The Craft with May Globus

This episode is part of a live conversation series between @wearethecraft and @IDSVancouver, recorded at this year’s show on the @Vicostoneglobal main stage.On September 27, we sat down with Chad Falkenberg and Kelly Reynolds of @FalkenReynolds, one of Vancouver’s beloved design studios, to explore the lives and experiences that came before the design. Because neither path for them was particularly straightforward.Kelly grew up in Richmond surrounded by sports, construction, and a father who spent his career in the VPD, while Chad grew up on a chicken farm in Alberta, surrounded by horses and a family connected to construction. Their paths to design were anything but linear: Kelly moved through the military, policing, aviation cabin crew, and eventually interior design. Chad studied business, lived in Lithuania for seven years, travelled extensively through Europe, and found his way to interior design in Barcelona in his 30s. Woven through those experiences are the early influences, from materials and buildings to making, movement, sport, and the natural world, that would quietly shape the way they see and create.And we explore the evolution of Falken Reynolds, too. In the early days, Chad and Kelly were immersed in the making: building, experimenting, meeting new people, and learning as they went. Today, their roles have shifted. They lead a team, bring ideas together, and increasingly act as quarterbacks of the work.Then there’s their annual travel (they climbed Mount Kilimanjaro one year!). We talk about the places that have shaped how they see, the value of travelling without work in mind, and the pull of getting off the road and into the unknown. Of making something, being somewhere completely different, and experiencing a place without needing to turn it into a project.It’s about the winding paths that lead us to our work, and how the lives we build outside of it inevitably find their way into what we create.Please enjoy this conversation and Q&A these wonderful, one-in-a-million friends of mine, Chad Falkenberg and Kelly Reynolds.Much love,MaySound engineering: @alikadongPhotography: @mrjeremywongMarketing support: @maizmcknight

Born in Vancouver and shaped by the spirit of the 1960s and 70s, Gary Lenett—founder and CEO of denim brand DUER—grew up between two contrasting parental influences.His mother was cautious and conservative, a loving stay-at-home mom whose anxiety left a lasting imprint. His father, who lost his own parents at the age of twelve during the Great Depression, was larger than life: charismatic, courageous, and comfortable with risk—sometimes a little too comfortable.A former teacher and lawyer, Gary is no stranger to starting anew, with these two forces of caution and boldness continuing to inform the way he moves through the world and navigates business.He has spent decades in the apparel industry, building one of the largest denim manufacturers in North America. At 48, he lost everything while raising three young children, beginning again with a deeper understanding of risk, resilience, and what truly matters.But this conversation is about far more than business.It is about the opposing energies that shape us: openness and discernment, discipline and surrender, fear and trust.From a young age, Gary sensed something profound within but didn’t yet have the language to describe it. A lifelong admirer of The Little Prince and a self-described “curious skeptic,” he eventually found his way to meditation and a philosophy rooted in presence, honesty, compassion, and non-attachment.In this open-hearted episode, we talk about failure, fear, profit and purpose, and what “enough” means after a life marked by both collapse and renewal. It’s a dialogue about being self-led, surrendering to what is, and the art of building not only a meaningful business, but a meaningful life.[TIMESTAMPS]00:00 Introduction to Gary Lenett02:30 Contrasting Parental Influences10:48 Career Transitions and Personal Growth15:06 The Collapse of a Business19:32 Ego Death and Rebirth20:40 Finding Fulfillment After Loss23:57 Navigating Fear and Anxiety26:42 Openness vs. Discernment29:42 Lessons from The Little Prince32:50 The Concept of Effortlessness35:47 Experiencing Flow in Life39:52 Overcoming Anxiety and Staying Present43:30 The Nature of Risk in Entrepreneurship46:11 Lessons Learned from Business Failures50:00 Choosing the Right Business Partners53:16 The Deeper Impact of Doer56:49 Legacy and Life Lessons

The luminescent Genevieve Kang grew up between Chinese and Portuguese cultures in a small, predominantly white city, learning early on what it means to exist at the edges of belonging, to be fluent in more than one world, and to quietly build a self from whatever felt true.She was the youngest of four to two hardworking parents, a maker & creator with her hands from a young age, someone who resisted school but fell in love with theatre and the emotional aliveness of being on stage. At 18, she was diagnosed with Lupus. And then, in a move that took deep courage and trust, she stopped medication cold turkey and chose to heal herself through food, land, and listening. Nearly twenty years later, she is symptom-free.Food became her language and a philosophy: for care, for culture, for grief, for transition. She trained as a holistic nutritionist, is an actor & model for many beautiful brands, built a catering practice KIKAN and ran a food truck. She grew things, tended to animals. She spent long stretches alone in Ucluelet on Vancouver Island—just her and her pup partner Reishi—letting the land ask things of her that people never did.Now she's in the midst of another unraveling. Closing chapters, simplifying, making space for what wants to come next. Portugal might be calling, or maybe Southern California. She doesn't yet know exactly what form it takes but, as she’s always done, is letting it all unfold. And she's learning to be okay with that.[TIMESTAMPS]5:15 – Growing up9:45 – Finding inner belonging12:45 – The wisdoms her parents gave her22:34 – Creating with her hands26:13 – What being on stage gave her that life off it didn't29:55 – What her diagnosis awakened in her about agency and mortality37:37 – When food became more than nourishment44:33 – The version of herself she's grieving most47:53 – What the land asks of her that people never have53:32 – Who she is in two years — and what it feels like56:35 – The throughline she can see now that wasn't visible before58:58 – The final question1:02:29 – Where to find Genevieve[TODAY'S SPONSORS]Excited to welcome Before Company as one of our season five sponsors! I’ve been using them since day one—especially the whitening formula. It turns brushing into a small, grounding ritual, and the tube looks gorgeous on my counter. Use code thecraft for 20% off your first order → www.beforecompany.com.As some of you know, I'm also a certified sound therapy practitioner, intuitive channeler & founder of otō healing. Whether you're new to sound baths or seasoned and curious about trying one of my experiences, email otohealing at gmail.com to get 10% off your first private, in-home sound therapy & channeled guidance session.

