2024 Recipient: Remix Snacks Explore the Mastercard x Pier Five Small Business Fund Introducing Remix Snacks, one of the ten recipients of the Mastercard x Pier Five Small Business Fund 2024! Founder: Isabelle Lam Location: Toronto, ON Discover Remix Snacks online: Website // Instagram About Remix Snacks Remix Snacks is an Asian female-led company founded by dietitians that creates bean-based snacks using upcycled ingredients to reduce food waste. Their mission is to make beans fun and approachable, highlighting their delicious and nutritious qualities while addressing common hesitations about them. The company offers two high-protein, high-fiber snack lines: Bean Bark, a dark chocolate treat made with 70% dark chocolate, black beans, and upcycled fruit, and Beanies, a savory puff made with mung beans and upcycled carrots. All products are diet-inclusive—free from nuts, dairy, gluten, and preservatives—and are Plastic Neutral certified through the rePurpose Program, removing plastic waste from the environment. How will the fund make an impact with your business? Remix Snacks will use the grant to fuel growth and streamline operations. For in-store sampling ($2,000), which has driven over 200% sales lifts at retailers like Sobeys and Metro, the grant will help hire brand ambassadors to expand sampling nationwide, increasing reach and sales. For R&D ($500), we aim to lower ingredient costs to improve margins and offer more affordable products to consumers. A Walmart campaign ($2,500) will combine digital and in-store activations to double business with the retailer while boosting brand awareness. Lastly, for cash flow and packaging updates ($5,000), the grant will fund large production orders for expanding retailers and improve case packaging to enhance visibility and sales at Walmart. What is your long term goal for the company? As we solidify establishing our brand in Canada, we plan on expanding to the US market over the next few years. We’re specifically looking at the states of Washington and New York, as they are close to the border for shipping and distribution, and have consumers that align with our target markets and values. With our mission of using beans as the base of our snacks, and upcycled/imperfect ingredients to reduce food waste, the product possibilities are endless. We plan on expanding our product offerings, and entering into new CPG spaces such as the breakfast and other snacks spaces. Through all of this, we plan on reducing over 50,000kg of food waste over the next 3 years. Learn more about the Mastercard & Pier Five Small Business Fund, and discover the other 2024 recipients here .

2024 Recipient: Shawish Market Explore the Mastercard x Pier Five Small Business Fund Introducing Shawish, one of the ten recipients of the Mastercard x Pier Five Small Business Fund 2024! Founder: Amanda Bernard Location: Toronto, ON Discover Shawish Market online: Website // Instagram About Shawish Market Shawish Market is an Indigenous, fee-free platform - similar to an Etsy - empowering entrepreneurs by eliminating vendor fees and fostering sustainable growth within communities. It stands out for its rigorous vendor verification, ensuring authenticity and direct benefits to Indigenous communities. The platform incorporates Indigenous Ways of Knowing, responding to community feedback, and has reintroduced trading, a key cultural practice. Recognized as a 2023 MIT Solve Fellow and featured in several public platforms, Shawish Market supports Indigenous creators while fostering meaningful connections with customers. How will the fund make an impact with your business? With the Mastercard x Pier Five Fund, Shawish Market will invest the $10,000 CAD into hiring an Indigenous employee to help scale the business, focusing on marketing and vendor relations. This will not only create meaningful employment but also strengthen our capacity to support Indigenous entrepreneurs. Additionally, Shawish will allocate part of the funds to implement key feedback from Indigenous communities, such as integrating AI tools to streamline the platform for vendors and adding PayPal as a payment option. My ultimate goal is to ensure Shawish Market evolves to meet the needs of its vendors, as the platform is designed for their success. What is your long term goal for the company? One of my long-term goals is to transition to working on Shawish Market full-time. I currently work at a foundation supporting Indigenous youth, but my dream is to dedicate myself fully to growing Shawish Market and expanding its impact. I also aim to expand Shawish Market to include Indigenous artisans from around the world, creating a global platform for showcasing their work and cultures. I envision adding a feature that allows customers to filter products by specific Indigenous communities, fostering global connections and economic empowerment. Learn more about the Mastercard & Pier Five Small Business Fund, and discover the other 2024 recipients here .

