Introducing BestKind Studio

Hello world! Today, I’m excited to unveil something I’ve been noodling over for years. BestKind Studio is a one-woman creative business operating at the intersection of travel, design, fashion and art. 

My first collection launches today - a line of quality, destination-inspired shirts made in my home country of Canada. 

Why this?

I’ve always had a creative project on the go - from selling silk screened shirts as a teen to launching a line of tunics in my 20s to opening a contemporary art gallery in my 30s. But I put those projects aside for many years to focus on more pragmatic things like buying a home and saving for retirement. 

After spending the last 15 years working in the tech industry, which prioritizes hypergrowth, scale and left brain thinking, I was craving the opposite. Small, slow, personal, human, creative. 

I started exploring different ideas of what I could do next and kept coming back to the idea of a physical product (not software), and more specifically, something in the clothing or interior design space.

I was one of those lucky kids who grew up in a family of intrepid travelers. Some of my fondest childhood memories are of us sitting around the dinner table hearing about all kinds of far flung places. This sparked my own journey of traveling and working around the world, eventually getting to over fifty countries on all seven continents.

When I’d visit a place I loved, I’d often seek out the most basic of souvenirs - a shirt with the name of the destination I was visiting. Something to bring the memories of a place back with me, and perhaps even some bragging rights. 

Yet typical “tourist merch” didn’t appeal to my aesthetic sensibilities and desire for quality fabrics and workmanship. That stiff scratchy cotton t-shirt, that screenprint that fades in a couple of washes - you know what I am talking about. Tina Roth Eisenberg, a designer and creative entrepreneur I admire, once said “Don't be a complainer. Make things better.”

So here I am taking a simple “tourist shirt” and making it beautiful by focusing on colour, typography and fabric and producing it right here in Canada.

The first 5 destinations are places that have special meaning to me and I’m excited to share why in future posts.

Thank you for being here. 

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