Braden Parker—the new CEO of Westbeach—grew up in Cochrane, Alberta—a small town of fewer than ten thousand—obsessed with the Titanic and dinosaurs, building lemonade stands with his siblings, and raised by two teachers who believed deeply in curiosity and going after what you want.His dad was offered a sabbatical at Stanford university, moving the family from the Prairies to Silicon Valley, where Braden’s world opened wide: multicultural families, friends whose parents were shaping the future at places like Netflix, and an early sense that you could design your own path if you were willing to build it.That instinct became a lifelong throughline, from being a snowboard coach for kids to becoming a UBC Sauder School of Business student. Then a door-design entrepreneur, followed by a career in real estate. He experimented with selling cricket pasta and conjured up concepts for a luxury toothbrush before landing on Casca—the footwear brand he co-founded with Kevin Reed at 26. He’d work his day job and fly to China for Casca on vacation days, walked factory floors, learned cross-cultural communication, and tried to create the perfect everyday shoe. Seven years later, he exited at 32, stepping into an identity shift that backpacking through East Africa helped reorient.And now, he’s in his next era, reviving Westbeach—an iconic Canadian surf, skate, and snow brand steeped in community, quality, and technical culture. A third space, a mini skate pipe, a coffee shop, and a small, tight team building its next chapter with intention and care. It’s a return to levity, craftsmanship, and the spirit of a legacy that shaped generations.This is a conversation about possibility, reinvention, realism, and knowing when a door is no longer the right door. About building what feels true. And about the courage it takes to begin again—especially when the legacy is bigger than you.[TIMESTAMPS]5:12 – Childhood & early influences 13:39 – University years and formative experiences 17:11 – Life after graduation: exploration and early ventures 22:33 – The birth of Casca: founding the brand 24:31 – Why Braden and his cofounder believed a new shoe brand could make an impact 30:00 – Cross-cultural relationship building and communication in business 35:03 – Realizing it was time to exit Casca 43:30 – Reviving Westbeach: first questions for himself, the brand, and the team 53:29 – Redlines he will never compromise on 54:23 – Advice he encourages other entrepreneurs to adopt 56:11 – His perspective on life today 58:50 – The final question 1:00:18 – Where to find Braden[TODAY'S SPONSORS]Excited to welcome Before Company as one of our season five sponsors! I’ve been using them since day one—especially the whitening formula. It turns brushing into a small, grounding ritual, and the tube looks gorgeous on my counter. Use code thecraft for 20% off your first order → www.beforecompany.com.As some of you know, I'm also a certified sound therapy practitioner, intuitive channeler & founder of otō healing. Whether you're new to sound baths or seasoned and curious about trying one of my experiences, email otohealing at gmail.com to get 10% off your first private, in-home sound therapy & channeled guidance session.

In our first episode of season five, we begin in the suburbs of Coquitlam, where a young boy sketched houses and dreamed of becoming an architect. For West Coast Modern Homes founder Trent Rodney, his story has always been about home.Raised by a hardworking single mother, he inherited not only hustle, but also an early reverence for the spaces we live in. His career began in finance at the National Bank of Canada in the investment division where, over nearly a decade, his natural instinct for marketing revealed itself through cold calling and developing large-scale educational events that drew speakers like Kevin O'Leary of Dragon's Den. Post-finance and after a short stint with a start-up real estate developer, he did odd jobs and was drawn to the forest, where laying on a particular granite rock in the middle of a river helped him heal and recalibrate.This eventually led him to architecture itself — not through blueprints, but through Frank Llyod Wright and a deep fascination with the cultural life of homes. He began researching architecture, spending hours in libraries, tracing the lineage of design. There, he found modern architecture and began cataloging British Columbia’s modern houses, even walking the streets and doorknocking to find them. Don Gurney of Openspace Architecture encouraged him to sell architectural homes in the province, which sparked something in Trent. After discovering The Modern House from the UK, West Coast Modern Homes was then born.Trent doesn’t see homes simply as assets, but as living artifacts — vessels of culture, memory, and human well-being. And its owners, the custodians. In his work, he often likens himself as less in real estate and more as an art dealer: someone who preserves, champions, and passes along pieces of history.In this conversation, we explore the philosophy behind that view: The genesis of his love for homes; creating marketing campaigns that stop people in their tracks; the art of architecture; what it means to treat homes as cultural touchstones; how architecture shapes our emotional and spiritual lives; and much more.[TIMESTAMPS]5:52 - Growing up12:12 - Where the love for design and homemaking came from14:44 - His time in Finance27:58 - The transition from finance to design36:57 - Why he describes his work as being an art dealer40:26 - How he approaches homes as cultural artifacts 58:22 - The role he sees architecture playing in shaping the wellbeing of humanity 01:02:48 - What he would say to his mother about how much she influenced the importance of a home to him01:04:12 - Final question 01:06:11 - Where to find him[TODAY'S SPONSORS]otō healing: https://www.instagram.com/otohealing/ - email otohealing at gmail.com to get 10% off your initial sound therapy session