Skuna Bay Salmon

Our chat with head fisherman Stewart Hawthorn from the Vancouver-based craft-raised fish farm

Skuna-salmon-boat.jpg

Feasting on Drago Centro‘s celery root panna cotta topped with lightly smoked salmon, we discovered the story behind the beautiful piece of craft-raised fish, sourced by Chef Ian Gresik from Vancouver Island’s Skuna Bay. In a world where fish populations are depleting, mercury levels are on the rise and reliable sources for wild salmon is increasingly harder to find, Skuna Bay farmers are lovingly raising salmon in the region’s glacier-fed pristine waters to give their chef customers the assurance that they are serving the best product available.

Now with their inclusion in the Aquarium of the Pacific’s Seafood for the Future program, the Skuna Bay team is achieving its goals with delicious results. We caught up with head fisherman and managing director Stewart Hawthorn to find out more about how they’re swimming their way into the hearts of salmon fans everywhere.

What is your earliest memory of fishing?

When I was a boy on a family holiday in the borders of Scotland. We went down to the local burn (brook) and threw a baited hook into the water. Shortly later I caught a small trout, about the length of my hand. It should really have been thrown back—but I was so excited that my dad let me take it home and we fried it up in butter. Then, when I was a teen, I discovered that wild fish were being caught to the point of endangering their future stocks, and at the same time I came into contact with the fish-farming community, and that really started out my lifelong experience with raising salmon to feed the world.

Salmon-slab-1.jpg

How did the idea for creating Skuna Bay come about?

Skuna Bay came about because after farming fish for 25 years all over the world I realized that I wanted to make a direct connection with the people who use the fish that I am responsible for raising. Most salmon is farmed by the farmer and then goes through many hands before it gets to the chef. Skuna Bay fish go direct from the farmer to the chef, ocean-fresh. The idea was that we needed to make sure we treated the fish with the same care and attention after it was pulled from the ocean as our farmers had been giving it for the three years they spent raising it.

Why salmon?

I love farming salmon because they are the best fish to farm in terms of environmental performance. They are domesticated, we don’t need a lot of feed to grow a pound of salmon; most of a farmed salmon can be eaten (about 70% yield) and overall our environmental impact is less than that of any other farmed animal. Right now there are simply not enough wild salmon to meet demand—farmed salmon are taking pressure off of wild stocks and helping to preserve them. And it is a delicious and flavorful protein that is great on its own but can also be used in many ways by the chef.

Salmon-Skuna.jpg Salmon-skuna-net.jpg
Describe your day.

Most of my day now is spent making sure our farmers can focus on raising good fish, so instead of doing it myself I make sure there are no distractions for them. I spend time with local stakeholders such as our First Nation partners to make sure we are farming in alignment with their values. I spend time listening to what our customers are saying and what they want. I spend time making sure our practices are environmentally responsible. My goal is to spend as little time in the office and as much on our farms, but what I love about working here is that I know that even when I am not there, the fish are in good hands. Our farmers live with their fish 24/7 for eight days on and then six days off. They get up in the morning and the first task of the day is to take the pulse of the farm—checking up on the fish and checking up on the ocean conditions. Only once this is done to the farmers start to feed the fish, clean the nets and undertake other farm routines. Probably the thing I am most focused on is letting experienced and passionate farmers do their job properly.

Do you ever take time out to eat at the restaurants that are serving Skuna Bay salmon?

Yes, I love to see the innovative ways that chefs are preparing our fish. My favorite is ocean-fresh salmon sashimi with a little bit of wasabi and soy sauce or a simply pan-seared salmon fillet. We had a great salmon experience at Little Dom’s in Los Angeles where chef Brandon Boudet did salmon three ways: collars, meatballs and crudo. The most novel was a salmon ice cream by chef Ian Gresik at Drago Centro.

Salmon-slab-2.jpg

What is your favorite salmon dish?

Sashimi is the best because it lets the quality of the salmon take over and presents it as pure as salmon should be.

