Two Cowboys: Telling Stories With Friends at the Animation College in Auckland, New Zealand

Creating Value

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We checked in with Animation College in Auckland, New Zealand, courtesy of the Auckland Chamber of Commerce. The Animation College was a finalist in 2016's Westpac Business Awards' Central Region.

Animation College began as part of Freelance Animators Ltd, founded in 1989 by American, John Ewing – a former Disney animator, and design studio owner, Barry Pearce.

This is a short promotional clip...

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John Ewing trained as an animator at Disney Studios in the '50s and '60s, the golden years of the studio, where he helped craft classic features including Sleeping Beauty, Sword in the Stone and The Jungle Book. In 1967 he moved to NZ where he turned his skills to classic commercials including Ches'n'Dale for Chesdale Cheese, Jungle Juice, the Marley Duck and the TV Kiwi.

In the ‘80s, Freelance Animators were the first dedicated New Zealand animation studio to carry out contract work for Disney and Warner Bros, including the animated series Tiny Toons for none other than Steven Spielberg. The next step for John and Barry was to begin teaching others as there was no formal animation training in New Zealand at this time.

In the decade that followed, John trained dozens of animators, many of whom went on to work at Weta in NZ, Blue Sky Studios in New York, Passion Pictures in London and ILM in San Francisco. Ultimately, the training scheme grew into Freelance Animation School and branched out into modern animation techniques such as 3D animation. In 2012, the school was renamed Animation College.

Observations

The reason for our visit was to find out what motivates people to become animators and tell stories with cartoons. We wanted to know why students were at the College, and what they hoped to learn from attending a traditional learning institution to be educated in the not so traditional art of digital storytelling.

We discovered that it is a great deal more complicated than we ever imagined. This isn't just about drawing funny characters for children's entertainment. We found a group of talented young people at the forefront of technology, yet still rooted in the classic art of philosophy. They are people pooling their collective talents to create amazing things, tell fascinating stories and most importantly, architect futuristic interactive digital experiences.

At the College, they use words such as "Value Creation", "Wisdom", "Collective Experiences" and "Interactivity" as standard terms to define their pursuits. These are big words for young people that are naturally attracted to the shine of the latest and greatest gadgets. It demonstrates that a significant amount of thought goes into the work they do with what may appear to the outsider as a simple digital playground of sorts. However, it is this easy access to technology, software, gadgets, mobile media, virtual reality and interactive gaming platforms that allow them to push the boundaries of content creation.

An enormous amount of thought and creativity goes into telling stories through non-traditional mediums. No matter what medium is used, we discovered that ultimately it is still about the stories. We cannot get away from the fact that human life is narratively rooted. It is one of the ways we make sense of our world. It is how we bridge reality with perception to form understanding. In every culture, stories are a means of entertainment, education, cultural preservation and ultimately the for the instilling of moral virtue.

At Animation College, they focus on these age-old principles, coupled with amazing technology and buckets full of creativity to equip tomorrow's geniuses with the means to evolve the experience of the human condition.

You will have to work hard to keep up if you are over 35.

Hendrik van Wyk
Digital Cowboy

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Photos

Not Me!

Mickey's Fault

Watching You...

Nightmares

Mini Vader

Two Cowboys on a Journey: Kako Chocolate - Auckland, New Zealand

Chocolatiering

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Every few weeks we head to New Zealand to do work for some of our most loyal clients. It is also an ideal opportunity every time, to find and profile inspiring Producers. New Zealand has many, as you probably already know. These people are examples of ingenuity, dedication, innovation and inspiration.

If you've been following our journey, you will know that we get to live and work in two of the most beautiful places in the world: Canada and New Zealand. You would also know that we have some favourite pastimes: Beer, coffee, meat, food festivals, markets, and more. For me, chocolate is a passion. I like to seek out chocolate businesses like Otago Chocolate Company (OCHO). It is wonderful to meet the people behind the business and learn about their inspiration, passion, and motivation for doing what they love to do.

Whenever we make the trip to New Zealand, I have to look up Stu and his team at Kako Chocolate in Auckland. Stu is a fan of my Nougat. That is not why I visit him. He is also the person that introduced me to the world of a chocolatier. Thanks to his chocolate making classes I fell in love with flavour profiling and what Stu calls: "Chocolate Art". Where chocolate is my hobby, for Stu it is a vocation. In his words: "The world without chocolate, is the world I don't want to live in."

"For as little as $1/month you will get the inside track on content like this and follow the travels of the Two Cowboys & A Camera. Join here."

In true Kiwi fashion, Stu and Kako are punching above their weight when compared to other similar businesses elsewhere in the world. At least, we've not met his equal (yet) in Western Canada. What is even more inspiring is to see how this amazing little business has grown over the last couple of years with outstanding and unique products, market reach, and their well-attended chocolate school, which recently celebrated its 2,000th attendee.

Some will consider New Zealand already an overcrowded chocolate market, where companies like Cadbury's are running tail between legs thanks to iconic chocolate manufacturers like Whittaker's Chocolate dominating the market. However, as we all know in business: "Where there is competition, there is also quality." It is this relentless focus on quality and innovation that makes Kako such an interesting business to profile.

A chocolatier is a person or company who makes confectionery from chocolate. Chocolatiers are distinct from chocolate makers, who create chocolate from cacao beans and other ingredients.

If you've spent any time amongst chocolatiers, you will know that they are a tricky bunch. Recipes and processes are closely guarded. Suspicion reigns. I will even go as far as to call them a little prickly at times. It may be due to the precision and patience of the craft, or merely the unpredictability of cocoa butter crystallisation and sugar states that rubbed off. It is truly a mad science if you do it right. You have to be more than a little mad to make it a passion.

