Cannabis Goldsmith - A Show About Art and Design

I just realized everything that happens seems to betriggered by a threshold of some kind, that things don’t happen gradually but instead build up and then happen all at once. This seems to apply to everything from politics to culture.I'm crafting a video pitch to a potential client for an important art piece. I outline how I’m doing this, in case it helps your pitches. TRIBE – Custom Made Sterling Silver Trophy Belt Buckles and Jewelry – Product of Canada https://tribe.ca Send an email to alexd@cannabisgoldsmith.com to get on our mailing list or to order custom jewelry products from TRIBE. The Cannabis Goldsmith is an Art & Design podcast produced by TRIBE COMMUNICATIONS INC. in Ontario, Upper Canada. © 2025 and ℗ 2025 Alex Dordevic TRIBE is a registered trademark

I've been a still photographer for over 50 years, shot over a hundred magazine covers, photographed fashion, editorial, beauty, macro and street. But when you move from photography into video, what do you need to know? Is the photography itself different between still photography and video photography? What must I unlearn? How can I make my videos better using the wisdom from a master Director of Photography?TIP: Get John Alton's book Painting with Light. The gear may be obsolete but his lighting philosophy is timeless and priceless. TRIBE – Custom Made Sterling Silver Trophy Belt Buckles and Jewelry – Product of Canada https://tribe.caSend an email to alexd@cannabisgoldsmith.com to get on our mailing list or to order custom jewelry products from TRIBE.The Cannabis Goldsmith is an Art & Design podcast produced by TRIBE COMMUNICATIONS INC. in Ontario, Upper Canada. © 2026 and ℗ 2026 Alex DordevicTRIBE is a registered trademark

Gold prices are downright scary now and silver looks like it has been seized by meme traders like GameStop stock once was. Data suggests that retail jewelry sales globally are down well over 20%. What are jewelers to do?In this episode I give four counterintuitive tips on how to communicate with your clients to close sales in spite of the high precious metals prices. I talk about non-precious metals, plating, and why a better plan is probably clear communications and leveraging what your clients already know about the precious metals price tear to sell them jewelry.I talk about how my designs have shifted to silver to cope with the high gold prices.The jewelers thriving right now aren't fighting the market—they're using it to their advantage.TRIBE – Custom Made Sterling Silver Trophy Belt Buckles and Jewelry – Product of Canada https://tribe.caSend an email to alexd@cannabisgoldsmith.com to get on our mailing list or to order custom jewelry products from TRIBE.The Cannabis Goldsmith is an Art & Design podcast produced by TRIBE COMMUNICATIONS INC. in Ontario, Upper Canada. © and ℗ 2025 Alex DordevicTRIBE is a registered trademark

I accidentally discovered an incredible BBC documentary series from 1997 by Stewart Brand on the relationship between humans and buildings called How Buildings Learn. It is a six part series that Stewart has put on youtube and it is truly worth watching. I learned so much about architecture, building design, and the relationship between artists and their spaces. There is a new rabbit in the woodshed I have named Snowflake.Start with the first episode of How Building Learn, here:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvEqfg2sIH0TRIBE – Custom Made Sterling Silver Trophy Belt Buckles and Jewelry – Product of Canadahttps://tribe.caSend an email to alexd@cannabisgoldsmith.com to get on our mailing list or to order custom jewelry products from TRIBE.The Cannabis Goldsmith is an Art & Design podcast produced by TRIBE COMMUNICATIONS INC. in Ontario, Upper Canada. © and ℗ 2025 Alex DordevicTRIBE is a registered trademark

In this show, I describe how the De Beers sight and sightholder system works. It’s an old process (dating back to the 1930s) where a hand-picked buyer is put in a room with hand-picked, uncut stones and intense sales pressure is applied. That system worked well for decades, but its future is now in doubt, as factory-made diamonds are dramatically compressing natural diamond prices.I also talk about how mines could skip the middlemen — and even the cutters — and sell giant raw diamonds directly to billionaires. As the global economy teeters and many people look to exit U.S.-tied assets, now may be the moment for mines to hire consultants to place massive stones directly with the ultra-wealthy, ahead of auctions. Alternatively, billionaires could hire consultants to secure the absolute best raw stones on the planet for long-term safekeeping. Once again, this opens up an opportunity for a consultant — or even a former sightholder.TRIBE – Custom Made Sterling Silver Trophy Belt Buckles and Jewelry – Product of Canada https://tribe.caSend an email to alexd@cannabisgoldsmith.com to get on our mailing list or to order custom jewelry products from TRIBE.The Cannabis Goldsmith is an Art & Design podcast produced by TRIBE COMMUNICATIONS INC. in Ontario, Upper Canada. © and ℗ 2025 Alex DordevicTRIBE is a registered trademark