What steps did you take to ensure that Skuna Bay salmon would be qualified to be part of the Aquarium of the Pacific’s Seafood for the Future program?

Everything that we do as farmers is about helping to solve the world’s environmental challenges. We make sure that we farm our fish in the right spots, natural ocean waters that are glacier-fed with perfect tidal currents. We have a really good team of farmers who know their fish and love to work in the wild natural ocean environment. We then need to make sure that we respect the fish that we are farming by looking after them really well and ensuring that they are growing up in a healthy and good condition. Finally we need to make sure that we harvest the fish really well—it is really important to give them that rigorous care and attention even as they are being harvested—it has taken more that 3 years to grow them to harvest size and we can’t let our farmers down by dropping our guard in those final moments!

For the Aquarium we had to show that we do all of these things—so showing that we have a good and qualified team of farmer and showing that they work responsibly was the critical piece.

Salmon-filet-4.jpg Salmon-filet-5.jpg
What are your goals with Skuna Bay?

We want to get connected with chefs and to give them fish that are as good as we experience when we pull them from the ocean. We want to have the ocean to plate freshness locked in. We believe that it is possible, with the right care and attention to detail.


Jessica Eaton

Complex photographic methods yield stunningly colorful geometries

Jessica_Eaton1.jpg Jessica_Eaton4.jpg

Jessica Eaton‘s series, “Cubes for Albers and LeWitt” may be highly technical and conceptual, but the end result is dizzyingly beautiful. Based on Joseph Albers’ focus on the “discrepancy between physical fact and psychic effect,” Eaton’s images add “multiple exposures and colored lights” to plain, monochromatic cubes to create enchanting graphics.

Jessica_Eaton2.jpg Jessica_Eaton3.jpg

The photographer starts with a set of cubes painted only white, black and gray, then shoots them under red, green and blue gels to capture the vibrant final pictures. The reflective value of the cubes controls levels of light and dark, while the layering of the primary colors creates a broad range of hues. One may be shocked to realize that the resulting images, made using only Eaton’s 4×5 camera, have not been digitally manipulated.

Eaton’s work recently appeared on the cover of Art News magazine in “The New Photography,” and she is currently showing at the FOAM museum’s “Talent 2011” show, at the Musée d’art Contemporain de Montréal for the 2011 Quebéc Triennial, and at Higher Pictures in New York.


All I Can Chapter 5

Après avoir présenté l’excellent trailer du film “All I Can”, voici un extrait de ce film sur la culture du ski à travers le Canada. Ce Chapitre 5 : Imagination nous propose alors de suivre une session de ski acrobatique dans une ville où la neige a quasiment fondu.



all-i-can4

all-i-can3

all-i-can2

all-i-can1

Previously on Fubiz

Copyright Fubiz™ – Suivez nous sur Twitter et Facebook

Oh Land – White Nights

Après l’excellent clip Scissor Sisters – Invisible Light, voici la nouvelle réalisation du collectif CANADA pour l’artiste danoise Oh Land sur le titre “White Nights”. Un univers décalé et très créatif, le tout produit par Partizan. A découvrir en vidéo dans la suite de l’article.



ohland3

ohland2

Previously on Fubiz

Copyright Fubiz™ – Suivez nous sur Twitter et Facebook

My Winnipeg

Exploring undiscovered art scenes in small towns around the globe

my-winnipeg1.jpg my-winnipeg2.jpg

The first in a series of shows exposing smaller towns as undiscovered creative hubs, “My Winnipeg” highlights noteworthy artists inhabiting the world’s coldest city. Put on by Paris’ Maison Rouge Gallery, each exhibit is twofold, serving as both broad studies of the selected city’s overall culture and as work relevant to the international contemporary art scene.

