On November 25 – 27th, 2022 we hosted our fourth annual Break Room – our holiday pop-up event designed to bring community together while encouraging moments of intention, rest, and connection.

Here, we offered a space to celebrate our community and our oceans, explore our eco-swimwear Collection, shop our collective of beautiful brands (made up mostly of BIPOC, female founded, and purpose-led businesses), and connect with others through our immersive events.

This year, we were so lucky to be hosted at the beautiful La Bomba Floristry Shop, a multidisciplinary creative studio and floral art space located in the heart of Chinatown, Vancouver. The elegant space lent us the opportunity to house our curated brands and was the perfect 'gallery space' to exhibit the work and incredible photography of our talented friend, Mark Kushimi – a special piece from his 'Oceanscapes' series was displayed for our community to admire throughout the weekend.  

We also planned two special evenings to celebrate The Break Room in this space. We invited friends to join us for a special opening night welcome to kickoff the weekend, with beverages and snacks provided by Sansorium, Cinco Drink Co., and Ellies Chews. The weekend closed with an other worldly experience - titled "Infinite Composition" we collaborated with local pianist Andrew Lo and May Globus of otō healing who performed a truly one of a kind performance for our audience. Bringing sound bowls and piano together, they composed in the moment: an intimate and mesmerizing experience that words really can't describe. The most grounding and beautiful osmanthus tea was served by Cultivate Tea, to end the night.

Above all, perhaps one of the most noteworthy takeaways from this year’s Break Room that’s distinct from past events, was being able to support our Chinatown community in more tangible ways than ever before. Being surrounded by such rich history and heritage, we could suggest and support adjacent restaurants, shops, and landmarks to visit before/after Break Room stays, and we also connected with local Chinatown vendors to share small tokens and keepsakes of their business with our community. No matter how small our impact may have felt, we feel fortunate to have amplified voices, businesses, and the essence of the neighbourhood that has been a home and place of refuge for so many.

Thank you to everyone who came by – long-time collective members, old friends, new friends, family, and small-business lovers… every smile, conversation, and opportunity to get to meet you, brightened the space and was a sweet reminder of why we put on this event, year after year. 

We feel incredibly humbled by the community that continues to support us and our vision, and are already looking forward to holding more connective events in 2023. 

 

Much love,
Team OCIN