Greenland has some nice rubies and sapphires and they are some of the oldest in the world. The colors of the corundum mined there tend to be in the pink to red color spectrum due to the geology and how the crystals were formed. They would look great in jewelry I think, but that is not the only reason you should consider using them in a design.A Norwegian company set up a ruby mine in Greenland and has mined some nice stones for the jewelry trade. In this show I explain how micro-fractures in the stones are "healed" to improve their appearance in jewelry and how this is now an accepted practice in the industry and how borax flux healing is used on Greenland rubies.I discuss about how there may be a way to leverage the current political winds to market jewelry gemstones from Greenland and diamonds from Canada to a world tired of America.I talk about the raccoon who tried to hang on inside a tree trunk as the tree was being taken down around him and how this feels just like our world today. I describe the difference between downtown Toronto raccoons and normal Canadian raccoons and how I hope to turn part of the property into a chainsaw-carved sculpture garden.Rubies from Greenland:https://www.greenlandruby.gl/TRIBE – Custom Made Sterling Silver Trophy Belt Buckles and Jewelry – Product of Canadahttps://tribe.caSend an email to alexd@cannabisgoldsmith.com to get on our mailing list or to order custom jewelry products from TRIBE.The Cannabis Goldsmith is an Art & Design podcast produced by TRIBE COMMUNICATIONS INC. in Ontario, Upper Canada. © and ℗ 2025 Alex DordevicTRIBE is a registered trademark

In a year, the United States has turned into a terrorist state and their president into a despotic dictator. Canadians must rely on ourselves. Let's meet each other, let's get to know our next door neighbors (in Canada), so when the shit hits the fan you can help your neighbor or they can help you. We have to buckle down and get ready. Our Prime Minister is spending more and more time away from Canada and this is not comforting at all. Who will stand up to crazy America? Eventually, someone will, and I think a full blown world war will ensue. It's not the best time to make art, but I'm still trying, and you know, the ideas are still coming and a beautiful jewelry art piece is already coming together based on an ice cold Canada.I have a new respect for dangerous jobs as I watch my local tree care company take down two 200 year old trees at the very end of their lifespans. The same will happen to America.TRIBE – Custom Made Sterling Silver Trophy Belt Buckles and Jewelry – Product of Canadahttps://tribe.caSend an email to alexd@cannabisgoldsmith.com to get on our mailing list or to order custom jewelry products from TRIBE.The Cannabis Goldsmith is an Art & Design podcast produced by TRIBE COMMUNICATIONS INC. in Ontario, Upper Canada. © and ℗ 2025 Alex DordevicTRIBE is a registered trademark

I’m an artist, so I can make exotic predictions.There’s a lot of political and media analysis in this episode, but if that’s not your thing, you can skip straight to the last 7 minutes.I’m horribly sick with the flu, and I talk about how sick I am of Canada’s Prime Minister and his pandering to the US President. There is something seriously wrong with a Canadian Prime Minister who won’t wear a Canadian flag on his lapel, yet will proudly wear a special tie for Donald. Yuck.I’m exhausted by politics, but I talk about it anyway. I don’t understand how the same government that brought us to this place over the last decade can suddenly save us now.I also unveil several predictions for 2026, including an AI bubble burst and a broader market collapse, likely by the summer.I talk about how the rich are already moving into non-traditional assets — like large diamonds sold at auction — to hedge against the crash. They’re realizing that massive pools of money will evaporate when the bubble bursts, so they’re scrambling into alternative asset classes. I predict auction houses will be selling trunk-loads of expensive objects as the wealthy freak out.I predict America will continue its aggression toward Canada to soften us up. They may even target our state-controlled and publicly funded news media in 2026 — and perhaps, as collateral damage, Canada might get a free and fair media landscape again.I also talk about what Americans aren’t seeing yet: corruption at the top always flows downward, and it will ultimately destroy the economy. Systemic corruption is being baked directly into the system right now.And yet, despite all of this, there has never been a better time to make art.So that’s what I’ll be doing next year.TRIBE – Custom Made Sterling Silver Trophy Belt Buckles and Jewelry – Product of Canadahttps://tribe.caSend an email to alexd@cannabisgoldsmith.com to get on our mailing list or to order custom jewelry products from TRIBE.The Cannabis Goldsmith is an Art & Design podcast produced by TRIBE COMMUNICATIONS INC. in Ontario, Upper Canada. © and ℗ 2025 Alex DordevicTRIBE is a registered trademark

