If you missed Treana Peake’s talk at CMVan last month, you are in luck. The video of his talk is now up on Vimeo. Check it out!
If you appreciate the work the CreativeMornings/Vancouver volunteers are doing, please click the “Donate” button below to help ensure the continued success of these important creative community events.
Profile and Q&A: Treana Peake
Treana Peake is a Canadian fashion designer. In 2005 she founded Obakki, a luxury brand that focuses on urban, easy-to-wear and effortlessly cool clothes for women. Treana believes that collaboration and innovation are the keys to staying current in fashion; her sexy styles evolve season after season thanks to the eclectic input from the fashion collective she oversees. Recently her collections have been featured in top fashion publications such as Vogue, InStyle, and WWD. Her modern vision and progressive working methods have paid off: the Obakki flagship store in Vancouver, Canada won the Governor General’s award, and Obakki retail points span the globe.
Aside from fashion, Treana’s heart has always been in philanthropy; ever since she can remember, she has looked for ways to integrate her two passions. Her vision finally became a reality in 2009, when she launched the Obakki Foundation. Focusing on educational development and clean water projects, the Foundation uses the fashion world as a vehicle to raise funds and awareness for big-picture global issues. Over the past 15 years, Treana has traveled to Africa, living and working in the very environments that she seeks to transform, and getting to know the people that she has committed to empower. She recently launched the Obakki Foundation collection, consisting of screen-printed t-shirts, scarves and totes, with 100% of the proceeds destined to help children in orphanages in Cameroon. Her goal is to bring together artists, musicians, actors and “movers and shakers” to promote self-sufficiency, health and education in African villages.
Treana fully embodies the values and aesthetics of the Obakki customer: she is a wife and mother, a humanitarian, a businesswoman, and a global citizen who understands that true style and a commitment to making the world a better place are by no means mutually exclusive.
CMV: How do you define creativity and apply it in your career?
TP: Creativity is an outlet for passion. A platform to show things that move me. My work motto is using ‘creativity as a medium for change’.
CMV: Where do you find your best creative inspiration?
TP: I find inspiration in things that are real and in moments, interactions or places that move me. If I don’t feel it, I am not inspired. Most of my inspiration comes from my field work. EX - standing in the middle of a cattle camp in South Sudan - (one of the worlds last pastoralist communities), or dancing around a clean water well with a community in a remote village. MOMENTS that are meaningful are my source of inspiration.
CMV: What’s the one creative advice or tip you wish you’d known as a young person?
TP: I spent a lot of time and energy trying to infuse projects with my passion rather than letting go and allowing my passions to determine my projects. I wish I had figured that out earlier - as the things I do now come from a very real and inspiring place.
CMV: Who would you like to hear speak at CreativeMorning?
TP: Michael Greene - architect.
CMV: What keeps you awake at night?
TP: I wake up many nights inspired about upcoming projects or campaigns - thinking of different ways to use creativity to create change. I have so many stories to tell - and at night I dream up ways to tell them.
CMV: What has been one of your biggest Aha! moments in life?
TP: Sitting in a village called Alel Chok in South Sudan as the elder read to me old water proverbs (in his native dialect) . At times development work can be overwhelming and in that very moment everything I have ever done came crashing down on me. I realized that I didn’t have to save the entire world - I just had to keep moving forward one village at a time. Our water well changed the lives of the people in Alel Chok and that was what mattered at that very moment, and what has mattered to me ever since. Sometimes we set lofty goals (which is GREAT) but in order to not get lost along the way, we need to allow ourselves to rejoice the successes as they come. Since Alel Chok (which was our first water well in SOUTH SUDAN), we have drilled over 300 more wells - each one inspired by my moment under the tree with the elder.
If you missed Joseph Wu’s talk at CMVan last month, you are in luck. The video of his talk is now up on Vimeo. Check it out!
If you appreciate the work the CreativeMornings/Vancouver volunteers are doing, please click the “Donate” button below to help ensure the continued success of these important creative community events.