2024 Recipient: Bruized Explore the Mastercard x Pier Five Small Business Fund Introducing Bruized, one of the ten recipients of the Mastercard x Pier Five Small Business Fund 2024! Founders: Monique Chan & Justice Walz Location: Toronto, ON Discover Bruized online: Website // Instagram About Bruized Bruized is a women-led company on a mission to fight food waste through education and sustainable snacks. They rescue surplus food and upcycle it into plant-based, gluten-free treats like their Pulp Crunch clusters and freshly baked cookies. To date, Bruized has saved over 5,642 lbs of produce, working with partners like FresHouse Juicery and Village Juicery while selling their products through local retailers and farmers' markets. They’ve secured $70,000 in grants and have been featured in outlets like the Toronto Star and Elle Gourmet, as well as speaking at events like COP15. Beyond selling snacks, Bruized aims to inspire collective action toward reducing food waste and embracing imperfect ingredients. How will the fund make an impact with your business? We’re currently stuck in the day-to-day operations of crafting and selling our products, leaving us without the capacity to focus on strategic growth or the educational and community aspects that inspired Bruized. With high demand for our sustainable snacks, our biggest challenge is breaking this cycle by growing our team to meet product demand while creating space to expand our mission. This fund will allow us to hire and train a part-time team member, increasing our production capacity and ensuring ethical pay. This additional support would help us fulfill larger orders, reduce more food waste, and dedicate more time to engaging and educating our community. What is your long term goal for the company? A long-term goal for Bruized is to expand beyond selling products by focusing on education and community-building through initiatives like ‘fulCircle,’ Toronto’s sustainability collective. This year, we hosted Supper Club events that used surplus produce, partnered with local chefs, and sparked meaningful conversations about food systems. Moving forward, we aim to partner with farmer’s markets to rescue surplus produce and create Bruized Boxes—affordable packages of fresh, local goods that prevent food waste. By fostering collaboration and education, we hope to strengthen food systems and reconnect people with the stories behind their food. Learn more about the Mastercard & Pier Five Small Business Fund, and discover the other 2024 recipients here .

Alpha/Beta: The Next Chapter With Raised by Wolves Our friends at Raised by Wolves sent us some pieces from their upcoming collection to check out. The 200 piece collection is made entirely of upcycled, reworked and repurposed garments from overstock, samples, returns and leftover fabric from a decade of past seasons, with the purpose of giving old pieces a new life. We connected with Raised by Wolves owner and mastermind behind the collection, Cal Green, to learn more about the inspiration behind Alpha/Beta, the all-natural design process and what he thinks a collection like this can mean for the future of the brand and fashion industry as a whole. Lookbook Photos: William Smith Model: Marisa Gallemit 2 Years of Planning. 10 years In The Making. One day I was in my office and saw this wall of boxes behind me. Over the last ten years we had overproduced certain collections, had accumulated a ton of samples, held onto returned items or defects, etc. When COVID hit, most of our factories shut down so we knew we needed to find a way to make do with what we had and find a way to sell all of these older clothes by repurposing them. The first project was making face masks in Ottawa and that's what sparked the idea to create a full collection which would become Alpha/Beta. Where does the name Alpha/Beta come from? The name is in reference to the hierarchy of a wolf pack. The Alpha line gets access to the most interesting materials and older samples. It's more experimental and is a lot of outerwear and pants. The Beta line is made up of derivatives from the Alpha line and are more simplified. This will be things like tees and sweatshirts. We've also built out a Delta line which is some homewares and other accessories made from scraps, like keychains, coasters, wooden and incense holders. With this new thought process behind production and design, how is Raised by Wolves thinking about its ecological footprint? I'm hypersensitive to overproduction now. It definitely won't be an afterthought anymore. I think with this, Alpha/Beta will evolve over time. With this collection, we've produced maybe 200 pieces but that's just scratching the surface of the inventory we had. I ended up donating about forty-thousand dollars worth of clothing to local youth organizations in Ottawa. I figured it was better to give the product to someone that will value it than get rid of it another way or destroy it, which was never an option. Created by hand around North America The majority of the pieces in the collection were all reworked by hand and treated with natural techniques to give unique looks to each garment. Black bean dye Beach dye Rust dye Flame finishing on demin Hand-stitched sashiko Apparel by : @atelier_dnhn (Montreal, Quebec) Quilts by : @e_patton (Dayton, Ohio) How will this collection play into the future of Raised by Wolves? I've thought about doing something like Patagonia's Worn Wear program that encourages people to send their gear back when they're done with it and then we repurpose it for Alpha/Beta. It doesn't even have to be Raised by Wolves product. It could be vintage denim or band tees. Ever since I've started working on this project, I've seen a lot of brands that I really respect doing similar programs. So, I definitely think we're headed in the right direction, for sure. Big shoutout to Raised by Wolves for giving us an early look at the new collection! Check out the Pier Five Instagram for more content on some of the incredible pieces. Make sure to keep up with Raised by Wolves on Instagram for more information on the Alpha/Beta collection dropping this month and keep it locked to Pier Five for more conversations with the coolest entrepreneurs, designers, artists, activists and more out there.

