Cottage manufacturers – interviewed

Hendrik, thanks for taking the time to conduct and post these interviews on BPL for us. I hope to see some more in the future!

Fritz mentions reading Kephart. The book is available online. I browsed some of the chapters. Kephart put these writings together in the early 1900's. The packs that he mentions weigh 2.25 to 2.5 lbs. Early UL, very early!

http://www.archive.org/stream/campingwoodcraft00kephrich#page/n0/mode/2up

Ron Bell of MLD Interview is online =)

Once again, another fine highlight of the craftsmanship available to the BPL community. Anyone recognize the sewing machines in the shop? They look like standard machines(not industrial). I assume they are of a higher grade than some home models.

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Interview with Ron Moak is up.

I have really liked these interviews. Thank you for doing them.

I was lucky to meet Ron on Saturday. It turns out my daughter lives about 5 miles from him, and he was gracious enough to let me come to his house to buy a Wild Oasis while I was there for Thanksgiving. I had just sold my Gatewood, because I don't need the cape feature, with the intention to get the Wild Oasis. Serendipity took over so I was able to get it directly from him. I wish I'd thought to ask him to autograph it!

An autographed Wild Oasis would have been really awesome! And I am jealous that you got to meet Ron; I'm planning one day to come to the USA & Canada and visit some of them, that would be a cool holiday.

We should get some of the cottage manufacturers to make signature limited editions of which proceeds could go to some good cause! I'm sure there's plenty of folks out there who would pay for these.

I just wanted to personally thank Hendrik for all these awesome interviews as well as his excellent blog.

Mark Richardson from Ultralight Outdoor Gear interview up. UOG is probably the most popular UL Shop in Europe, and also will soon bring its own products out…

Thank you all for the positive feedback and thanks! It is very rewarding to first do my normal job and then work on the blog in the evenings, knowing that there are people out there which appreciate it!

Tim Marshall from enLIGHTened equipment should be a well known name here =) I got Tim to answer my question and tell us what’s we can expect in the future from his cottage in stealth mode!

Henrik, I'm really enjoying this continuing interview series! Thank you!

Gen Shimizu from Alpinlite Gear took out some time from sewing and answered my questions, in this first cottage manufacturer interview of 2010!

I got a 5×8 tarp from Gen. The tarp is very well made. Gen wasv very friendly,responsive and the order was filled promptly.

Actually pretty amazing considering he's a Wahoo ;)

I will agree that Gen is a great vendor and makes great gear. I have a Bug Tent 1.25 that is as well made as any peice of gear I own. He was very concerned that I got what would fit my needs and answered a lot of questions.

Another great interview…I always enjoy putting faces to names. I haven't ordered from him but he was very responsive when I inquired about his body suit thingy-ma-jig.

A double interview with the two esteemed owners of Jacks ‘R’ Better, Jack Tier and Jack Myers, is this week’s interview!

Steven, Bradford, et al, thanks for your feedback! I got some more interesting interviews lined up for this spring, next week is going to be a three person interview…

The is a "Favorite Cottage Gear" thread at http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/showthread.php?t=57843 about "cottage industry" backpackers for backpackers.

More interviews?

Hei Connie, thanks for that link. I got the interview for next Monday ready, and also the ones afterward, they're scheduled and ready to go online while I am out backpacking. Best is to become a Follower or subscribe to the RSS feed, that way you don't miss and interview =)

The three guys behind Trail Designs took out time from making the Caldera Cone.

This set of interviews is one of the best things I have discovered via the BPL forums and site. My hat is off to Hendrik, and to the various people that so kindly allowed themselves to be interviewed. Great stuff and nice job all!

Hendrik,

Great job…how about the father of them all…Ray Jardin?

couch

Dave:

It's Jardine. I think he's grandpa by now.

Got into the thread late but then I didn't have to wait for the next interview. win/win hahaha Great Job! Keep em coming.