Profile and Q&A: Joseph Wu
Like many people, Joseph Wu encountered origami as a child, folding paper since the age of three. Unlike most people, he continued practising his craft, and began creating original designs at the age of eleven. Joseph continues to be an active participant in the international origami community. He has been invited to attend conferences, teach classes, give lectures, and exhibit works in many parts of the world. In May, he was invited as the special guest at both the German and French origami conventions. He also co-administers the email discussion group on origami, facilitating communication between enthusiasts from over 35 countries.
Joseph’s work has been shown internationally at both conventions and at gallery shows. Photos of his work have graced the pages of many publications, including Rolling Stone, O Magazine, and the New York Times. His clients have included Stolichnaya Vodka, Intel and Air Canada, and he has produced on-set art for such TV shows and movies as Fringe and Underworld 4.
In 2009, Joseph designed, built and installed a 180-foot long origami light sculpture that is the centrepiece of Oru, the restaurant at the Fairmont Pacific Rim hotel in downtown Vancouver. He also contributed origami lights to the Vancouver pavilion at the 2010 Olympic Games. At the end of November, 2011, Jelly Swarm, a collaborative project between Joseph and Tangible Interaction, featuring almost 100 computer lighted jellyfish was installed for view at the Vancouver Aquarium.
CMV: How do you define creativity and apply it in your career?
JW: Creativity is not the same as originality. I consider creativity to be the ability to make something new from that which has come before. To see things from a different point of view, to make something different by combining existing elements in a new way, to put your own personal twist on what has come before…these are ways that creativity manifests.
CMV: Where do you find your best creative inspiration?
JW: From the work and challenges of others. Often I get inspired by looking at art created by artists working in different media from mine. And being asked to create something new by someone I know well (e.g. my son) gives me opportunities to be creative.
CMV: What’s the one creative advice or tip you wish you’d known as a young person?
JW: It’s okay to make mistakes. Actually, it’s necessary to make mistakes. Without experience, we cannot learn or grow. And gaining experience comes from both successes and failures.
CMV: Who would you like to hear speak at CreativeMornings/Vancouver?
JW: Rachael Ashe
CMV: What is the best spontaneous decision you’ve made?
JW: When I was a boy, maybe around 9-years-old, the father of a family friend died. He had been ill for a long time. I believe it was terminal cancer. The doctors had given him 6 months to live. He prayed that he would be able to spend 3 more years with his family. When he finally passed away peacefully in his sleep, at home with his family, he had lived 3 years and 6 months from the day the doctor had given the original prognosis. We lived nearby, so our family went to the house as soon as we heard. As we gazed upon his serene face, I heard that his last wish was to look once again upon the leaves growing outside his window. I immediately jumped up, ran outside, and brought back a branch from the bush outside and put it into his hand.
CMV: What was the best advice you were ever given?
JW: When I was 17, I was told that life begins at 30. I took it to heart. It allowed me to spend the time experiencing and learning rather than getting hung up on having to fulfill goals. I set aside any thoughts of having to decide what I wanted to be, any expectations on when I would have to get married, any worries about being fitted into a particular mold. Of course, I still worried about such things subconsciously, but I believe that I would have been more neurotic than I am now if I hadn’t consciously made that decision.
BCRobyn Tells All About CMVan
Now this is nice. BCRobyn has been to quite a few Creative Mornings in her time, and in her post, she offers a “quick and dirty” breakdown of what goes down.
Check out the full post here.
Thanks, BCRobyn!
If you missed Jeff Hamada’s talk at CMVan, you are in luck. The video of his talk is now up on Vimeo. Check it out!
If you appreciate the work the CreativeMornings/Vancouver volunteers are doing, please click the “Donate” button below to help ensure the continued success of these important creative community events.
Profile and Q&A: Mayor Gregor Robertson
In November 2011, Gregor Robertson was elected to a second term as Mayor of Vancouver. He was re-elected to continue building upon the accomplishments of his first three years in office—working to end street homelessness, addressing housing affordability, improving public transit, and making Vancouver the greenest city in the world.
