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April 2008

Epic EPIC

Last weekend Aloe Designs participated in the EPIC sustainable living show. And what a show it was. We met so many great people with great stories doing seriously great things. With Earth day past and Spring just around the bend, we are feeling very eco-friendly inspired to share with you the news from the show!

First off we would like to send out a ginormous thanks to all our friends, family and clients who came to support the cause! Without your smiling faces and words of encouragement we could not have made it through the 4 long days, or rather, 4 long weeks leading up to the event. We also want to say wurd to Tanya at Mango Design Co for helping share the booth and ideas in creating such an innovative showpiece. Future collaborative projects to come! Late nights designing sustainable concepts, mid week days of cruisin around town meeting suppliers and 2 very long weekends to build and construct- it all came together!

Some of the highlights and oos and ahhs of our booth were:

Table

1.0 The 'Harvest Table'. Our first furniture piece designed and manufactured by us! Made of recyclable aluminum framing and reclaimed cedar planks, this table works for both indoors and out. The center piece trough can be used for herbs and edibles, candles and rocks, or simply as a holding chiller for that nice bottle of wine. Furniture design and further production for this limited edition piece are in the works!

Container

2.0 Edible Planters. The smooth, modern concrete containers were provided by a local company Souls and were filled with lots of yummy edible herbs that sparked a lot of gardening conversations.

Accessories

3.0 Accessories. The Bird Feeder provided by Room 6, designed by J Schatz attracts those beneficial birdies to come and hang out among the landscape. Many juicy colors available. The dining table's settings from Provide (the coolest new store in town) worked flawlessly. We especially fell in love with the dish set from Heath Ceramics and may be taking a private visit this June, to their factory in Sausalito, CA. Lucky Us!

Flooring

4.0 River rock and Slate Entrance. With all the rain we get in Vancouver we wanted to showcase a way in which a small space can look contemporary, and also be good for the environment too. By using river rock throughout a slate walkway you can minimize the water run off that would normally not get absorbed by flat hardscaping.

Rainchain

5.0 Concept Rain Chain System. Our sleek and innovative rain chain plays a larger role in distributing rain water. The chain feeds into a waterbarrel, which then gets pumped into an underground low flow irrigation system, to in turn feed container plants the required water needed.

Due to a dated digital and some bad indoor lighting the images can only shine so well. One of those- should have been there in person experiences, but nevertheless, for those of you who couldn't make it out, some visuals for you to see.  O and I both agreed, EPIC was an amazing experience to be a part of, but no more show installations in the near future. What lies ahead- some seriously cool design projects on the horizon...

Hard Working Dude

                                              

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For those of you who don't know us- this is my man, Owen aka O! Husband, Business Partner, Best Friend and Dude of all Dudes. He has been working especially hard lately, so I just wanted to say, a big thanks to him for all that he does. With spring in full swing our gardening business has gone from 0-100 in about a month. While all the bright bulbs with their cheery faces say, "spring is here" the weather sure would make us think differently. And while rain and gardening don't go hand in hand for me, O, well, he never complains.   

Sometimes we get so powered by work and staying on track and working late days and way too many early mornings in a row; we forget to say those special words of encouragement. So while I type away busy with a piled desk and way too many designs to plug through, I thought I would take a minute to say, I couldn't do all this without the hardworking hands and creative mind behind Owen Black. As far as the Vancouver garden scene goes- this guy is the man about town, and I feel pretty honored to share that. Even if you eat your lunch at 6:00, in the hall, with grubby hands... in your skimpies!

   

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A clean- up on a sunny brisk sunday in march at the Aloe Test Gardens.

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Climbing heights on a rainy weekend building the mock up booth for the upcoming EPIC Show.