ROLLOUT: innovative custom-designed wallpaper (Rollout.ca)

Credit: Doug Shanks

COVER FEATURE: Made in Vancouver

Our city is a hotbed of creativity and entrepreneurial spirit. From the locally conscious to the globally minded,fashionable to the ecological, here are 10 businesses — new and established — we think are at the top of their game.

ROLLOUT

What they do: innovative custom-designed wallpaper
Why them? When WE first profiled Rollout, in early 2007, the then one-year-old company had drawn an impressive amount of attention for its simple but ingenious concept: rescuing wallpaper from the scrapheap of interior-design history and giving it a thoroughly modern makeover. Founders Jonathan Nodrick and Anita Modha (pictured) are still Rollout’s sole employees, and they still work from the controlled chaos of a Railtown live-work space, but their previously small catalogue of patterns has grown by leaps and bounds, and their product range has diversified to include equally distinctive glass tiles, gift wrap, large-scale art installations, and more. Their success has taken them (or, at the very least, their wares) around the globe, from the VIP Star Lounge at New York Fashion Week to the Museum of Australian Democracy. But Modha and Nodrick continue to work with up-and-coming, community-oriented artists, and are adamant that their company not get too big, too fast. A better contemporary example of Vancouver’s deeply ingrained passion for design would be hard to find: Rollout belongs to the world now, but its triumph is ours to feel good about. (Rollout.ca)

RAINCITY STUDIOS

What it is: trailblazing online-community host
Why them? Rising from the wreckage of 2002’s internet bubble bust, technologist Robert Scales was in search of something new. At the time, Vancouver’s open-source and Web 2.0 scene was very much in its infancy, and Scales set out to chart new territory in what was then known by his contemporaries as the Wild West of new media. He became the sole founder of Raincity Studios in 2003. Since then, the influential Gastown headquarters of the social media and technology consulting firm has evolved, becoming known as the pioneering hub of Vancouver’s new-media scene. True to the multifarious nature of open-source technology itself, Raincity Studios is difficult to define in one stroke — the company creates templates for websites built in Drupal (an open-source content-management system), delivers graphic-design services, and helps companies build websites which, in turn, build community capacity. Sounds like the future? Well, it’s all happening now. (RaincityStudios.com)

PYRRHA

What they do: design and manufacture jewellery the whole world (or, at least, Hollywood) wants.
Why them? Few, if any, local fashion success stories rival Pyrrha’s. Founded in 1994 by designers Wade Papin and Danielle Wilmore, Pyrrha’s hand-cast and reclaimed bronze, silver, and gold pieces, which are modelled on 19th-century heraldic wax seals, soon appeared on the necks of Vancouver’s more stylish denizens. International acclaim followed when Reese Witherspoon lobbied Los Angeles boutique Fred Segal to carry the line, and when lingerie label Araks accessorized their Fall 2006 New York Fashion Week show with Pyrrha pendants. Beloved by celebrities including Jodie Foster, Brad Pitt, and Halle Berry, sales figures have allowed the company to move from a cramped downtown studio to a renovated 100-year-old heritage house in South East False Creek. And after nearly two years of searching for the right location, an L.A. flagship store is imminent. Despite their success, however, Papin and Wilmore aren’t planning to decamp for SoCal’s starrier pastures. They are committed to their adopted hometown, and insist Pyrrha will continue to design and manufacture its collections right here. (Pyrrha.com)

PORTOBELLO WEST

What it is: Vancouver’s original fashion and art market.
Why them? WE has given plenty of love to Portobello West since its inception in August 2006, and what’s not to admire? Founded by director Carlie Smith as a low-cost venue for aspiring designers and artisans, Portobello West has evolved into a monthly platform showcasing Vancouver’s most stylish independent artists, including Carny Love’s Christie Clayton (who was featured as a contestant on Project Runway Canada), Jane Bon Bon, and Kelly and Karen Schmidt of Double Trouble Designs. It’s also spawned a plethora of awesome DIY-devoted markets and recurring seasonal shows, such as Make It, Spend on Trend, and Blim’s monthly market. And, as impossible as it seems, PW might even be responsible for initiating a thaw in the cold war between Robson Street and Queen Street, giving Toronto a little taste of Vancouver with the recent launch in that city of Portobello East Market. (PortobelloWest.com)

CHEEKY UMBRELLA

What they do: a well-constructed and fashionable take on a Vancouverite’s most essential purchase — the umbrella
Why them? When Jen Zurowski arrived in Vancouver eight years ago from Calgary, she despaired first over our soggy climate, and then over how hard it was to find a cute umbrella for her daily commute. Realizing it was within her power to change the latter predicament, the entrepreneur launched Cheeky Umbrella in September 2008. Each brolly is constructed using a sturdy aluminum shaft with wind-resistant fibreglass ribs, and comes with a nearly unheard-of lifetime warranty. But what sets a Cheeky Umbrella apart are its quick-drying, double-sided pongee fabric canopies — in black with one of six colourful designs (created by graphic designer Cynthia Merriman)— on the outside, and a colour-block underside, complete with sassy slogans like “I prefer umbrellas in my cocktails” or “When does it start raining men?” Cheeky umbrellas are now available in nine provinces and in Oregon, and just last week the North Vancouver-based company launched a children’s line. (CheekyUmbrella.com)