Mayor Robertson is also a national advocate for urban issues as Chair of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities’ Big City Mayors’ Caucus, focusing on public infrastructure, housing and transit.
Mayor Robertson spearheaded the creation of the city’s first comprehensive Economic Action Strategy, and is committed to growing a sustainable and thriving economy in Vancouver focused on high-growth sectors like digital media, clean technology and renewable energy.
Building on the successful legacy of the 2010 Winter Olympics, which has generated over $350 million in economic impact and created more than 3000 new jobs in the Metro Vancouver region, Mayor Robertson has established Vancouver internationally as the Green Capital—a City where going green is good for business. He has also overseen the creation and implementation of the award-winning Greenest City 2020 Action Plan that aims to make Vancouver an environmental leader in everything from energy efficiency and waste reduction to clean air and local food.
Under Mayor Robertson’s leadership, Vancouver continues to rank as one of the most liveable cities in the world, with one of the most competitive environments for attracting new jobs and investment. The City of Vancouver has also been named the Most Innovative Organization in the province by BC Business Magazine for its open data initiative.
He has made affordable housing a top priority, with an aggressive, ten-year plan to provide thousands of affordable housing units for Vancouverites of all ages, while ensuring that existing affordable housing is protected. As Mayor, he has overseen significant progress towards the goal of ending street homelessness by 2015, by opening new homeless shelters while leveraging significant investments in new social housing throughout the city.
Prior to entering politics, Gregor co-founded Happy Planet, a Vancouver-based socially responsible company that produces organic juices and promotes health and nutrition. He and his wife Amy have four children. The Mayor is an avid soccer and hockey fan, and can occasionally be seen around town playing his tuba or drums.
CMV: How do you define creativity and apply it in your career?
GR:Being open/receptive to a wide range of ideas and converting them into focused action.
CMV: Where do you find your best creative inspiration?
GR: When I’m immersed in abundant, rollicking life: intense community gatherings, Stanley Park, the North Shore Mountains, a packed dance floor at the Commodore, and sometimes an especially lively meeting
CMV: What’s the one creative advice or tip you wish you’d known as a young person?
GR:Aggressively seek out people and places where you believe history is being made, and help make it more positive and profound.
CMV: Who would you like to hear speak at CreativeMornings/Vancouver?
GR: Fantasy – Kurt Vonnegut, Emily Carr, Norman Bethune, Aung San Suu Kyi; Reality – Margaret Atwood, Shawn Atleo, Liz Evans of Portland Hotel Society
CMV: What would you most like to do for someone else if you had the money and time?
GR:A safe place to live for everyone in Vancouver, with the supports they need to survive and thrive.
CMV: What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever done?
GR:Gave up a blissful rural family life for a relentless political career. But I love it!
Profile and Q&A: Jeff Hamada
Jeff Hamada is a Japanese Canadian artist living and working in Vancouver. In 2008 he created Booooooom.com which has become one of the largest art blogs on the Internet. He has created things for Native Shoes, Converse, Oakley, Endeavor Snowboards, Electronic Arts, and Livestock.
CMV: How do you define creativity and apply it in your career?
JH: Creativity is not really answering someone’s question the way they expect you to.
CMV: Where do you find your best creative inspiration?
JH: Watching anything Jim Henson created, or meeting someone I don’t know for coffee or lunch (I try to do this at least once a week).
CMV: What’s the one creative advice or tip you wish you’d known as a young person?
JH: Later in life you will not find any use whatsoever for Chemistry 11.
CMV: Who would you like to hear speak at CreativeMornings/Vancouver?
JH: It would be pretty incredible to hear a dog speak at Creative Mornings, or anywhere really. Imagine it - a talking dog! If in the future this is possible, I would choose Puff Daddy (that sheep dog from the PNE Superdogs show).
CMV: What is the best spontaneous decision you’ve made?
JH: After having just gone to bed, I convinced myself to get back out of bed to go downstairs and register the URL ‘Booooooom.com’ for no apparent reason.
CMV: What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever done?