Dancing Through The Yarn With Trish Andersen Follow your gut and take chances. It will take you everywhere. Such is the case for Georgia based fiber artist, Trish Andersen, whose tufting work has caught the attention of the masses. After over a decade-long career working in a corporate design job in New York, Trish dropped everything to focus on a solo freelance career and follow her entrepreneurial spirit. Years later, after taking a hard look at her jobs and deciding she wanted even more independence, Trish would drop her client work, move back home to Georgia and pursue a daring career as a solo fine artist in rug tufting, a very niche art form that she had little knowledge of at the time; but something about it just felt right. Fast forward to today, Trish is one of the best known tufting fine artists in the game, appealing to the fine art and interior experts all the way to streetwear heads and hypebeasts. All of this success is attributed to Trish’s ability to keep a level head, follow her gut and never stop exploring and we got the chance to go through all of this in a very special conversation. Hey Trish! The first question we have for you is, what was it like moving from New York back to Georgia. It was definitely a little scary because there’s so much opportunity in New York but it just felt right for me. Turns out, Dalton, which is only a few hours away from Savannah where I live now, is the rug capital of the world so the fit isn’t so bad [laughs]. They produce something like 80% of the world’s rugs there which is insane. Wow that’s wild! What do you think it was about tufting that got you hooked (no pun intended)? Tufting is super free flowing with the gun because you can go in any direction you want. You can really jump around your canvas and it was like painting for me which I love. It’s like a dance working with the gun. It also lets me focus on the fine art more and then I can bring in the functional aspect, like with the line of products I have inspired by my fine art, such as the wool rugs and runner rugs, as I want. One of our first discoveries of your work was actually the Runner Rug through Hidden NY, a curation mood board catering to art and streetwear fashion enthusiasts. How does it feel to see your work catch the attention of subcultures like that? Honestly, it blows my mind! I made the runner rug with no intention of selling it. I thought it was cool but not that cool [laughs]. I had no idea that it would catch the attention of consumers in these other groups and I never cared about what people were going to think of it when I made it but it’s really cool to see everyone so into this art form and the pieces that I make. It’s very hard to always fight that evil voice in your head asking “will people like it?” or “is it good enough to share?” but I think because I got into this just for me, I’ve been able to get away from that voice. I’m constantly trying to remind myself to just make what I want to see in the world and tell myself that there are people out there who will be into what I make and eventually I’ll find them. Very true and clearly there are a lot of people who are liking what you are putting out. How did it feel, as someone who’s been making rugs for so long, to see so many people get into rug making during covid? I think it’s super cool. I’m a big “community over competition” kind of person. The process for me has been so beneficial and it’s really great to see other people embracing it. Everyone has their own voice and I think there’s room for us all. It’s been super cool to see how people like Tim who runs tuftinggun.com has grown such a big community and business in the last two years and how social media has really helped it take off. At the end of the day, if we can all add some more softness and joy to the world during quarantine then that’s amazing! What’s your design process like? Do you typically draw things out first and have materials/colours in mind? It’s a little bit of planning and a little bit of free flow. I usually sketch out designs on Procreate which I love. I always had some trouble sketching on paper so working on Procreate on my iPad is amazing and it lets me scale designs which is super