my-winnipeg3.jpg

My Winnipeg raises questions about how Winnipeg, Canada may have influenced each artist, in terms of climate, geography and history. Could its impossible weather— comprised of harsh, long winters, floods and mosquito-invaded summers—be behind the sleepy state-of-mind imprinting some of the work? Is its location in the middle of an Indian territory the key to many of the artists’ relationships with mythical spirits? Does the city’s former post as a cosmopolitan trading center influence its current surge of dynamic creativity?

my-winnipeg4.jpg my-winnipeg5.jpg

Challenged with how to turn this ethnological approach into an art show, the gallery supplys meaningful background information while allowing the works to speak for themselves, devoid of local particularities. In the end, the artists appear to share similar concerns about society as their peers do in bigger metropolises.

my-winnipeg6.jpg my-winnipeg7.jpg

Works by artists like Shawna Dempsey and Lorri Millan, Wanda Koop, Kent Monkman, Bonnie Marin and Diana Thorneycroft span all mediums—from painting to performance art—to create a definitive visual statement about their native town. Standing out among them is Canadian filmmaker Guy Maddin’s 2007 documentary, also dubbed “My Winnipeg.” The film taps Winnipeg’s folkloric history, featuring beautifully hallucinatory images, speaking to Maddin’s sentiment that cinema is a haunted media since it shows people and things which are not really present.

“My Winnipeg” is currently on view at Maison Rouge and runs through 25 September 2011.


Rip Curl Gum Teaser

La marque Rip Curl présente le teaser de son projet vidéo “Rip Curl Gum”. Basé autour du snowboard, une équipe est allée dans les quatre coins du monde, du Japon au Canada pour découvrir des spots incroyables. Une réalisation soignée et d’une excellente qualité.



rip-curl-gum-teaser4

rip-curl-gum-teaser3

rip-curl-gum-teaser2

rip-curl-gum-teaser1

Previously on Fubiz

Copyright Fubiz™ – Suivez nous sur Twitter et Facebook

Double Exposure

Dans le même esprit que la série The World Inside of Us, l’artiste Andrew de Freitas présente ces photos en double exposition créant un lien entre deux mondes. Ses photographies permettent de montrer davantage qu’un simple cliché. Plus de visuels dans la suite.



double-exposure12

double-exposure10a

double-exposure3

double-exposure10

double-exposure9

double-exposure8

double-exposure7

double-exposure6

double-exposure5

double-exposure4

double-exposure2













Previously on Fubiz

Copyright Fubiz™ – Suivez nous sur Twitter et Facebook

Vans by OTH Store

Vans launches their first “partner” store in Montreal with a 3D-printed shoe
vans-montreal2.jpg

In collaboration with Montreal’s urban boutique Off The Hook, the first Vans partner store in Canada will open tomorrow at one of the busiest corners in the city. Not only will it offer the best selection of Vans in Canada with more than 1,500 shoes in 160 styles from the Vault, California, Classics, OTW, Girls and Surf collections, but it will also have the exclusive option to make custom shoes (previously only available to U.S. online customers) in-store that will be ready to pick up and wear in just a few weeks. See a few images of the store design in the gallery below.

vans-3d-print.jpg

To celebrate the launch, guests got word of the opening party via laser-etched invitation and a classic Vans Authentic printed in 3D by Consult Design, signaling the long line of thought put into the new boutique.

vans-montreal1.jpg

A two-story QR poster and appearances from Steve Van Doren (son of Vans founder Paul Van Doren) and the lord of Dogtown himself, Tony Alva, were just a few of the treats in-store for lucky guests.

vans-montreal3.jpg vans-montreal4.jpg

The Vans by OTH Shop opens to the general public 5 May 2011, and If you can’t physically visit, CH has three prize packs (each consisting of one pair of Vans and an exclusive Vans and OTH t-shirt) that we’re offering to the first three people to email Off The Hook at info [at] offthehook [dot] com with the names of the two major streets where the new Montreal Vans store is located.


Brewster’s Discovery Walkway by Sturgess Architecture

Brewster’s Discovery Walkway by Sturgess Architecture

Canadian firm Sturgess Architecture have designed a glass viewing platform to cantilever over a glacial valley in the Columbian Icefields of Jasper National Park in Alberta, Canada.

