All of us here at Inner Fire are pretty lucky to call Vancouver home. Not only do we live and work in a beautiful city, we’re also surrounded by mountains, oceans, forests, and trails. We wish that everyone could experience the views that we wake up to every morning. But plane tickets are expensive, so we thought we would bring a bit of the coast to you instead.
There’s a highway that runs from Vancouver north towards Whistler, called the Sea to Sky Highway.The drive is absolutely stunning, with breathtaking views of Howe Sound to one side and mountainous hillsides to the other; On the way up, it's common to see eagles soaring above. (Fun fact: the Brackendale area near Squamish has been called the eagle capital of the world).
It will come as no surprise then that we turned to nature for inspiration for this new fall line. It was our intention from the get-go to showcase our beautiful mother earth (and million dollar views) in our fall/winter prints: The Grove print reflectsthe misty mountains you see on the drive up to Whistler, especially in the fall; The Woodland print is a kaleidoscope-style representation of the wooded forests up the coast; The Trellis print is a representation of the mixing of cultures that make up our west coast community, and the black and white a nod to our Southern Resident orcas, who are currently being threatened due to overfishing.
We even went back to our roots (get it?!) when it came to creating new phrases to print on our graphic tops, in hopes of bringing some levity to the practice of yoga and meditation. Designs such asWe the Peaceful, andOm Shanti Shanti Om, were included with the intention of empowering people to stand up for peace and inclusivity. Last but not least, we included an homage to the west coast with a punny top for all our tree hugger friends withMay the Forest Be With You.
It’s not always easy coming up with inspiration for seasonal launches. If you're a creative type, you'll probably agree that it's difficult to schedule creativity; It tends to come to you when you least expect it.
One of our founder, Leah Emmott’s tricks is to take tons of photos of weird patterns, decor, textures, and street art whilst traveling. That way, when it’s time to figure out what to do for the next launch, she can reference these images and find common themes. The Sea to Sky Collection was born out of a drive to Whistler, through the winding roads of the highway that overlooks the Sound, small islands, and a whole lot of mother nature’s most magnificent features.