helpful. For the colors, I’ll usually have a palette in mind but I'll pull all the colours I think I'm going to use and then visualize them and move them around. Once I’m working on the canvas, I really try to move feely and respond to the piece in the moment. If I plan colours but then don’t think I want to use them, I’ll change them. It’s definitely like a dance. I also like, however, that you have to be decisive as much as it is free flowing. It’s always a challenge because you can only pull out things you don't like so many times before the backing is compromised so it's a mix of free and calculated. How many rolls of yarn do you think you have gone through in the last 4 years? Ha! I have no idea. It must be thousands. I’ll use all different types of wool and I’ll source yarns everywhere. It’s all a precious exercise of locating yarns. I’m using so many different colours and materials which I think creates great texture. Back in September you launched your first reproduced collection which gave general consumers the chance to buy your work. How was that experience for you and were there any learnings that you’ll take with you for future releases? So far the feedback has been really good and the experience has been great. I set things up for the e-comm site so that the orders go out to a factory that makes and ships the items so luckily I don’t have to deal with that. I am still getting familiar with how to handle the customer support side of things the best way possible but so far so good. I think one of the biggest learnings was really around, once everything launched, seeing how much work it can all be for one person and understanding the importance of having a good setup throughout. If I was packing and shipping everything myself it wouldn’t be scalable and would slow down the creative side. I’d say to anyone, make sure you think about the process all the way through before going live. Otherwise, it can be easy to get overwhelmed. Luckily now that I’ve done this though and things are running smoothly, I can start thinking about launching new lines! Oh! What other lines are we talking about? I have a ton of ideas. I’m going to be collaborating with my husband who’s a painter on something and some other projects as well. I’m not a big planner though [laughs]. I kind of just follow what feels good. Living with your husband who is a painter must be super cool on the collaboration side! Ya, it’s super fun. I don’t think I could be with anyone who’s not an artist. We both live and breathe art and we learn a lot from each other too. Any tips for young artists trying different mediums to express themselves? I’d definitely go back to the idea that you have to try to get away from comparing yourself to others and caring what they think. It’s hard with social media but it’s very important. I always say that social media should be for connecting, not comparing. Everyone has their own voice. Follow your gut and what makes you happy and explore that. Find a creative community that you can be a part of. Try to work with other artists. Observe others. Get out there. Be patient and keep putting in the work. Eventually, you’ll get to a point where you can really dictate what you want to do. Lastly, take risks and don’t be afraid of making bad work. It’s required in the art world but that’s also what makes it fun. That’s great advice! Lastly, for those looking to start tufting, where should they look? Honestly, the first thing to do is just Google tufting and watch a ton of videos. I’m actually going to film a workshop next month with Domestika which will be super fun, so watch that too [laughs]. Another great site to check out is Tim’s site that I mentioned earlier, tuftinggun.com . There’s an awesome forum for people posting about their experiences, where they get materials, etc. Everyone is super supportive and willing to share information. It’s a great community! Also, if you are looking to buy gear you can use my code "Trishtufts" for 15% off :) Make sure to check out Trish's Instagram for more news on upcoming projects and releases and keep it locked to Pier Five for more interviews and stories with the coolest entrepreneurs, designers, artists, activists and more.

