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.
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.
I'm a sucker for multi-tools. They colonize my life the way good gear should: a cycling tool in every bike bag, a handful of Swiss Army knives rattling in kitchen drawers, and at least two larger multi-tools permanently stationed in my Land Cruiser – one in the centre console, another tucked into a rear compartment beside a plug-in pump (for inflating river tubes in warmer months) and a heavy-duty tow strap (for hauling neighbours out of snowbanks when winter tightens its grip).
‘I’m so excited for this first bite,’ Cai announces as she slices her spoon through a thick layer of emmental and into the steaming broth below – a wonderful mélange of rich meat stock, gently fried onion, and sourdough crouton. I am not surprised that she’s pumped. After all, I’ve heard Cai wax poetic about french onion soup for years.
‘The dining room table is, arguably, the most sacred space in any household,’ notes ThreeCrow Woodworks’ Bryce Hill as we walk in a soft drizzle through a seeming ocean of woodchips towards the sawmill he and his uncle built for themselves near the back of the large property. ‘It’s where family, friends and neighbours come together,’ Bryce continues, ‘to break bread, eat, drink, and take refuge from the speed of life for a little while, at least.’
era66 is the creation of life and business partners Kip and Alexa (Lux) Perry – two talented, focused, and innovative craftsfolk whose growing company is one of Guelph’s most amazing treasures. These business owners share common passions of accomplished creativity, a sense of autonomy, and a love for creating custom furniture with modern functionality – coined #midcenturymodern. TOQUE recently sat down with Kip and Lux in their expansive workshop in Guelph’s ‘The Ward’ neighbourhood to talk shop.
On a dreary Monday morning in early April, Alex De Jonge made my dreams come true. And it was exhilarating. And terrifying. And a little cramped. And I’d do it again in a heartbeat!
WORDS & PHOTOS BY CHRIS TIESSEN
In the opening monologue of Anthony Bourdain’s brilliant web series, Raw Craft, the chef-turned-author-turned-television personality posits that the term...
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.
