Reflecting on PEETZ and the “Circle of Life”

When the partners at PEETZ started planning where we might go with our venerable old company over the next year or two, we realized that we all shared some common objectives around our vision for its future; it somehow needed to intersect our love for outdoor adventure, the sport/lifestyle of fishing, as well as a respect for our natural resources and the environment. It is our hope that PEETZ can always be a company that unifies these values.

Today, I would like to share with you a cool story that provides us with a little early encouragement that we are on the right track…

Those of you who are following us on Facebook are likely aware that we recently joined forces with one of the West Coast’s finest aboriginal artists to create a work of art carved into one of our new Evolution mahogany reels. Jason Henry Hunt comes from “carving royalty” in our region of the world and he is a true gentleman with an easy confidence and demeanor that we think anyone would enjoy. He also has a passion for the outdoors, fishing, and perhaps more importantly a shared interest in the protection of our precious wild fish resources.

When we approached Jason with the idea of an “Artist Series” PEETZ reel, he was excited and saw it as an opportunity to create a true piece of West Coast “Canadiana” – a wood fishing reel handcrafted by a legacy Canadian manufacturer and handcarved into an original piece of West Coast art. We were thrilled that he embraced our concept and over the next few weeks he came to us with several designs that could help us celebrate our 90th anniversary year. We loved all of his ideas, but collectively we saw the unique potential of a piece he called “Circle of Life” – which featured two female salmon with roe in a symmetrical circular pattern. It was beautiful and it also offered a design synergy that would help us kick off an initiative with the Pacific Salmon Foundation called “Reel Change” – where a portion of all of our online reel sales would be directed to PSF’s salmon conservation programs throughout the Pacific Northwest. If you haven’t seen the “Circle of Life” reel yet, here are some pictures of the finished piece:

“Circle of Life” mahogany and brass fishing reel handcrafted by PEETZ Outdoors and hand carved by Jason Hunt (Artist’s Proof #01)

The first public showing of this “functional art” was at the West Coast Lodge banquet in Vancouver this week, where we donated the reel to be part of the live auction (all proceeds supporting the Pacific Salmon Foundation). Well, we were thrilled when we were told the Artist Proof #1 of the “Circle of Life” reel started a pretty aggressive bidding battle that ultimately reached $3,000! Even better, the winning bidder gave his reel to the runner up in return for the promise that he would receive Artist Proof #2 at the same price! That’s $6,000 that goes directly to support the Pacific Salmon Foundation. PSF can often multiply this amount by seven times or more on a community level by unlocking government and private match funding programs. So that’s potentially $50,000 or more for salmon conservation!

It was a great outcome for PSF, for Jason Hunt and for us at PEETZ. We are now even more excited about the possibilities ahead as we strive to create a thriving company while contributing where we can to the fishing community and fishing resources that have supported our past success.

All the best,

Art Aylesworth
(Former Partner at PEETZ)

For more information visit www.peetzoutdoors.com.