Hotpot Variety Where: Toronto, ON What: Designer / Crochet Hotpot Variety is the hottest new crochet focused brand founded by Jess Papp. Hotpot Variety is described by Jess as "a Toronto fashion studio that specialized in handmade crochet accessories". The brand caught the attention of many during the pandemic, including one of Canada's top fashion retailers Holt Renfrew, who currently stocks the brand's staple bucket hats. Pier Five discovered Hotpot Variety towards the end of 2021 and instantly fell in love. Jess was Pier Five's first guest of the new year and you can check out the full interview here . Why are you excited to be a part of the grant project? I'm excited to be a part of the grant project because I would love to contribute back to the community with my art in any way that I can. To be able to support and help somebody fulfill their passions is a no brainer! Can you tell us about the pieces that you've made for the grant? For the grant pieces, I wanted to create unique colourways using my signature checkered designs, in both big and small patterns. These colourways are brand new and I think they fit great with the Pier Five aesthetic. See All Designers Lookbook (Coming Soon) Shop (Coming Soon)

Creators Grant About the project Since day one, Pier Five has striven to inspire and educate its community by sharing insightful conversations with, and the works of, its favourite designers, creators, entrepreneurs and subject matter experts. This year, we are excited to take this a step further with the launch of the Pier Five Creators Grant , a financial grant and mentorship opportunity that will be presented to an emerging creative, selected by both Pier Five and its community. To raise funds for this grant, we have collaborated with eight incredible creatives on a capsule collection of limited edition products, from reworked and handmade apparel to home goods and original art works. Before launching the collection, we will spend some time telling the stories of the eight masterminds behind the works and you can read more about them below. The collection will launch for a limited time in early July and all proceeds from the sales will go towards the financial grant which creatives (worldwide) can apply for in August (more on the applications coming soon). Timeline We are excited to have you along for the journey as we continue to grow this incredible community of designers, artists, entrepreneurs, creators and many others around the world and hope that you can learn something new and maybe even cop something cool along the way! - Jeff + Julian Meet The Designers Click on a designer to learn more. Congratulations Nick Vo of Nick's Jewellery! Learn more about Nick Shop the Collection (Closed) View The Lookbook

A Conversation With Olivia Ho of The Give and Grow What is success if it is not shared with others? As a sports fanatic, houseplant enthusiast and advocate for female empowerment and growth, Olivia Ho has been on a mission to create change through what she loves. Noticing the barriers that existed for young females in sports, an activity which she thinks is imperative for developing confidence early on in children and teens, Olivia has set out to create new opportunities for Toronto’s female youth through community led initiatives and programs. We caught up with Olivia to discuss her work as a Sports Program Lead at MLSE Launchpad and to look back at a very successful first year running The Give and Grow, a women-led initiative building a community for women in Toronto. As someone with an inside lens into both big and small corporations working to make a change, Olivia is full of knowledge and advice that can help everyone work together to empower the next generation of leaders. Read our conversation with Olivia below and then head over to The Give and Grow’s instagram page to check out what they have coming up to celebrate the one year anniversary. @ohoxo // @thegiveandgrow Hey Olivia! For those who may not be familiar, tell us a bit about yourself and The Give and Grow. Hey guys! My name is Olivia Ho. I’m a cardiac sonographer at St. Mike’s Hospital in Toronto and a Sports Program Lead at MLSE Launchpad, leading sports programs for young women in the city. During last summer in the pandemic, with buzz starting around houseplants and as a way to stay creative, I started making basketball planters and it got the attention of some people on my socials. I started to think about how I could use the planters to bring together more people in the community and continue to empower young girls and that’s how The Give and Grow started. The Give and Grow, a pun on the basketball term “give and go”, is a women-led initiative centred around growth. We run workshops, many of which through Launchpad, to help young girls gain confidence and give them the tools they need to achieve their goals. A portion of all planters sold goes toward youth programming in Toronto and we’re working on expanding our programming and workshops to other cities in Canada and internationally. Through your work at MLSE and with The Give and Grow, you’re doing a ton of amazing work to create new opportunities for youth in the city. Why is this cause one that is so important to you? Growing up in a Filipino and Vietnamese household, basketball culture was huge for me and in my community. I always played in leagues