An Interview with Mark Perry by Trina Moran     When you walk into Kerrisdale Lumber on West Boulevard and West 46th Avenue, you right away get caught up in its bustling atmosphere: exquisite garden ornaments, hanging fire places, BBQs, and cheerful employees who are delightful to talk to and eager to show you how one of their many intricate home furnishings work. I stumbled upon a decorative fireplace that emitted smoke. Did I mention it hangs on a wall? It hangs on a wall.   Overall, the store itself is an extraordinary home hardware store that has everything and anything you would possibly need to furnish, fix, re-decorate, re-model your home, or accentuate, your backyard, or garden. Amidst the liveliness of the store, is Mark Perry. Mark is the current President of Kerrisdale Lumber which his grandfather, Bert Perry, founded in 1921. Rich in history, pertaining to both Kerrisdale and Vancouver, Kerrisdale Lumber’s mandate is to provide the ultimate home hardware shopping experience; able to cater your home’s each and every need over time.   Kerrisdale Lumber was founded in 1921 by Bert Perry who started the business with a horse and wagon after migrating from England after World War I. Sidewalks and just about everything at that time were made of wood and was what allowed Bert’s business to thrive in the beginning. In the 1920’s, Bert did not restrict Kerrisdale Lumber to only Kerrisdale (part of the Municipality of Point Grey at the time). He had his eye on expanding the business and making a name for the company and sought business wherever he could. Much of the original wooden streets of Vancouver were built out of the pine supplied by Kerrisdale Lumber and contracted by Bert Perry. The story behind the wooden streets...

  Written and Photographed by Fitnat Fahrner   Markus Fahrner is a freelance Graphic Designer, writer, photographer and Book Artist. His passion for books and eye for all things design has been a lifelong love affair. He has been a fixture at the Frankfurt Book Fair (Frankfurt/Main Germany) since he was 9 years old and the London Book Fair (UK) since adulthood. Now that he is Vancouver based; the Codex Book Fair in San Francisco is one of the new arena’s for his work. A self professed ‘Mac Geek’ and letter press enthusiast Markus loves to share his enthusiasm for the arts with like minded individuals. Here is what he has to say about his craft: “I love the challenges and variety of graphic design. Typography is one of my favorite subjects. It has been a special honor to design the Alcuin Society Canadian Book Design Awards for the past two years. I am delighted to layout the catalogue again this year. The catalogues have been well received and have gained high praise from the public and industry alike.When not working on design projects I produce artist books for my own book art company called Fahrner & Fahrner. We specialize in limited edition books and individual graphic posters. Fahrner & Fahrner books have been acquired by the Library of Congress, Wash. DC, Victoria & Albert Museum, London, Meermanno Museum Den Haag and the Klingspor Museum, Offenbach to mention just a few. It was fun and a privilege to give a lecture about Fahrner&Fahrner at the Berkeley Museum of Art during the CODEX Book Fair. ”My goal is to bring excellent typography and innovative, fresh design to all my projects. I enjoy providing my clients with professional advice ranging from layout, paper, printing and publishing...

“Old Modern” In January of this year 2012, Gerry was show-cased in the initial launching of the E-Gallery section of the Kerrisdale Playbook Web-site displaying some of his completed etching artwork pieces.  Hopefully the E-Gallery did attract more than a few viewers and created some interest in etching artworks other than the more known artworks like, pencil / colored pastel sketches and colored oil / acrylic paintings.  Subsequent to Gerry’s January show-case on the E-Gallery, Our Kerrisdale Playbook Web-site has discovered that Gerry had another interesting past-time childhood passion with building model airplanes and exotic cars.  Gerry having an artistic creative side for the arts is also blessed with a very creative technical side, where building hobby model planes and cars was something he loved doing during his early teens.  Gerry has agreed to show-case in the E-Gallery two hobby models he has completed as an adult quite sometime ago.  The first hobby model kit is a 5-channel radio-controlled,  gas-motored, 6.5 lb. helicopter with a main rotor-blade of 36″ diameter span, which Gerry purchased in (1987)  and took over 2 two years to build.  The second hobby model kit is a 1:8 scale, Spider Touring Gran Sport (1932) Alfa Romeo Car (made up of over 2500-plus total connecting nuts, bolts, wires, car parts in different materials of special high resistance plastics, brass, stainless steel, iron, copper, rubber and leather).  Gerry purchase the hobby model car kit in (1975) at a hobby shop at Cambie & 41st Avenue and took over 1-1/2 years to build.  Both the completed helicopter and car show-cased on the E-Gallery are very complex, but interestingly, in particular the Alfa Romeo Car kit was designed in Italy and mass-produced into hobbist model kits at least 50 ++ years ago by hand...

Mary Dopson ‘Keep Moving Forward’ Written and Photographed by Trina Moran     An inspiring and warm-hearted woman, Mary Dopson sees the world as a race. A race she definitely is leading. At 93, she has seen the world evolve and values the importance of community and keeping up a healthy, positive attitude towards everyone and everything that comes her way. Originally from Scotland, Mary grew up in Winnipeg and resided there for sixty years. ‘It’s COLD.’ remarks Mary when I ask her what Winnipeg is like. A part from Winnipeg’s ice-like temperatures, Mary recalls her glory days of being an athletic runner in the late 1930’s. In 1936 she won 1st place in the Women’s Broad Jump and 2nd in the Women’s 100m, both ‘in the same day’, Mary boasts. That year she qualified for the 1936 Summer Olympic Games in Berlin. Unfortunately due to the Depression, Mary was informed that she would have to pay her own passage to Berlin, and could not attend. Nearly eighty years later, Mary seems just as excited about her accomplishments as she was when she was 18. Dopson smiles and remarks ‘I’m just an old has-been.’ I tell her, ‘It’s better to be a has-been than a never-been.’ Mary stopped running competitively in 1940 due to the outbreak of WWII and to start a family. Recently in 2009, Mary competed in the B.C. Senior’s Games in Richmond in the 100m dash against other seniors 90 and over. Proof that her sporting spirit thrives. She was also honoured during the 2009 B. C. Senior Games in Vancouver by being invited to march with the torch. In 1980 Mary moved to Vancouver to be closer to her sons and in search of ‘better weather.’ She has also resided in Kerrisdale...