What are photojournalists and why are they important? What do photojournalists seek to accomplish with their art? I give three examples of different approaches to photojournalism, from the political to the cultural, and encourage you to listen to two interviews with photojournalists Simon Townsley on Battle Lines and Chris Anderson on IMPOLITIC at the links below.On the second part of the show I outline the challenges facing Burgundy as they try to market diamonds from Canada's recently tax funded Ekati diamond mine in Canada's North West Territories. Traditional marketing is not going to work anymore to sell diamonds, and I explain what I would do if I was in their situation.Photojournalist Simon Townsley on photographing war and disease on Battle Lines:https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/photographing-war-disease-and-nuclear-accidents-with/id1712903296?i=1000742557596Photojournalist Chris Anderson on the IMPOLITIC podcast:https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/chris-anderson-karoline-leavitt-isnt-rosalia-and/id1529346075?i=1000742288256TRIBE – Custom Made Sterling Silver Trophy Belt Buckles and Jewelry – Product of Canadahttps://tribe.caSend an email to alexd@cannabisgoldsmith.com to get on our mailing list or to order custom jewelry products from TRIBE.The Cannabis Goldsmith is an Art & Design podcast produced by TRIBE COMMUNICATIONS INC. in Ontario, Upper Canada. © and ℗ 2025 Alex DordevicTRIBE is a registered trademark

I'm going to document my experience seeking funding for a book of photography and for a documentary film. I am hoping it will help others who are seeking to fund art. It will be journalism, but also provide the steps I will take to secure or fail to secure funding for my projects. This first part of the series is about getting your thinking clear and straight about what you want to fund and why, before you even think about how much money you will need for your projects.It turns out the USA states bordering Canada have suffered a 40% drop in Canadian visitors. Canadian senior citizens now get fingerprinted daily by US border patrol agents at entry points, and visitors will be required to provide the US government 5 years of social media history to enter the country. Over 200 Canadians have been arrested, including children, and some sent to American internment camps. Canadians now realize we don't need to visit America for anything at all, and especially if we get treated like scum for trying to spend our money there. TRIBE – Custom Made Sterling Silver Trophy Belt Buckles and Jewelry – Product of Canadahttps://tribe.caSend an email to alexd@cannabisgoldsmith.com to get on our mailing list or to order custom jewelry products from TRIBE.The Cannabis Goldsmith is an Art & Design podcast produced by TRIBE COMMUNICATIONS INC. in Ontario, Upper Canada. © and ℗ 2025 Alex DordevicTRIBE is a registered trademark

So you've swallowed a Faberge Egg and figure you've committed a perfect crime, but you are no match for an intern with a stick and a bucket, or Drugloo, the space age contraband recovery toilet manufactured in Texas.I speculate why many of the podcast listeners are in Australia and Germany...(Cannabis Goldsmith Listener Stats: 1. Australia 2. Canada 3. USA 4. Germany)Drugloo - Ranger contraband recovery toilethttps://www.drugloo-international.com/copy-of-our-units-1TRIBE – Custom Made Sterling Silver Trophy Belt Buckles and Jewelry – Product of Canadahttps://tribe.caSend an email to alexd@cannabisgoldsmith.com to get on our mailing list or to order custom jewelry products from TRIBE.The Cannabis Goldsmith is an Art & Design podcast produced by TRIBE COMMUNICATIONS INC. in Ontario, Upper Canada. © and ℗ 2025 Alex DordevicTRIBE is a registered trademark

Is it a restoration? An art project? The Maitland Tower is an incredible historical riverfront property being developed into community art and event spaces by Philip Ling. I went upriver to have a look, and learned how this project combines the modern and the old in new ways that will grow art in South Eastern Ontario.I also talk about why it's important to license creative work from artists instead of stealing it for commercial purposes.The Maitland Tower Websitehttps://maitlandtower.caTRIBE – Custom Made Sterling Silver Trophy Belt Buckles and Jewelry – Product of Canadahttps://tribe.caSend an email to alexd@cannabisgoldsmith.com to get on our mailing list or to order custom jewelry products from TRIBE.The Cannabis Goldsmith is an Art & Design podcast produced by TRIBE COMMUNICATIONS INC. in Ontario, Upper Canada. © and ℗ 2025 Alex DordevicTRIBE is a registered trademark