but noticed early on that you’re always a bit of an outlier if you are a girl who is good at sports. I watched a lot of my female peers grow up without sports and it was hard to see the divide between how boys and girls were raised with sports. I also noticed all of the financial barriers that existed and wanted to create opportunities for as many people as I could through sport. This is really interesting and you’re definitely right in the observations you’ve made about youth upbringing with sports. How has Launchpad helped you achieve these goals? MLSE is great because they can help make amazing connections to enhance the programming run for the youth. Although they’re a big company, they really do care about helping smaller and less-privileged communities. In addition to the sports programming, they also run food programs and job training through Launchpad. All programming is free and we have an amazing team of staff that are representative of the groups of kids. We do this to help create a connection between everyone and so that the youth can see themselves in their leaders. You’ve said that The Give and Grow was never about basketball planters but they’ve clearly been a great outlet to bring women together and empower the next generation of leaders. Why do you think this has caught on as such a successful part of The Give and Grow experience? I’ve seen a few people do them before I did, including one of my friends who helped me learn to do them and it was very fun. House plants have become so popular and I think making the planters is a great activity to bring the community together. They also fit into the brand well under the idea of growth. Besides the workshops, what can people do to get involved in a cause they feel passionately about? Really immerse yourself in the space that you care about. Find people doing work for the cause and interact with them. Follow them on instagram, go to their events, send them a message etc. Reach out to people a ton and ask questions. Just go for it and don’t be afraid of rejection. You will start to connect with people with a shared vision, like I have, and that will be the building blocks for your involvement in change. Taking that leap isn’t always so easy. What are some ways you’d advise someone to help them get out of their comfort zone? Sometimes all you need is a prompt to understand how you are feeling. A big part of our workshops consist of activities to help people get out of their comfort zone. We have booklets with prompts to help get people talking and thinking about what is important to them, what their goals are, stories from their past, etc. These activities help show people that we’re not all so different from one another. You’ve partnered with some amazing people and organizations to help run workshops and create opportunities for women. What are some tips you’d give to anyone looking to find the right partners? Most importantly, make sure you truly understand who you are and what you want. Ask yourself what you are trying to achieve and that will help you evaluate new partnerships. Secondly, do your research on others to make sure that their brand and mission aligns with yours. Don’t let money or following size be the main factor in your decisions. If they are, it will be difficult to make decisions that fit with your goals. Also, don’t forget to do spot checks every now and then to ensure you’re still on track to achieve what you set out to achieve. That’s great advice. Is there a person or company that you would really love to partner with? I think the WNBA would be an amazing fit. I was lucky enough to work with the Toronto Raptors but doing something with females in basketball would be such a perfect partnership. That would be amazing! Who are 5 women or female led groups doing amazing work that people should know about? Dez and Steen from Patchwork Collective ( @patchwork.collective ). They were the first community partners that The Give and Grow worked with. They’re all about self discovery and creating a community for women. Emily Gilpin is a good friend and indigenous journalist out in British Columbia. She is the Managing Editor at Indiginews ( @indiginews ) and has done a great job documenting and raising awareness around everything that’s been happening with indigenous communities lately. Gaby Estrada is a coworker at Launchpad and the founder of Girls and Women in Motion ( @gwinmotion ), a program in Scarborough that focuses on engaging women and girls in physical activity. Kim & Shanelle, founder of The Villij ( @thevillig ). They run a fantastic online wellness platform that offers accessible workouts for women. Meghan Young is the founder of The Sad Collective ( @thesadcollective ), a community platform that offers workshops for youth and women and promotes mental health and wellness. We’ll definitely need to look into these! Lastly, if you could ask one thing to those who are reading this, what would it be? “Lift as you climb.” It’s important to remember that as you grow and become more successful, you need to continue to lift up others around you. The more we work together, the more successful we all will be and the higher we can climb. Check out Olivia and The Give and Grow and keep it locked to Pier Five for more interviews and stories with the coolest entrepreneurs, designers, artists, activists and more.

