Meet Jayden Doan | Designer, Musician, and Maker

We had the good fortune of connecting with Jayden Doan and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jayden, can you tell us more about your background and the role it’s played in shaping who you are today?
I’m from the land of living skies, AKA the great plains of Saskatchewan, Canada.

I was raised in a village of roughly 150 people and lived there until I was about 6. Everybody knew everybody, so it seemed perfectly acceptable that kids would just roam around on their own, galavanting around the town. Looking back I recognize what a privilege that was.

When I was 6 we moved to a city called Estevan. To us the difference was huge, but for a “city” the population was only around 10,000 people. It was a challenging adjustment for me but I made friends and eventually returned back to my frequent galavanting. Skateboarding and BMX were a big part of my youth and occupied a lot of my free time when the weather was nice. Some of the first real projects I created on my own were precarious bike ramps slapped together with rotten boards and mangled rusty nails.

I started playing Saxophone in Elementary school, which was my first exposure to live performance and instrumentation. Around grade 8 I was introduced to the electric guitar by a friend, and thus ensued a love for music that I was hungry to explore. My parents bought me a metallic purple electric guitar that Christmas and I was full of inspiration.

Growing up I didn’t have a lot of people I recognized as “artists” to look up to. I didn’t even know that type of lifestyle was available to me. I was raised with the expectation that I was to start working in high school, and bounce from job to job until I retired. My family was always supportive of me making art, but none of us ever took it seriously as a lifestyle. It wasn’t until I went travelling to Europe that I was confident that there was more purpose in the world for me, and that’s when I decided to move to a bigger city.

After moving away I had this grandiose vision that once I started producing art and trying to get my name out there my entire hometown would have my back. Over the years I learned (and continue to learn) that I need to make art for myself and let go of my ego, and the expectations that I’m going to be some kind of hometown hero. There’s a sense of freedom that comes from working outside of the limits of what the people you grew up with expect from you. I hope to push against those limitations even more in the coming years and make art that challenges others to break out of their own comfort zones, because that is where the true magic happens.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
Estevan is a very industrialized city. The land is rich in resources, so much of the economy revolves around capitalizing on those resources. Our high-school was very well equipped to prepare people for a career in trades. I was never too concerned with grades, and much preferred working with my hands than doing homework or studying, so it was only natural for me to gravitate towards working in the shops. After graduation, and not knowing what to do with my life, I decided to pursue something I did well at in school, and became a welder.

A career in Welding has been complicated for me. On the one hand, building something out of nothing is very empowering and welding gives me the tools and skills to do that with ease. On the other, I fell into a career working for various industries (Oil & Gas, Pulp & Paper) in which I wasn’t ethically aligned. I have decided to quit welding on multiple occasions, from multiple jobs, but the allure of a steady income has pulled me back in.

After I quit welding for the Pulp & Paper industry, it wasn’t the money that drew me back in. I had spontaneously decided to go to Burning Man, in Nevada. I was seriously impressed with the amount of large scale, metal art sculptures I witnessed there, and it reinvigorated my love for the craft. I came back to Canada and got a membership to a community workspace in Vancouver and started creating metal art again.

Craving something more, I decided to go to university to pursue a degree in Industrial Design. Although I have one year left of school, it is already proving to be very valuable in my new pursuit of creating my own brand and business. Becoming a designer is giving me the necessary skills to conceptualize a project and see it through to completion, rather than putting things together as I go and hoping it works out for the best.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Jeesh, some of my favourite spots have closed down quite recently. I would have said “Pancakes & Jam”, which is a Sunday morning jam session (with pancakes) at a studio above an auto-body shop here in Vancouver. It was always great vibes and I met some of my closest Vancouver friends through that community. Unfortunately it’s no longer happening.

Wreck Beach, the local nude beach is always a good time! If the weather is nice and you don’t mind a crowded beach (full of naked people) that’s a pretty hot spot to be.

A trip to the Gulf Islands is always a crowd pleaser. I don’t have a favourite, it’s just nice to get out of the city.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
A special shoutout to the late Colin Grunert, my highschool band & construction teacher.

The book “The Artist’s Way” by Julia Cameron changed my life and helped me come to terms with the truth that I am, very much, an artist.

My partner Hannah for consistently encouraging me to be the best version of myself.

Big up’s to David Ullock (@druvid) for introducing me to the magic of sculpture.

Shoutout to the practice of Journalling, without which I never would have made it outside of my own head.

And shouts to anyone who has ever supported my art, in any way, I appreciate you. Keep supporting local artists!

Website: www.owlchemistarts.com

Instagram: @owlchemist_arts

Linkedin: jayden-doan

Twitter: _jaydoan

Image Credits
Zane.Z Photography