Thanks to you lovelies (and fellow blogger MovieWarden), today I hit 7,000 followers! It continues to be my privilege to get to share my daily beautiful thing with you all. Cheers!
Toronto-based artist, adventurist and avid canoeist Natasha Wittke makes the most amazing painted canoe paddles. She carves them from locally-sourced solid cherry, then paints them with a seemingly-infinite range of colors and clean, graphic shapes. They feel fresh and sharp and genuinely beautiful in their simplicity.
There are two varieties – the lightweight, purely decorative kind, and the functional, water-ready kind. And unlike most of the artists whose work I profile, I think I’m actually going to have to buy one of these babies when we (eventually) get back to our little house on the water.
Her company is called Norquay Co., and in addition to gorgeous paddles, they have also teamed up with Abitibi & Co. to make a small number of limited edition designer canoes.
“Norquay Co. was named after a tiny island, nested in the cool waters of Lake Huron, where my first solo camping trip took place. Following that experience, I set out on a month-long, 600km canoe trip through the northern-most point of Ontario along the Missinaibi River up to Moosenee, where I spent so much time with a paddle in my hand I suppose it was inevitable I would make it my canvas one day.” – Natasha Wittke
You can purchase Norquay’s delicious paddles and exceptional canoes on their website.
All images property of Norquay Co.
May 22, 2018 at 6:08 am
So lovely – it would almost be a shame to use them! 🙂
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May 22, 2018 at 7:24 am
I thought the same, but they assured me that the water-ready ones are pretty hardy.
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May 22, 2018 at 10:52 am
My uncle was on the rowing team at MIT years ago. I’ll send this on to him.
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May 22, 2018 at 1:06 pm
That must have been fun!
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May 22, 2018 at 11:51 am
Beautiful! I love how many of them seem to follow a feather-like pattern, reminding us of the indigenous peoples who were among the earliest builders and users of canoes. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canoe)
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May 22, 2018 at 1:06 pm
I thought the same!
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May 22, 2018 at 2:25 pm
Beautiful–definitely works of art. And congratulations to you! 🙂
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May 22, 2018 at 5:44 pm
Thank you!
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