Pier Five Creators Grant Lookbook Photographer: Mark Gallardo Location: Crayon Studios, Toronto View the Collection (Soon) Creators Grant Home

Continuing The Legacy With Nick Vo We are thrilled to award Nick Vo of @nicksjewellery as the recipient of the first ever Pier Five Creators Grant! Nick’s story was one that really inspired us and resonated with our story and the story of so many other young creatives that we know. In just a short time, Nick has helped elevate the wonderful jewellery shop that his parents started 20 years ago, becoming a staple in Toronto for creative communities to connect over beautiful (and often custom) jewellery. With the money from the grant, Nick hopes to bring in new machinery that will increase the capabilities of the shop and the level of service that he can provide to the shop’s clients. We spoke to Nick about his aspirations for the business, the importance of his community in what he does and the type of mark he hopes to leave on his family when it's all said and done. Continuing the family legacy. My biggest inspiration is my parents. They're the ones who raised me and it's my time to give back to them and to take care of them. They've been through a lot. They sacrificed a lot and it's now my turn to both elevate the business and also carry on the family legacy. My grandparents were jewellers. My parents are jewellers and now I'm the next generation to do it. We all eat together. I hope to create opportunities for my friends and family. I want them to eat with me and I want them to always stay hungry. I think that if I'm able to help myself and love myself, I'll be able to do the same for them. It's a two-way street and I really hope to create every opportunity for them. Collaboration is key. I think the key to success is working with others and collaborating. With jewellery and other mediums, we all intersect. I think the best way to win is to work with each other and uplift each other. It's important to support those who are around you and who are in your network and that will allow you to grow and expand your network. There needs to be more love in the world and we need to support each other more. The future of Nick's Jewellery. My long term vision for Nick's Jewellery is to make it a hotspot in Toronto. Just like when you go to New York, you go to different jewellery shops like Popular Jewellery and New Top Jewellery. I want it to be that when people come to Toronto, they make a pit stop at Nick's Jewellery. I want it to be a space where different creators and consumers - anyone from any walk of life - can come in and work together and be able to purchase jewellery. I want it to be like a studio and a jewellery shop at the same time. Thank you to everyone who supported the Pier Five Creators Grant! We could not be happier with how everything rolled out and are so happy to be able to have presented Nick with $3,000 to help take his business to the next level. Make sure to check out Nick's Jewellery on Instagram and stop by the shop if you're in Toronto!

Apply For The Grant! Thank you for your interest in applying for the Pier Five Creators Grant. This grant is aimed at emerging creatives, entrepreneurs, designers, artists or anyone who has a creative passion that they are looking to take to the next level. We are pleased to offer a financial grant of $3,000 CAD to one recipient who may use the funds to help kickstart or continue their creative practice, whether for equipment, courses, materials, travel, etc. Note: This grant is open to residents of Canada, The United States of America, Mexico, The United Kingdom and Europe. *Apps Now Closed*

A Conversation With Sean Go Sean Go is a Toronto raised content creator with a passion for sneakers, basketball and photography; a perfect trio for the modern Torontonian. Sean's sneaker photography has been featured on a number of publications and his YouTube channel is one of the go-to's for in depth sneaker reviews. @sgo8 We see new kicks on your channel all the time. What are the top 5 in your rotation right now? If we're talking about what I'm actually wearing these days I'd go with Black Cement 3, New Balance 992 Grey, Nike Air Max 1 Anniversary White/Red, Collegium Destroyer High "Avio" and the Nike Dunk Low "Brazil". Top 5 favourites of all time would be White Cement 3, Concord 11, Chicago 1, Infrared Air Max 90 and White Cement 4 probably. Your known for taking some of the best and most unique sneaker pics on insta. What tips can you give for someone looking to up their sneaker pic game? Lighting is key. Play around with different types of lighting to be comfortable shooting in various conditions (sunny, cloudy, indoors with flash, etc.) Environment plays a huge part in the photo. Learning to utilize backgrounds and props to add to the flavour of the photo really allows your photos to stand out. Develop a "style". Consistency is huge, as it allows people to see your personality and flare through your photos. While a nice camera is great, learning to edit your photos is half the battle. I personally use Adobe Lightroom and finish it up with Photoshop, but whatever program you feel most comfortable with, play around with it and see how it can elevate your shots. Have fun! Do it for the passion and the genuine love of it, and keep shooting for the right reasons. While many know you for your IG posts, you have nearly 3x the following on YouTube. What are 5 things you love or hate about YouTube? YouTube's a great way to express yourself and generate income in a way that photographs on Instagram don't allow. You can find videos on pretty much anything you want to see or learn about. The audience-base is very supportive and shows you a ton of love if they appreciate your work. BUT! It's much more of a challenging and time consuming medium than Instagram. The anonymity of it allows for a lot of troll comments that you have to learn to ignore. So with all that being said, who are your 5 favourite sneaker YouTubers right now? Seth Fowler Hes Kicks Foamer Simpson Rose Anvil WearTesters