Could this be the future Olympic kit for the Canadian Team...eh?
When a creative colour alchemist turns her mountainscapes into fabric, the entire skiwear industry is disrupted. The prevailing palette of plain colours in today's brands - two-tone if you’re lucky and a preponderance of black, beige, plain red or navy - means that Lynne Harrison’s multi-hued, outsized prints stand out like flamboyant flowers at a funeral.
Wife of Crazy Canuck Olympian Dave Irwin, Harrison has been running an eclectic art studio and creative clothing shop in her home town of Canmore, Alberta since May 2015. Starting with paintings, prints and postcards, she morphed her mountain motif into printed bike, running and watersports clothing first and then, this season, moved into the Alchemy of Ride range of ski jackets, pants, vests, one-piece Nordic outfits, and wickable underlayers for men and women. “It is about sharing colour and fun and happiness,” says Harrison. “Alchemy is the ancient process of turning base metal into gold and The Ride is a metaphor for life.”
Her inspiration is vibrant colour, the Canmore area, and the breathtaking scenery of the Rocky Mountains in which she works, lives and recreates. She blends the shapes and contours of the stunning scenery with her own vivid hues, adding bold brightness to the slopes where these days the colours black and grey prevail. She says she can’t sleep when she has a new idea: “When I thought up Alchemy of Ride I was so inspired that I couldn’t sleep for six weeks with developing the concept.” After a year researching fabrics and manufacturers for skiwear, she launched the ski range this season.
As well as Silver Tree Studio in canmore's gentrified Main Street, her whimsical work is available at stores in Lake Louise, Banff, Whistler and Scottsdale, Arizona. She has sales reps in BC and AB expanding her Canadian reach, and a new rep based from Boulder, CO serving the US market. Both her ski brand and her summer running/biking/watersports line are available online
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