In my line of work – as writer, photographer, editor, regional explorer – EDC isn't a trend. It's infrastructure. Most days I'm in motion: tracing backroads toward a brewhouse, mapping my way to an artist's studio, or sliding into the corner of a coffee shop where I turn field notes into final copy and RAW files into photographs that will pop on paper. My office is wherever I set my bag down. My tools make it possible.
What do I carry in a day? Honestly, when I finally empty my pockets, it's more than I realize. My work shifts constantly: design, art direction, illustration, and running a print magazine while maintaining my own art practice, prepping for shows, building new work, keeping the ideas moving. My kit isn't really a kit. I'm more of a crow, collecting as I go – drawn to things that are useful, beautiful, or just too good to leave behind.
Today's mainstream luxury watch world is largely defined by restraint: staid aesthetics, conservative design, and glacial progression. Place a vintage Rolex Submariner next to its modern counterpart and try to spot the difference. Not easy, right? Repeat this action with a vintage Omega Speedmaster and you'll find the same pattern.
Healthcare and self-care are often treated as separate worlds. One tends to be clinical and problem-focused; the other promises rejuvenation, confidence, and a little glow. Yet many of people's primary concerns – which might include issues related to skin health, hormonal changes, migraines, weight, stress, confidence – don't fit neatly into either of these categories.
BY MONICA MAZUN
After reflecting on my own 'everyday carry' (EDC) items (ChapStick, always ChapStick, so much ChapStick) and eventually going down the EDC sub-Reddit...
When Jason Kennedy and his partner purchased a stately Georgian-style home in Guelph's coveted Exhibition Park neighbourhood, it was the building's historic charm that drew them in. But one room didn't quite measure up: the kitchen. Though its modest size suited the couple just fine, the space lacked storage, comfort, and flow. It was far from the inviting, functional hub they envisioned.
One of the first things I did after moving to Guelph more than two decades ago was buy a Wellington Brewery tee – brown, long-sleeved, with the iconic Welly Boot logo printed on the front. It felt like a badge of belonging, a way to wear the Royal City on my chest.
Every Paragon Kitchens project begins with a vision: to create a space that blends style with function and reflects how people imagine they want to live. Some people favour bold statements; others focus on subtle refinements. All value Paragon's ability to transform kitchens into places of beauty, flow, and comfort.
These days a great coffee shop doesn't depend on beans alone. Atmosphere, aesthetics, and a certain ineffable charm matter just as much as a flawless flat white. Across Morriston, Guelph, and Kitchener-Waterloo, a trio of newcomers is proving the point with spaces that feel as thoughtfully devised as the coffee itself: moody, atmospheric, and confidently unique.
For today's conscientious food lovers, knowing where food is grown can be as important as appreciating how it tastes. But what about being aware of where that food was first developed – before it ever sprouted in a field?
Travel tends to sharpen taste. It introduces new ideas, uncovers unforeseen obsessions, and offers the occasional epiphany – nudging your sense of beauty and your grasp of craftsmanship in new directions. For Ryan LeClair, founder of Makoto Watch Company out of London, Ontario, it was travel – and specifically a trip to Japan – that transformed his infatuation with watch collecting into his initiation of a brand built on craft, restraint, and everyday practicality.
Almost nothing we carry defines us more clearly than the books in our bags: tactile objects filled with ideas and stories – testimonies to time well spent. They tag along with us, mark our days, and shape the rhythm of how we move through the world. In Uptown Waterloo, three long-standing independent bookstores – Carry-On Comics & Books (46 years young), Words Worth Books (42 years), and Old Goat Books (25 years) – offer distinct ways to build this bracket of everyday carry: a nostalgia-driven comic haven built for the thrill of discovery, a curated literary hub grounded in conversation, and a densely-packed used bookstore where the search is part of the reward. Together, these enduring fixtures map a reading life – charting not just what we read, but how we come to find it.
In my line of work – as writer, photographer, editor, regional explorer – EDC isn't a trend. It's infrastructure. Most days I'm in motion: tracing backroads toward a brewhouse, mapping my way to an artist's studio, or sliding into the corner of a coffee shop where I turn field notes into final copy and RAW files into photographs that will pop on paper. My office is wherever I set my bag down. My tools make it possible.
Stratford – and, by extension, Perth County – lends itself to takeaway. A coffee to carry, a sandwich in hand, something sweet tucked alongside – then out into the streets for window shopping, into the theatres for a performance, or down to the riverbank for a nosh.