JH: Last February in Hawaii, I jumped off a 60 ft cliff into the ocean on a day with pretty big waves. I am afraid of heights and I can’t swim very well. After I climbed out of the water onto some jagged rocks (of course) my friend, who had jumped just before me, was nice enough to show me several crosses for people who had died there. The whole thing was kind of crazy but also fairly logical because as I stood at top my fear of heights and my fear of drowning were both eclipsed by the fear I would never know what it felt like to jump. I am way more afraid of something like “life-long regret”.
If you missed Vikram Vij’s talk at CMVan, you are in luck. The video of his talk is now up on Vimeo. Check it out!
If you appreciate the work the CreativeMornings/Vancouver volunteers are doing, please click the “Donate” button below to help ensure the continued success of these important creative community events.
Profile and Q&A: Vikram Vij
Vikram Vij was born in India in December 1964 and lived in New Delhi and Bombay until 1984. He studied, work and lived in Austria until 1989, during which time he received his chef certificate from the Salzburg Hotel Management School. Vikram moved to Canada in 1989 to work at the Banff Springs Hotel in Alberta. In September 1994, Vikram opened Vij’s Restaurant in Vancouver, BC. In early 1995, his wife, Meeru Dhalwala, joined him and the two began collaborating on the menu. Vikram became a certified sommelier from the International Sommelier Guild in 2000, and is passionate about pairing wines with his cuisine. In 2004, Vikram and Meeru opened up a second restaurant and market called Vij’s Rangoli. The market sells Vij’s Inspired Indian Cuisine, a line of prepackaged gourmet curries, which are based on popular recipes from Vij’s Restaurant. In order to keep up with the growing demand for the packaged meals in BC, and to expand the availability of the products across Canada, a purpose-built food production facility in Surrey, BC, was constructed by Vij’s in early 2011.
Vikram is past president and active member of the Chef’s Table Society of British Columbia, which is dedicated to supporting innovative and sustainable food programs involving chefs, producers and others working in the local food industry. With the help of many members of the Chef’s Table Society, Vikram and fellow BC chef Robert Clark spearheaded the 2nd Canadian Chefs’ Congress on Vancouver Island, BC. The 2010 focus was “Oceans for Tomorrow”. Additionally, Vikram has been involved with Farm Folk City Folk Organization, Ocean Wise Sustainable Seafood, UBC Farm fundraisers and the Green Table Society. His work as president of the Cambie Village Business Association and contributing chef to the Vancouver Food Vendor Pilot Project has helped support the growth of local business in Vancouver. Vikram is a passionate supporter of the arts in the Indo-Canadian community, and lends his support to related events and organizations such the Vancouver International Bhangra Celebration Society.
Vikram was a guest judge on Top Chef Canada in 2011, and has been invited back for the 2012 season. In June 2011, the BC Food Processors Association honoured Vikram with the Rising Star Award. In October 2011, he was awarded The Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year award for the Pacific Region’s Hospitality and Tourism category. With Meeru, Vikram has penned two cookbooks: Vij’s: Elegant and Inspired Indian Cuisine, which won the Cordon d’Or Gold Ribbon International Cookbook Award, and Vij’s at Home: Relax, Honey. Vikram and Meeru live in Vancouver with their two daughters.
CMV: How do you define creativity and apply it in your career?
VV: Creativity is a whimsical way of being, I cook with a little bit of this and a little bit of that.
CMV: Where do you find your best creative inspiration?
VV: When I am traveling through the bazars of India and taking in the smells and colours of my vibrant country.
CMV: What’s the one creative advice or tip you wish you’d known as a young person?
VV: If you follow your passion, you end up being consumed by it.
CMV: Who would you like to hear speak at CreativeMornings/Vancouver?
VV: Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Bill Clinton, and off course Vikram Vij.
CMV: If you could have any view from your back porch what would it be?
VV: A beautiful stream of water flowing from the mountains and nature at its best and in harmony.
CMV: What fact about you would surprise people?
VV: That money does not motivate me, but the accolade to be the best motivates me.