Brewster’s Discovery Walkway by Sturgess Architecture

Called Brewster’s Discovery Walkway, the project also involves creating a 400 metre walkway in the mountainside.

Brewster’s Discovery Walkway by Sturgess Architecture

Sturgess Architecture won the competition in collaboration with engineers RJC and construction company PCL.

Brewster’s Discovery Walkway by Sturgess Architecture

The project is due to open to the public early next year.

Brewster’s Discovery Walkway by Sturgess Architecture

Click above for larger image

Here’s a little bit of text from Sturgess Architecture:


Sturgess Architecture, RJC and PCL teamed up to design the winning competition for Brewster’s newest tourist attraction in Alberta, Canada.

Overlooking the Sunwapta Valley along the Columbian Icefields in Alberta, Canada, the Discovery Walk is envisioned as an extension of the landscape; one that projects from the shear face of the mountainside to not only shelter and educate visitors, but to expose and astound them. The project weaves a continuous thread of experience through unified geometric and material forms, defining the Discovery Walk not only as a singular destination, but as a catalyst and gateway where guests experience the untouched environment in a way they never have before.


See also:

.

Top of Tyrol by
Astearchitecture
Hiding in Triangles
clifftop hotel for Italy
Trestles Beach footbridge
by Dan Brill Architects

23.2 by Omer Arbel

23.2 by Omer Arbel

The corners of this Vancouver family home by Canadian architect Omer Arbel can be completely opened up to the surrounding garden by pushing back glazed concertina doors. 

23.2 by Omer Arbel

The roof is made of douglas fir beams reclaimed from burned-down warehouses and its structure was dictated by their dimensions.

23.2 by Omer Arbel

Bent steel columns inset the structural support, further blurring the boundaries between living spaces and the garden.

23.2 by Omer Arbel

Photographs are by Nick Lehoux.

23.2 by Omer Arbel

More residential architecture on Dezeen »
More architecture on Dezeen »

23.2 by Omer Arbel

Here’s some more information form the architect:


23.2 by Omer Arbel

Designed by Omer Arbel, 23.2 is a house for a family built on a large rural acreage outside Vancouver in the West Coast of Canada. There is a gentle slope from east to west and two masses of old growth forest defining two “outdoor rooms” each with a its own distinct ecology and conditions of light; the house is situated at the point of maximum tension in between these two environments, and as such acts at once to define the two as distinct, and also to offer a focused transition between them.

23.2 by Omer Arbel

The design of the house itself began, as a point of departure, with a depository of one hundred year old Douglas Fir beams reclaimed from a series of burned down warehouses. The beams were of different lengths and cross sectional dimensions, and had astonishing proportions – some as long as 20 meters, some as deep as 90 cm.

23.2 by Omer Arbel

It was agreed that the beams were sacred artefacts in their current state and that they would not manipulate them or finish them in any way.

23.2 by Omer Arbel

Because the beams were of different lengths and sizes, the architect needed to commit to a geometry that would be able to accommodate the tremendous variety in dimension, while still allowing the possibility of narrating legible spaces.

23.2 by Omer Arbel

He settled on a triangular geometry. He folded wood triangular frames made of the reclaimed beams to create roof which would act as a secondary (and habitable) landscape, drapping this artificial landscape over the gentle slope of the site. Folds were manipulated to create implicit and explicit relationships between indoor and outdoor space, such that every interior room had a corresponding exterior room.

23.2 by Omer Arbel

Click for larger image

To maximize ambiguity between interior and exterior space, he removed definition of one significant corner of each room by pulling the structure back from the corner itself, using bent steel columns. Also large accordion door systems were introduced in these open corners so that the entire façade on both sides of each significant corner could retract and completely disappear.


See also:

.

Casadetodos by
Veronica Arcos
PL House by Fernando Maculan and Pedro MoraisBahia House by
Studio mk27