Two Cowboys: A Lifetime of Making at Wild Rose Jewellery & Gifts in Okotoks, Alberta, Canada

New Home

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Garo Yanikyan was born in Armenia. At the age of twelve, he began his apprenticeship pulling gold wire for his uncles, and with his family he trained to become a goldsmith. One day he would travel the world and settle in Okotoks, Canada.

In those days, and in that culture, you were born into a vocation. You grew up in it. It was who you were before you ever picked up a tool to make your first ring. Your trade was your family's name and identity.

Years, even decades, went into honing your skills until you finally became a master craftsman, until one day it became your duty to train the apprentices who would follow in your footsteps. Passing that knowledge on kept the craft alive. It was how you provided for your loved ones. It was also the work that shaped your community and gave your life its beauty.

That's where Garo's journey began. It would eventually bring him to a small town south of Calgary called Okotoks, where he became the town's master goldsmith. He raised his family here and gave back to this community. Yanik became an Okotokian. A Canadian. He is Wildrose Jewellery.

In Okotoks, he watched life go by for more than thirty years. For a small oil town in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, that is more than a lifetime of change. It grew from a sleepy farming community into one of the fastest-growing and most popular places to live in Alberta.

A lot has changed since Garo and his wife arrived in the early eighties. Not only did the town grow, but its people changed too. And the world changed for the goldsmith: appreciation for the millennia-old craft declined as people's expectations grew.

Progress or Regress

The age-old demands remain: quick turnarounds, bold or delicate new designs. Only now, the craftsman is being replaced by a machine that does it faster, better and cheaper.

This is the age of jewellery manufacturing. Rings are designed on computers. Milling and casting machines turn out flawless copies en masse in automated factories. Machines do a better job of making jewellery, and it costs almost nothing to produce thousands of pieces. The smith's road is coming to an end. Garo's world is disappearing.

"People still need to get things fixed," Garo says. "That, machines cannot do, yet. It still makes me useful."

While Garo's world disappears, the rest of us are losing something profound too. Soon we may live in a world with no goldsmiths. Old-world artisans like Garo are vanishing from towns and communities now driven by automation and consumerism. With them go thousands of years of knowledge and skill, honed through generations of artistry. With them goes art itself, the evidence of civilisation.

By losing them, we lose a kind of person: a producer, a maker, an artist. And with that loss, we may be losing our very identity.

At least we will have our perfect rings.

Hendrik van Wyk
Wildrose Cowboy

2026 update: Garo passed away in April 2018. We're grateful we got to film him at his bench.

Photos

Happy Place

My Place

Community

Beauty

Next Generation

Two Cowboys on a Journey: Nicole Tremblay at Fireweed Glass Studio - Canmore, Alberta

Make What's In Your Heart

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Nicole Tremblay has been blowing glass for over twenty years. After graduating from The Alberta College of Art and Design she spent several years living and working in Toronto and Milton, Ontario before returning to Alberta to work with Susan Gottselig at what would become Fireweed Glass Studio in Canmore, Alberta. http://fireweedglassstudio.ca

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She is a glassblower known for her generous use of brilliant colours, fluid shapes and her whimsical figurines and landscapes. Her work is exhibited and sold across Canada.

Glassblowing is a glass forming technique that involves inflating molten glass into a bubble (or parison), with the aid of a blowpipe (or blow tube).

The technique was created in the middle of the last century BC, glassblowing exploited a working property of glass which was previously unknown to the glassworkers: inflation. Inflation refers to the expansion of a molten blob of glass by introducing a small amount of air to it. This property is based on the liquid structure of glass where the atoms are held together by strong chemical bonds in a disordered and random network. Therefore molten glass is viscous enough to be blown and gradually hardens as it loses heat.

To increase the stiffness of the molten glass, which in turn facilitates the process of blowing, there is a subtle change in the composition of the glass. During blowing, thinner layers of glass cool faster than thicker ones and become more viscous than the thicker layers. This effect allows production of blown glass with uniform thickness, instead of causing blow-through of the thinned layers.

Impressions

If there is one observation from a glassblower's work environment, it is, that it is hot! There is a lot of energy going into melting glass. During the long Canadian winters, it may not be much of a problem. Summer makes glass blowing a vocation of love for anyone that is temperature sensitive.