CO-OPERATIVE AUTO NETWORK

What it is: Vancouver’s original car-sharing network
Why them? Like many city dwellers, Tracey Axelsson found that she was only using her car occasionally, and keeping it around seemed like more trouble than it was worth. “I was living in the West End of Vancouver, right at Stanley Park,” she recalls. “I was ashamed of my old car that never passed AirCare. I only drove it to take my grandmother shopping on Sundays.” Inspired by Germany’s innovative car-sharing programs, Axelsson took a risk (and a significant pay cut from the job she left) to start the Co-operative Auto Network — the first not-for-profit car-sharing network in Vancouver — in January 1997. Now, almost 13 years later, the network’s membership has grown to approximately 6,000, and has served as an example for other sustainable-transportation initiatives across the city and around the world. Axelsson resigned from her post with the company last year, but her influence on the city continues with her current work as project manager for Home for the Games, an online homestay matching service for Olympic visitors that raises money for local charities working with homeless populations. (CooperativeAuto.net; HomeForTheGames.com)

SPUD

What it is: the continent’s largest delivery service for local and organic food
Why them? Small potatoes, this ain’t. But when David Van Seters started an organic food delivery service in 1998 to act as an example for his green-business consulting clients, humbly naming it Small Potatoes Urban Delivery (SPUD), he never imagined the idea would grow beyond its modest beginnings. Now, with seven locations and 200 employees, SPUD is the largest organic food delivery service in North America. This year, the company received the Better Business Bureau’s Mainland BC Green Torch Award for outstanding environmental and social performance in business — the most recent of numerous accolades. “I absolutely love the fact that we can help our customers dramatically reduce their environmental impacts, while at the same time save them the cost and time to go grocery shopping,” says CEO and founder Van Seters. “We passionately believe that in a peak-oil world, consumers will no longer want to drive a two-tonne SUV to pick up 20 pounds of food when it can be delivered to them with a far lower environmental footprint and at a lower cost.” (SPUD.ca)

RIVERSOL

What they do: skin-care products that actually justify the (not unreasonable) price tag
Why them? Amidst the increasingly frenzied pursuit of eternal youth, skin care is an unprecedentedly lucrative — and crowded — industry. Never before have so many extravagant claims been made on behalf of so many so-called miracle products (so much of which turns out to be snake oil). But the Riversol line, developed by Vancouver dermatologist Dr. Jason K. Rivers, is invested with an uncommonly generous measure of knowledge, and the results are there in the mirror. An ahead-of-the-trend proponent of proper sun protection, Dr. Rivers developed Riversol products using a decidedly local ingredient: thujaplicin (pronounced thoo-ya-ply-sin), derived from the Pacific Red Cedar tree. Tolerated even by those with sensitive or troubled skin, Riversol’s are among the only skin-care products we’ve sampled that actually fulfill their promises. And the relatively small amounts required mean that diminutive-looking bottle or jar is going to stick around for awhile. Eschewing celebrity endorsements and aggressive marketing, Dr. Rivers has allowed Riversol to stand or fall by its own merits — and start-up capital that came out of his own pocket. That the company is poised to expand dramatically in 2010 suggests his faith was well invested. (Riversol.com)

AGRO CAFE

What they do: serve very good coffee with an extra shot of enlightenment
Why them? Agro Café is a relatively minor presence in a city where coffee purveyors are as ubiquitous as hot-dog carts in Manhattan and doughnut shops on the East Coast. But what the independently-owned, two-shop chainlet lacks in presence, it makes up for in distinctiveness. Walk through the door of its Yaletown shop (1207 Hamilton; there’s also one on Granville Island at 1363 Railspur) and you’ll be confronted with a crash course in where Agro’s coffee comes from, via wall projections of the mountains and farmers that produced the beans, and literature that lays out the tenets of ethical trade. Fortunately, Agro backs up its admirable politics with some of the finest brews in the city. And more than a few of its competitors could stand to take notes from Agro’s food program, which puts the mass-produced pastries and soggy sandwiches of certain other bean-pushers to shame. (AgroCafe.org)

FLUEVOG

What they do: OMG, shoes! (Really, really nice ones)
Why them? Not exactly a new kid on the block, we grant you, but when you do one thing this well, this consistently, sometimes the point bears repeating. John Fluevog’s funky, well-made shoes are, of course, coveted the world over, and have been since shortly after he and former partner Peter Fox went into business together almost 40 years ago. But global renown has never threatened to sever the company’s ties with Vancouver; in fact, John essentially renewed his vows with the city when he opened a palatial shop-slash-design-lab in Gastown in 2008. No sweat-shop labour, no hasty corporate growth — just handmade fabulousness on your ridiculously lucky feet. (Fluevog.com)