Unique, handmade creations by an Island girl with a bustling brain. Established 2018.

Myriad Mind Makery

The fundamentals of Myriad Mind are based in keeping sane. In essence, I make, and therefore I am. Sane, that is. Well, that's a broad term...

I like to make a multitude of things, consciously trying not to limit myself in my abilities, and so constantly keeping a couple dozen partially-finished ideas stashed away for a rainy day. No matter what I am making, my goals are to always keep my work original, simple, and modern, but with a touch of rustic and a splash of vintage. The beautiful Cowichan Valley is my home and it is a constant source of inspiration to my work, whether by its unmatched natural beauty or by its relentlessly heartwarming community of people. You can expect to see plenty of local driftwood in my projects, maybe even some stones and shells, as well as natural cotton fibres, re-purposed thrift store finds, and plenty of other locally crafted/curated accents.

Many different types and styles of my projects are available for sale, some even directly online! To see my work (past and present), check out my portfolio page. For order inquiries or to chat about custom orders, please head over to the contact page. Otherwise, you can find what I currently have available for purchase up on my shop page!

All of my projects, big or small, are made by hand in the spare room of my little house during my down time. This is a new venture of mine, a side project to and about my many side projects, which came to be after much prying by my friends and family hoping to snag something crafted by yours truly; however, that is not to say that the projects created under this name are by any means a new or unwanted thing to me. Art, crafting, and making of all kinds have always been a massive part of my life and I am just now solidifying the fact that they always will be. Since some of these creative hobbies have begun gaining some attention on social media and my larger friend circle, I felt it was time to kick things up a notch and start building a brand for myself. I wanted to create a platform to showcase my work and to garner the interest of potential buyers... and just see where it all takes me!

Read on for a more personal look at this new creative venture and what it means to me.

 Just a small town girl...

Born and raised in the little town of Duncan, I've called British Columbia's beautiful Cowichan Valley (nestled near the middle of Vancouver Island) my home for my entire life. Though there are still many parts of the world I would like to see, I've seen enough to know that this place will always have my heart (and will therefore always be home). I am greatly influenced by the immense natural beauty that surrounds me and, when life winds me up, I know I can always look to the trees or to the sea for a bit of grounding and inspiration. 

I have a wonderfully close family that means the absolute world to me. My parents opened a super-popular local eatery in town before I was even born and soon began their amazing [and slightly insane] legacy of dominating the local craft food and drink culture, expertly steering the area's small business/community standards (in both commerce and ethics), and constantly raising the bar for just overall excellence in our valley - at least in my eyes. I obviously could not help being empowered while having these absolute icons in my corner throughout every aspect of my life... And so it didn't take long for me to want to follow a little in their footsteps. I began working with [for] my parents sometime in middle school. Between working a handful of different positions at all three restaurants, plenty of caterings and events, as well as a micro production brewery, I’ve familiarized myself with the concepts of hard work and long days, and service over everything. I’ve met a lot of great people and I’ve learned so, so much - not only about the industry (and business in general), but also about myself.

Right now, I am really working on the self part, trying to visualize my next chapter and what it might entail for me. But, with a great, laughter-filled part-time job in the office where I got my start, and a return to post-secondary in pursuit of some more knowledge of business, I can’t help but feel a warm sense of contentment. Even though choosing a path is certainly more difficult than it used to be for me, I am just so grateful to have the opportunity and support to take my time, take a long, hard look inward, and explore my creative passions.

Well-kept habits...

Throughout my whole life, the art of crafting has been a near-addiction. I've always had many different creative interests... I have a huge affinity for books and writing. The art of the word (written or spoken) is one of this life's greatest gifts, in my opinion. I've also always enjoyed photography and visual art. My Nikon D3100 is one of my most prized possessions. Cooking and experimenting with food and hosting parties is, not surprisingly, a huge part of my life and is always something I've deeply enjoyed. I've dabbled in giftables relative to painting, sewing, knitting. I went through a long card-making/scrapbooking phase starting in my late teens. I've even tried my hand at drawing a little, but I have enough self-awareness to know where my strengths are [not]. And so, as such, the most prominent thing I've learned about myself throughout the years is that I just love to create.

Even as a kid, I always wanted to invent - to turn something into something else, to find the most something-est of somethings out of what seemed like nothing - and I felt insatiably bored when I couldn't do so. I can vividly recall many childhood moments of utter despair, staring at my hands with a feeling that can only be described as 'creative withdrawal' - like a physical force pulsing through me that said, "Make something, damnit!!!!" Inspired/awoken/maddened by old kids' TV shows like 'Crazy Quilt', 'Art Attack', and 'Out of the Box,' I'd kind of just walk around, not knowing what to do with myself until I could get my hands on some crayons or pipe-cleaners or toilet paper tubes or paint and just go wild! All that still rings true for me today, but maybe now for slightly different reasons: all the things in which I've dabbled for my whole life have now changed in motivation from 'keep busy' to 'keep happy.' Some of the materials have even stayed the same - beads, string, sticks, paint... but it now means so much more.

As my hobbies (read: habits) continued and my skills became more honed in on certain types of projects, I suppose people started noticing... So, I started Myriad Mind because of growing interest by friends and acquaintances to see more of my creative projects come to life and to create the opportunity for my work to be purchased [by those same friends, as well as] by the rest of our community if there is interest.

All that in mind, when I started realizing I would be tasked with creating a conceptual business name for myself, I of course had a hard time and worried pretty hard about it, as anyone would. How was I meant to come up with a fun, creative, practical way to describe all my various projects in one name that works for everything, looks good on a business card, lends itself to branding and logos, AND all without pigeonholing myself, but without sounding too vague... My brain was flyin'. But then, one day, basically by accident, I was somewhat optimistically perusing an online thesaurus for inspiration (yes, I am that person) and I stumbled upon a phonetically-pleasing phrase often made with reference to one of the most celebrated writers of all time [William Shakespeare, whom I love], and I thought, 'Wow, is that ever how I am feeling right now!" The phrase stuck with me for that and so many other reasons, so I [sat on it for a few weeks, kept it a secret, bought the domain name after too many glasses of wine one Tuesday night, trashed the idea, picked it back up, and then finally] figured I had just better run with it... and I am so glad I did. I am feeling more connected with the concept every day. It's so me! 

I look back on the struggle I felt to chose a name for my little 'side business' project and I realize that once I let go of trying to precisely and cleverly name all the things that I like to make under one umbrella, and just browsed for something that was about me, I ended up finding something so deeply satisfying that it still somehow accomplished the initial goal! I suppose there's a lesson in there about letting the universe deliver at its own pace, rather than vying for the expedited service... But what am I, a philosopher? Nah.