During our visit, Nicole highlighted a very important principle of art. We think it is a universal principle for all the work of producers and makers: "Make something that's in your heart." If you worry what people are going to buy, then you are likely going to sacrifice creativity to conform to perceived expectations. The end result will lack value for yourself, and most likely then also for your customer that should share in this value.

The most important drive for your work should be for the utmost value it holds for yourself. This can only happen when your whole heart is into it. If the maximum value makes it into what you do, only then do others really get to share in your value. They share in it when they appreciate, buy and use what you produced. This is how an artist and Producer produces their best work.

When I asked Nicole how long she works on perfecting a piece, she mentioned that it can take her up to two years to perfect the technique for the production of a single type of item, and everyone is still unique. This is an enormous commitment and speaks to the dedication and devotion that goes into practising this very challenging art form. For one, I am looking at a hand crafted glass article from her or any glass artist in a whole different light. Think of all the broken glass that must go into perfecting one beautifully formed, and very useful article, like the beautiful beer mugs Nicole made for the Cowboys.

The second important takeaway from Nicole's interview was that the art of glass blowing also goes hand-in-hand with utility. Glass is something we use every day anyway, without thinking much about it. Because it is so much part of our lives, we may as well use something that is hand crafted, beautiful and useful from a maker like Nicole and her colleagues at Fireweed Glass Studio. Now, you can get it from your local glass blower.

Thank you, Nicole, for our Beer Mugs. They are treasured possessions and welcome companions at the end of a hard days of work.

Hendrik van Wyk
Producer

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Beer Time!

Two Cowboys on a Journey: Galts-Goldsmith - Calgary, Alberta

Have Fun and Make Money

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I received a phone call early in 2015 from a fella that introduced himself as James Galts-Goldsmith. He wanted a box of my Honey Nougat for his customers to hand out as gifts. He discovered it in a store on his way to the mountains and wanted to order more. 

I was in the middle of wrestling my way through Ayn Rand's 1,000 + page book - Atlas Shrugged - shortly after I contributed to the third movie instalment: "Who is John Galt", on Kickstarter. It was eerily surprising to hear from a guy with a similar and uncommon name during this exact time. Here is someone that is the Goldsmith to John Galt? It was a funny confluence of events, if someone was not playing a very clever practical joke on me. The week after I delivered the Nougat, and that is how I met James Galts-Goldsmith. No joke.

Galts-Goldsmith is a Jewellery Design Studio and Art Gallery located in the heart of Calgary.  A heritage house built in 1912 provides the backdrop for a unique display of handcrafted jewellery along with traditional and contemporary works of art.

Established in early 1978, James has been serving Calgarians and clientele from around the world for over 3 decades with his custom jewellery, painting and sculpting. He crafts every piece completely by hand with a matchless attention to detail and unique and inspiring designs.

If you ever have to find a born maker, then James is your man. Not many people live by a mantra or statement that defines them. James does. Here it is: "Life itself gives me the inspiration to create my art and nature provides me with the raw materials.  Whether jewellery, paintings, or sculpture…..my passion is to capture the beauty around us in pieces that will last for generations. I am an Artist, a Goldsmith, a Hand Engraver and a Sculptor. "

Observations

It is difficult for artists to make a living financially. Many will tell you that they cannot do anything but be an artist, and suffer for it financially. The personal emotional reward is phenomenal. Unfortunately, they often have to supplement the joy of creating, with income from another less inspirational source. A "day" job.

It is therefore very encouraging to listen to a seasoned artist like James when he shares his lifetime story on how he discovered making, and how he tapped into the personal and financial rewards that came from sharing his production. After three decades, James has done a lot of things in the making department. You can see his rock carvings in downtown Calgary. His paintings and jewellery travels the world.

However, it is the things he doesn't sell that caught our attention. The music instruments he made and still loves to play. The customized tools. His workbench. There is so much of a maker in the room that it is encouraging to just be around James' workplace.

He draws his inspiration from nature. If he is not at his desk or in his workshop creating, you find him hiking in the Rocky Mountains of Alberta. 

