared ceramic studio space in the Big Eddy. The collective offers pottery classes and purchases. The space is home to three separate artists and their ceramic businesses — Kaisa Lindfors, Gabrielle Labbé and Andrea Sweetnam.

Kaisa is the artist behind Sisaret Ceramics. All of her pieces are built by hand and use the technique of pinching. This leaves the pieces with the marks of her fingers, which she uses as a surface to paint designs and drawings on by hand. She aims to create pieces that are hopeful, whimsical and intimate.

Gabrielle Labbé is the artist behind Monashee Pottery. Gabrielle makes colourful, hand-thrown pottery focusing on colour palette and form. She creates simple, functional and joyful pieces inspired by nature and her travels.

Andrea Sweetnam is the artist behind Jetfire Ceramics. Andrea draws on her long-time experience as a pastry chef to create simple, functional pieces that elevate the experience of eating and plating beautiful food. She uses a neutral colour palette that works well all together.

“The clay collective started as a dream of just having my own studio spaceto work. We’re lucky in Revelstoke to have access to the pottery guild and some studio spaces out of the RVAC, but I was looking for something bigger with more natural light and room to grow,” says Kaisa. “The space we found is perfect, and now all 3 of us have a great space to make work and to have kilns of our own. We started working in this space in the fall of 2021 and have only just opened our doors to the public this January.”

The artists offer a six-week workshop where participants can learn the potting process from start to finish and one-night pottery workshops.

“We started as and remain primarily a working studio,” says Kaisa. “Ceramics is often a very solo journey, and while we still have plenty of quiet studio moments, sharing the space with each other has been a really nice way to form community, have conversations and for it to be less of a lonely pursuit.”

She says that opening their doors for workshops has been a great way to build this community and share their love of the medium.

You can find the Clay Collective on their website, clay collective. ca or on Instagram, @claycollectiverevelstoke. To buy some of the artist’s ceramic work or check out the collective space, book a drop-in appointment.