PEDAL POWER & WOOD ARTIST

The best coffee shop in the hood is "THE WILDER SNAIL" across the road from me and is run by Boyd Thomson.  A couple of weeks ago he installed the first ever (in the world I think) pedal power to generate electricity to power your computer or cell phone while enjoying an excellent coffee and local baking.   The opening had live music by a few local musicians and in the evening a party with a DJ that was powered by pedaling.  Boyd is an engineer and worked with some great fellows at Eat Art....check the sites below for more info!
http://www.thewildersnail.com
https://www.facebook.com/events/512188375511525/
http://eatart.org

The stations in front of the plank counter (as seen in Scout Magazine)

Pedal Power in action

DJ powered by Pedal Power

The Launch

BRENT COMBER

My husband Arnt and I had a great visit with Brent Comber, an artist,  sculptor and designer who uses recycled wood and is based in North Vancouver.  He has connections with the Parks Board and the province to harvest leftover or windfall trees.  He is much like Arnt in the fact that he does not like to waste any of the wood.  His shop also produces very little garbage.  All the sawdust goes to the city for composting and there is a bit of trash which is sanding discs and such.  Brent has shown all over the world and does great displays when he goes to trade shows.  We have seen a couple of his booths in Vancouver and New York.
Check out http://www.brentcomber.com/ for more info.

he has lots of raw materials on hand

pieces being completed

end tables

Arnt and Brent are laughing because the ball moved and when they looked inside one of his workers was working in there

the colours and patterns in this coffee table are wonderful...it does not have a finish on it yet

some of his sculpture pieces

being painted for an installation at Van Dusen Gardens

just half of this massive spruce

and he needs tools

the heaviest tool in the shop...the planer

this is the chopper where pieces are formed...the blades are made from old lawnmowers

it is all about patterns

we have this piece in end table size

wall sculpture

sculpture, end tables and coffee tables

wall sculpture

wall sculpture...his is working on another one but much bigger

the office

I love the bookshelf

 who doesn't love maquettes