However, chocolatiers are not as sensitive as chocolate makers. These people deserve a whole blog post to themselves.

Impressions

I've spent a fair bit of time with Stu at Kako, and two observations stand out.

Instead of being the jealous, mad scientist that he can justifiably be, he stepped out of the stereotype by sharing his knowledge. His product is phenomenal, and he shares his knowledge freely through the Kako Chocolate School.

In fact, one of his students in Edmonton supplied chocolate to a store in Canmore, Alberta, Canada. This is where I first came across Kako's colour techniques and tasted its unique flavour profiling. Seeing and tasting this chocolate moved me to research and looked up the company. Big was my surprise, to find them in little New Zealand of all places.

It is safe to say that to learn what Stu can teach you will cost you thousands more with other much larger companies, and you will probably have to relocate to Belgium or Melbourne to get up-to-date technical training in this kind of chocolatiering (yes, I know this is a made-up word).

Stu has lifted the bar on the craft of artisan chocolate, and he is training his competition. New Zealand is better off for it, and soon it will be the world (I will keep this development a secret for now).

The second part of the profile that made an impression on me is that this is a person that decided to re-invent himself, and hasn't looked back since. From being an office worker, he decided to make something. Simple. He still continues on this journey, and the chocolate industry, New Zealand and his community of chocolate lovers are better off as a result.

I am proud to know Stu and to be a graduate of Kako's Chocolate School. I hope there will be much more like me; that benefit from this inspiring little business, on a tiny Island in the South Pacific Ocean called: New Zealand.

Hendrik van Wyk
Chocolatiering Cowboy

Get rewarded for supporting our local Producers.
Receive special offers and invitations from the Two Cowboys and our Producers when you subscribe to our email list.

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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Only in NZ

Passion Hearts

Chocolate Graveyard

Passion

Learning Kako

Two Cowboys: Olds College Brewery - Olds - Alberta

Every Town Needs One

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When we heard "beer school", we conjured up visions of heavenly aromas, rivers of golden beer, and perfectly valid excuses for consistent intoxication, thanks to an above the norm commitment to beverage quality control.

What we found at Olds College Brewery instead, is a serious business. 

The brewing industry in Alberta and Canada is growing rapidly. It took nearly a hundred years for the impact of prohibition and subsequent corporately sponsored government control of the beer and distilling industries to loosen its grip on enterprising brewers and distilling craft lovers. We are now finally seeing increasing numbers of craft breweries and distilleries, driven largely by strong consumer demand for a greater variety of great tasting, and local craft beers and spirits. Canada is slowly waking up to the realization that we can all have our own beer.

Alberta has the ingredients, the entrepreneurial spirit, and if you go back far enough, the foundational history in alcohol production. It is time we embrace our agricultural assets and our heritage.

Peter Johnston-Berresford is the leading Brewmaster at Olds College Brewery, and a pioneer of Alberta's very own Brewmaster and Brewery Operations Management Program. In his words: "Every community and town in our Province has the capacity to support its very own small community based brewery." Olds College is playing its part in ensuring this becomes a reality.

The College has a hundred plus year history in education that supports the agriculture and agriculture value-added sectors. The idea of starting up a teaching brewery was seen by their board as a perfect fit to some of the core agriculture production in the Province. They created a state of the art 2,000 square foot facility dedicated to teaching students the art and science behind brewing the best beer possible. 

Their first student intake was in the fall of 2013, and they began to produce their first commercial brews in January 2014. 

It is a two-year program that covers:

• The fundamentals of beer making and brewery operation.
• Evaluating the consistency and quality of beer while also determining beer styles and characteristics
• Conducting analysis and performing advanced techniques in the beer-making process
• Performing laboratory analysis of beer as required in a brewery.
• Formulating and developing beer recipes for the marketplace.

As you can see, this is serious stuff. The magic of the Olds College program is that it is not all about beer. It is also about the business of beer. Students are inducted into the finer points of brewing commerce and production. This prepares them to be good brewers, good entrepreneurs, an asset to existing industry players and above all, good community members.

Observations

The proof is in the beverage! There is no room for hops-trigger-happy-hipsters in this operation. Everything we tasted was delicious, well balanced and full of character. The beer is simply outstanding.

Every Producer knows that you have to start with a good product to succeed in business. The Olds College Producer took on the added responsibility of not only having a good beer, and an outstandingly well qualified candidate for the industry, but it set itself the target of being self-sufficient. We applaud them for this free-market spirit!

The Brewery is a commercial operation. It may be dismissed by some sceptics to be a novel idea, until you realize that what they turn out is high quality stuff. It is well worth the trip to Olds to stock up on their beer. Who knows, it may even become serious competition for the bigger brands in due course.

As we've exclaimed at the end of the video. This is now also "our beer". 

Peter, Tony and David, are doing fine work. It is awesome to see the core values of production and commerce alive and well at an institution that are preparing future generations for their place in society. Not only do they teach the values. The institution lives by it.

We are proud to have the opportunity to tell their story. We hope to have many more excuses to continue to share their success and work beyond Olds, and beyond their beer. We are having a cold on on them!

Hendrik van Wyk

Olds Brewery Beer Fan

Get rewarded for supporting our local Producers. Receive special offers and invitations from the Two Cowboys.

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)

Photos

Sophistication

Our Beer

Setting the Standard

Alberta's Barley

Perfection