As podcasts I once trusted for news, journalism, and truth become chat shows or mouthpieces for a handful of US tech companies trying to justify their extreme valuations, I take a step back and consider if I really need their advertorial content or banter. I am cutting them out of my life becausethey are spreading slop now too. It’s time to focus on truth, art, and the real.I talk about how emotionally trying it can be for an artist to look at work they produced when young. There are a lot of reasons why artists can’t look back and I explain some of them.We have started looking for  sponsors for the show. Send me an email for our rate card, if you want to connect deeply with artists and creatives around the world, the Cannabis Goldsmith is the place to do it. Only one sponsor perepisode.  Money earned through advertising or sponsorship of this show will go directly to the TRIBE MAGAZINE photographic archive digitization project. TRIBE – Custom Made Sterling Silver Trophy Belt Buckles and Jewelry – Product of Canadahttps://tribe.ca Send an email to alexd@cannabisgoldsmith.com to get on our mailing list or to order custom jewelry products from TRIBE. The Cannabis Goldsmith is an Art & Design podcast produced by TRIBE COMMUNICATIONS INC. in Ontario, Upper Canada. © and ℗ 2025 Alex Dordevic TRIBE is a registered trademark

One of the greatest human experiences you can have is when you resonate with an artist's work, or it resonates with you on some almost unconscious level. Petr Válek's synthesizers are hand-built from found materials and embellished with designs coming from a very deep place in a rural area in the Czech Republic. They are also fun and comical. How can an art object contain such multitudes? How can I buy one of these for my own studio?In the second half of the show I talk about all the big diamonds turning up at auction houses as the rich try to unload and go liquid to face an impending market crash. My thought is that the Mellon Blue auction price signified the peak of diamond auction prices. I explore why certain diamonds sell for more than others and also speculate as to the the value of Taylor Swift's engagement ring diamond in a hundred years.Not only does Petr Válek look like a paint covered artist, but his art is amazing. Check it:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDG-zQF0kvITRIBE – Custom Made Sterling Silver Trophy Belt Buckles and Jewelry – Product of Canadahttps://tribe.caSend an email to alexd@cannabisgoldsmith.com to get on our mailing list or to order custom jewelry products from TRIBE.The Cannabis Goldsmith is an Art & Design podcast produced by TRIBE COMMUNICATIONS INC. in Ontario, Upper Canada. © and ℗ 2025 Alex DordevicTRIBE is a registered trademark5xqybiGD6vb1PK2Hoooa

Media Literacy 101. The American media pundits are coming into Canada to sell books and influence our politics. They are appearing on our state funded current affairs shows as "news” but this is not news, it is US marketing funded by Canadian tax dollars. The first part of this episode describes the hypocrisy of American media pundits who use marketing, disinformation or polarization to sell more books and podcast subscriptions to Canadians and Europeans, while capitalizing on their own country’s demise. Perhaps they should go back to where they came from and fix their own country before telling Canadians or Europeans how to live and what to do. Frankly, they should be paying to appear on Canadian media, not the other way around. Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway from Vox media in Canada shilling for a Canadian political party IS interference in our domestic politics and they must stop doing this now.I am so tired of Americans and their nonsense. Aren’t you?Then, I talk about two Sterling Silver belt buckle designs on the bench: one highly political, and the other highly personal. I talk about the progress putting together the PRESERVE T HE BEAT book and documentary film which will describe the birth of electronic music and DJ culture in Canada. TRIBE – Custom Made Sterling Silver Trophy Belt Buckles and Jewelry – Product of Canadahttps://tribe.ca Send an email to alexd@cannabisgoldsmith.com to get on our mailing list or to order custom jewelry products from TRIBE. The Cannabis Goldsmith is an Art & Design podcast produced by TRIBE COMMUNICATIONS INC. in Ontario, Upper Canada. © and ℗ 2025 Alex Dordevic TRIBE is a registered trademark 

I describe the difference between the news media space in Canada and the United States, and why I believe most Canadian journalism is now state funded government propaganda. I describe how I get my news from a variety of non-Canadian sources to kludge together a view of what is going on in my own country.I talk about an incredible brooch from the house of Boivin that was designed in the 1950’s, auctioned in 2013, and then completely vanished into a private collection. Perhaps whoever bought it can show it off again?Finally, in heist news, the French police seem to be flailing in their crown jewels theft investigation.Christies Site Rene Boivin Tiger Brooch Description as a pdf:https://www.christies.com/presscenter/pdf/2013/RELEASE_Jewellery_Collection_of_H%C3%89L%C3%88NE_ROCHAS_Geneva_on_12_November_2013.pdfChristies Page with top view of the Rene Boivin Tiger Brooch:https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-5738826TRIBE – Custom Made Sterling Silver Trophy Belt Buckles and Jewelry – Product of Canadahttps://tribe.ca Send an email to alexd@cannabisgoldsmith.com to get on our mailing list or to order custom jewelry products from TRIBE. The Cannabis Goldsmith is an Art & Design podcast produced by TRIBE COMMUNICATIONS INC. in Ontario, Upper Canada. © and ℗ 2025 Alex Dordevic TRIBE is a registered trademark

