This episode is part of a live conversation series between @wearethecraft and @IDSVancouver, recorded at this year’s show on the @Vicostoneglobal main stage.

On September 27, we sat down with Chad Falkenberg and Kelly Reynolds of @FalkenReynolds, one of Vancouver’s beloved design studios, to explore the lives and experiences that came before the design. Because neither path for them was particularly straightforward.

Kelly grew up in Richmond surrounded by sports, construction, and a father who spent his career in the VPD, while Chad grew up on a chicken farm in Alberta, surrounded by horses and a family connected to construction. Their paths to design were anything but linear: Kelly moved through the military, policing, aviation cabin crew, and eventually interior design. Chad studied business, lived in Lithuania for seven years, travelled extensively through Europe, and found his way to interior design in Barcelona in his 30s.

Woven through those experiences are the early influences, from materials and buildings to making, movement, sport, and the natural world, that would quietly shape the way they see and create.

And we explore the evolution of Falken Reynolds, too. In the early days, Chad and Kelly were immersed in the making: building, experimenting, meeting new people, and learning as they went. Today, their roles have shifted. They lead a team, bring ideas together, and increasingly act as quarterbacks of the work.

Then there’s their annual travel (they climbed Mount Kilimanjaro one year!). We talk about the places that have shaped how they see, the value of travelling without work in mind, and the pull of getting off the road and into the unknown. Of making something, being somewhere completely different, and experiencing a place without needing to turn it into a project.

It’s about the winding paths that lead us to our work, and how the lives we build outside of it inevitably find their way into what we create.

Please enjoy this conversation and Q&A these wonderful, one-in-a-million friends of mine, Chad Falkenberg and Kelly Reynolds.

Much love,

May

Sound engineering: @alikadong

Photography: @mrjeremywong

Marketing support: @maizmcknight

Born in Vancouver and shaped by the spirit of the 1960s and 70s, Gary Lenett—founder and CEO of denim brand DUER—grew up between two contrasting parental influences.

His mother was cautious and conservative, a loving stay-at-home mom whose anxiety left a lasting imprint. His father, who lost his own parents at the age of twelve during the Great Depression, was larger than life: charismatic, courageous, and comfortable with risk—sometimes a little too comfortable.

A former teacher and lawyer, Gary is no stranger to starting anew, with these two forces of caution and boldness continuing to inform the way he moves through the world and navigates business.

He has spent decades in the apparel industry, building one of the largest denim manufacturers in North America. At 48, he lost everything while raising three young children, beginning again with a deeper understanding of risk, resilience, and what truly matters.

But this conversation is about far more than business.It is about the opposing energies that shape us: openness and discernment, discipline and surrender, fear and trust.

From a young age, Gary sensed something profound within but didn’t yet have the language to describe it. A lifelong admirer of The Little Prince and a self-described “curious skeptic,” he eventually found his way to meditation and a philosophy rooted in presence, honesty, compassion, and non-attachment.

In this open-hearted episode, we talk about failure, fear, profit and purpose, and what “enough” means after a life marked by both collapse and renewal. It’s a dialogue about being self-led, surrendering to what is, and the art of building not only a meaningful business, but a meaningful life.

[TIMESTAMPS]
00:00 Introduction to Gary Lenett

02:30 Contrasting Parental Influences

10:48 Career Transitions and Personal Growth

15:06 The Collapse of a Business

19:32 Ego Death and Rebirth

20:40 Finding Fulfillment After Loss

23:57 Navigating Fear and Anxiety

26:42 Openness vs. Discernment

29:42 Lessons from The Little Prince

32:50 The Concept of Effortlessness

35:47 Experiencing Flow in Life

39:52 Overcoming Anxiety and Staying Present

43:30 The Nature of Risk in Entrepreneurship

46:11 Lessons Learned from Business Failures

50:00 Choosing the Right Business Partners

53:16 The Deeper Impact of Doer

56:49 Legacy and Life Lessons

The luminescent Genevieve Kang grew up between Chinese and Portuguese cultures in a small, predominantly white city, learning early on what it means to exist at the edges of belonging, to be fluent in more than one world, and to quietly build a self from whatever felt true.

She was the youngest of four to two hardworking parents, a maker & creator with her hands from a young age, someone who resisted school but fell in love with theatre and the emotional aliveness of being on stage. At 18, she was diagnosed with Lupus. And then, in a move that took deep courage and trust, she stopped medication cold turkey and chose to heal herself through food, land, and listening. Nearly twenty years later, she is symptom-free.

Food became her language and a philosophy: for care, for culture, for grief, for transition. She trained as a holistic nutritionist, is an actor & model for many beautiful brands, built a catering practice KIKAN and ran a food truck. She grew things, tended to animals. She spent long stretches alone in Ucluelet on Vancouver Island—just her and her pup partner Reishi—letting the land ask things of her that people never did.

Now she's in the midst of another unraveling. Closing chapters, simplifying, making space for what wants to come next. Portugal might be calling, or maybe Southern California. She doesn't yet know exactly what form it takes but, as she’s always done, is letting it all unfold. And she's learning to be okay with that.

[TIMESTAMPS]

5:15 – Growing up

9:45 – Finding inner belonging

12:45 – The wisdoms her parents gave her

22:34 – Creating with her hands

26:13 – What being on stage gave her that life off it didn't

29:55 – What her diagnosis awakened in her about agency and mortality

37:37 – When food became more than nourishment

44:33 – The version of herself she's grieving most

47:53 – What the land asks of her that people never have

53:32 – Who she is in two years — and what it feels like

56:35 – The throughline she can see now that wasn't visible before

58:58 – The final question

1:02:29 – Where to find Genevieve

[TODAY'S SPONSORS]

Excited to welcome Before Company as one of our season five sponsors! I’ve been using them since day one—especially the whitening formula. It turns brushing into a small, grounding ritual, and the tube looks gorgeous on my counter. Use code thecraft for 20% off your first order → www.beforecompany.com.

As some of you know, I'm also a certified sound therapy practitioner, intuitive channeler & founder of otō healing. Whether you're new to sound baths or seasoned and curious about trying one of my experiences, email otohealing at gmail.com to get 10% off your first private, in-home sound therapy & channeled guidance session.