James affirmed a common theme we discovered with every artist we've profiled thus far: When they make something from inspiration it has immediate value. "It sells" is what they will tell you. If you try to make something for someone else, it doesn't have the same success. Trying to anticipate what people want doesn't work so well. Somehow, the true part of the artist has gone missing. True art cannot be separated from its creator. It is what they are.

James' jewellery artwork is beautiful and we enjoyed the morning with him, in his workplace very much. Now, please enjoy the video with us.

Hendrik van Wyk

Producer

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Still Making

Galts-Goldsmith

Two Cowboys on a Journey: Dalene Meiring, Auckland - New Zealand

Artist: Dalene Meiring

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"If you think you can do it, you can. Give it a try. You may just surprise yourself". Dalene Meiring

An ultimate Producer is a person that makes for utility, for meaning, and purpose. These are people that create useful articles that also communicate messages and emotions. Articles that inherit and exhibit an anthropomorphic essence. We call these people "Artists". They express themselves through mediums, and through production.  

Why strive for art and utility? Because art causes people to look a little closer at ourselves and our everyday. It offers an opportunity to look at social issues, people and their emotions, the environment, and everyday objects, life forms. The artist has the ability to bring out that which cannot be seen or felt easily, or which is often missed. They have the ability to express emotion through inanimate objects.

When a society sees and feels clearly, it has the opportunity for reflection, change in thought, and appreciation. It can cause people to re-examine themselves and their relation to life, people, and circumstances. The artists often feel a duty to unlock this meaning.

Articles with meaning are more likely to take on the identity of an owner. The maker makes the item with passion and soul. But it is the owner and user that fuses their mana or spirit with the creation when they use and appreciate its value. That leather bag, hat, or the character of a pair of well-worn boots, over time, becomes indistinguishable from its owner. The Producer and Artists set the table for this meaning. But, it is the consumer that unlocks the true value of expression and purpose. The one cannot exist without the other. 

When this perspective is appreciated, it is likely that we will carefully consider, seek and choose articles of quality, by Artists and Producers with exceptional ability and dedication. If we own articles with the potential to define us, we should choose more carefully.

Impressions

It was a sticky afternoon on Thursday the 11th of February when we met Dalene and Pieter Meiring at their house. February in Auckland, New Zealand is hot and humid. The cicadas were drilling through our microphones, as we sat down at the Meiring dining room table for the interview. 

Immediately, it became clear that Dalene as an individual is the same warm, welcoming, golden glow of a person, than she lays down with paint and her palette knife, on her canvases. “I paint for the love of expression and the passion of life and all the beauty in it,” says Dalene. When looking at her work, it is obvious that the emotions and sensations of serenity and tranquillity are what distinguishes her work. Dalene's art communicates with and grows on you. The more you look at it, the more personal it becomes.

What stood out in the conversation is her encouragement for people to give things a try. Make something. Make it until it feels right. Don't pay too much attention to convention. "Only you will know if it communicates what you want it to say."

We then met her husband Pieter downstairs in the garage where he was assembling their custom crafted jewellery for an order that just came in. They say that behind every successful artist, there is a driven and committed business person (or husband). Pieter is this entrepreneurial inspiration in the Meiring household. After 16 years and a successful career, he realized the value of spending more time with Dalene, of making something himself, and thus threw his weight behind a fledgeling jewellery brand - Jewellery with Soul - that is growing in leaps and bounds.

While Pieter was threading a necklace he kept his message simple: "You don't need a lot of money to start. Make something. If people like it, make more."

In this visit with Dalene and Pieter we found two inspirational people, with a clear passion for living life to its fullest, and who produces beautiful art. We've also realized again, the value of a garage. As with so many Producers, makers and creators, their garage is also the Meiring's sanctuary, factory and the heart of their operation. 

We cherish the moments we got to spend with Dalene and Pieter, and hope you will enjoy some of it captured in our photos and video above.

Hendrik van Wyk

Producer

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Who we are: We are a social enterprise. We are funded through donations and sponsorship. 
All our earnings are applied back to covering our costs of marketing and promoting Producers and inspiring local communities. Please support us to bring you more (www.forwardthefavour.com)

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Serenity

Africa Somewhere?

Maker

Stand Out

Yes dear...