My Mom taught me how to write a decent letter of complaint, so I wrote one to our Prime Minister, Mark Carney, who seems to have moved on from the impressive date-specific unaccomplished achievements he promised to Canadians just a few short months ago, in order to get elected. I gave him some suggestions and told him Canada needs a sales and marketing focus to increase foreign exports, not political speeches. We can already sell into non-US markets so why aren’t we doing that? I don’t expect a reply, and I think we should cut Carney loose before he wastes more of our time. He seems to be running out the clock on the free trade agreement... Then what? Let's try someone else, now, before it's too late. I talk about how the belligerent, foul-mouthed US Ambassador to Canada’s attempt to out goof the Ontario premier at the National Gallery the other day is not a good look for anyone, and perhaps we should send him packing (which is our privilege).I ‘m designing the most patriotic Canadian jewelry piece ever – a big Canada themed Sterling Silver trophy belt buckle rich with Canadian symbolism, nature and natural resources for next year’s Calgary Stampede. I’m calling it the SWEET CANADA buckle, and It‘s a fusion of art, politics, and national pride that will be truly magnificent.TRIBE – Custom Made Sterling Silver Trophy Belt Buckles and Jewelry – Product of Canadahttps://tribe.ca Send an email to alexd@cannabisgoldsmith.com to get on our mailing list or to order custom jewelry products from TRIBE. The Cannabis Goldsmith is an Art & Design podcast produced by TRIBE COMMUNICATIONS INC. in Ontario, Upper Canada. © and ℗ 2025 Alex Dordevic TRIBE is a registered trademark

Let's speculate about who stole Marie-Louise's emerald necklace and why.If you have information on the Louvre jewel heist, please contact the French police or Interpol:French Police: https://www.police-nationale.interieur.gouv.fr/ContactsINTERPOL stolen art unit: https://www.interpol.int/en/News-and-Events/News/2025/Louvre-Museum-theft-Stolen-jewels-added-to-INTERPOL-s-Stolen-Works-of-Art-databaseTRIBE – Custom Made Sterling Silver Trophy Belt Buckles and Jewelry – Product of Canadahttps://tribe.caSend an email to alexd@cannabisgoldsmith.com to get on our mailing list or to order custom jewelry products from TRIBE.The Cannabis Goldsmith is an Art & Design podcast produced by TRIBE COMMUNICATIONS INC. in Ontario, Upper Canada. © and ℗ 2025 Alex DordevicTRIBE is a registered trademark

Geoffrey Hinton has to stop doing these interviews where he is warning us about the dangers of his own invention. Or, hosts should ask him how much money Hinton made from the development of this technology which he now says can take our life savings or destroy the world. He must man up and take responsibility for his horror.I am hunkering down for a winter of design, and it will be fabulous!Douglas Rushkoff on billionaires:https://rushkoff.com/books/survival-of-the-richest-escape-fantasies-of-the-tech-billionaires/TRIBE – Custom Made Sterling Silver Trophy Belt Buckles and Jewelry – Product of Canadahttps://tribe.caSend an email to alexd@cannabisgoldsmith.com to get on our mailing list or to order custom jewelry products from TRIBE.The Cannabis Goldsmith is an Art & Design podcast produced by TRIBE COMMUNICATIONS INC. in Ontario, Upper Canada. © and ℗ 2025 Alex DordevicTRIBE is a registered trademark

I’m already designing a Canadian themed Sterling Silver trophy belt buckle for the 2026 Calgary Stampede, based around a Sugar Maple leaf from my own tree in the front yard. This silver masterwork will be packed with cultural and national symbolism. Who will wear it to the Stampede next year?It is just too sad to watch the USA spiraling toward civil war or becoming a failed state. It‘s not doing me any good listening to US pundits because they have no answers, and I will try to focus on my own land and culture instead. TRIBE – Custom Made Sterling Silver Trophy Belt Buckles and Jewelry – Product of Canadahttps://tribe.ca Send an email to alexd@cannabisgoldsmith.com to get on our mailing list or to order custom jewelry products from TRIBE. The Cannabis Goldsmith is an Art & Design podcast produced by TRIBE COMMUNICATIONS INC. in Ontario, Upper Canada. © and ℗ 2025 Alex Dordevic TRIBE is a registered trademark