Nowadays you have to really search out the great spots. Word of mouth or a tweet can lead you to some extraordinary places. Recently I visited a bar hidden down a service corridor, and indicated by a small light above an otherwise plain door. It was so nice, actually refreshing to sit in a bar with a few friends and not have a TV distracting you. I detest TVs in bars. I know it was a conscious decision by the owner to not have one. It was part of the design. By doing so he set up and environment where people focused on each other and not what was on the screen. Conversation bloomed.It was fostered and encouraged. A deeper connection was forged with your fellow drinkers thus leading to a better night for all. And that is the power of design. It can make you happier in the strangest of ways. It can bring people closer together, and that is what we should aim for.

Firstly, new designs. This is actually the hardest part… convincing yourself that a design you created is worth investing in. There are all sort of quirks and subtleties that come into play when designing a t-shirt. My golden rule is – “Would I wear it?” If the answer is yes then we proceed into production. Next follows the real grunt work of printing one up, photographing it and getting it online. But now we’ve developed a little bit of a system that helps us keep this kind of work time to a minimum.

Another goal for 2012 is to start offering prints. Some people would like our work in a frame on their wall rather than on a tee. This is great. I think they’ll work too, plus printing on paper is slightly easier than fabric. I expect to have prints online in 2/3 months so keep and eye out.

Thirdly we’d like to improve our product even further. Given our cost constraints and time limitations we are looking at creative ways we can give you an even better product. Suffice to say, we will always deliver a premium product.

We also continue to find and partner with local Canadian businesses. If you’ve got a service you think we might use please email us.

Finally, and this is a big one, we are proud to say that we still maintain our 100% satisfaction promise. In 2011 we made damn sure everyone of our customers were happy. This will continue to be of the upmost importance in 2012.

Ian,
Bearhug.ca

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He created the CBC logo. A classic. His studio Kramer Design Associates have created some of the most memorable logos and graphic systems in Canada. If you are in anyway interested in design in Canada, this book is a must.

Read More about it here

Every now and then we like to spoil the kids with an especially cute tee. Sure they have their everyday spaghetti covered clothing, but it’s nice to dress them up now and then. Grandmothers are especially guilty of this! For that very reason we’ve dipped our toes into the kids clothing world. Not an easy task we can assure you. As parents ourselves we know the choices faced by a lot of parents about the clothes they put on their youngsters. If your primary criteria is that the clothing that your kids wear isn’t made by kids in other countries then kudos to you for coming here.

We now proudly offer Canadian made children’s t-shirts. Neatly designed by our friends over at Polyester, a Toronto design studio and printed by us. They created three beautifully illustrated Canadian animals for us – The Loon, The Beaver and The Polar Bear. Cute as buttons!

They are all Bamboo and Organic Cotton. Which is also super soft for sensitive skin and hypoallergenic.

So check them out. And as for your little ones, go on spoil them, they deserve it. Visit our kids section »

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Bearhug t-shirts cost a little more than most t-shirts you find on the market right now. The reasons for this are quite simple. We use Canadian made t-shirts and local suppliers. We have to pay a premium for top quality sustainable bamboo t-shirts. We use people who care about what they do and see their job as a craft. Bearhug doesn’t want to just churn out design after design, we want to be part of a community of Canadian crafts people. Our raw t-shirt supplier has a sweatshop free environment. Their workers receive benefits and proper working hours. Children don’t work in their factories. All this costs a little extra. When you buy from us you are not only getting a great t-shirt but you are helping to support an entire ecosystem of suppliers who care. You are supporting your neighbours and in turn they will support you.

We like to think that when you pull on a shirt with Canada on it, not only can you be proud of your country, but you can be proud of the journey and the craft that it took to make that t-shirt.

My background is primarily in the field of graphic design. This is mostly a computer based profession although this area of work also involves a lot of social understanding and “process design” – a fancy way of saying: figuring out how people will interact or use the piece you design and how it can benefit them. Once this step is decided you really get down to the pure technological aspect of bringing concept from paper to production. And this usually a computer intensive process. Don’t get me wrong, I love most if not all of this process. In particular the typography aspect. This is a skill I’m continually learning about and soaking up information on. For those interested in typography I highly recommend “The Elements of Typographic Style” by Robert Bringhurst. He’s a Canadian poet who obviously has a strong interest in design. Trust me, this is the Bible of typography. It’s not dogmatic, but you’ll get an understanding of why certain rules exist and then you’ll know when it’s appropriate to follow them and when to break them.

So back to my point about silkscreening. It follows the same process as design: sketching, concept and production. With the exception that you get to manually print your creation. The very nature of the flat colour output forces you to design in a different way. It pushes you outside your comfort zone. Instead of cursing little mistakes you can celebrate them when silkscreening. Every piece is unique in that every piece has little imperfections. Signatures that what you’ve got was made by hand instead of output by big printing machines. This is the appeal of silkscreening for me, the pursuit of imperfection.

I highly recommend anyone to get involved in screen printing. Anyone looking to break away from the desk for a while will find screen printing the perfect retreat. I guess it’s the graphic designers equivalent of gardening in that aspect.

Ian
Bearhug Principal