Welcome to Balsam Beach Studio, home to Harriet & Betty!
Sweet Harriet Designs Jewelry and Downtown Betty Clothing
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Designers Sarah Karst & Katie Quinn met in 2011 at a Landmark Forum Weekend Workshop. Katie had an established but young brand with Downtown Betty and Sarah was just getting ready to release Sweet Harriet into the world. Flash forward to 2014, both businesses were run out of the designers homes; Katie was between studio spaces and Sarah's boyfriend was tired of having jewelry bits and pieces spread out over their entire apartment. The two designers joined forces to find a shared studio space in Vancouver's challenging rental market. Once they saw the stunning view and dreamy location right by the beach, they knew they had found their studio. They started renovations in April of 2014 and have been growing into the space ever since.
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Renovating our studio space included ripping out old carpet, sanding down the floors, filling in cracks, repairing damaged floor boards and painting everything bright white. It took us 10 days with a lot of help from our handy neighbour. FYI: Sanding floors is a lot harder than it looks on DIY tv shows! When we were finished it looked so stark and almost institutional, we worried we had made a mistake by painting the floor and walls all white. But after we moved in all our furniture & stock, the white on white room was clearly a great decision. The space has an airy, fresh feel despite the large amount of jewelry and clothing stored in every nook and cranny.
Sweet Harriet's side of Balsam Beach Studio
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Downtown Betty's Side of the Studio Space
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Located right across from Kits Beach with large picture windows, our sweet studio has an ever changing view of downtown Vancouver & the beautiful North Shore Mountains. The space serves as a workplace, a retail store and a hub of collaborative creativity. Shoppers are welcome to come by Monday-Friday 10-6. (1534 Balsam Street, Buzzer #7)
Downtown Betty, is our favourite casual glamour clothing designer. You might recognize some of her pieces from our 2016 lookbook! Everything is handcut in-studio and made by local sewers. We love sharing space with this dynamic designer and her fun loving team.
A short video tour of our beachside studio for your viewing pleasure :)