Carolyn Cameron thinks from the heart. She moved to Vancouver for love. She left her successful film industry career to be with her new daughter, Talulah, full time. At the same time, she and her husband, David, went extensively plastic free to ensure that the food Talulah ate touched as little plastic as possible.
From those life changes came Onyx, Camerons innovative stainless steel designs that replace every day plastic kitchen objects.
She calls Onyx the anti-tupperware company. Her first design was an ice cube tray; the Ryerson fashion grad experimented with prototypes, traveled to factories in China and gave samples to friends to try. Then she came up with a sleek ice pop mold. At first she used it to freeze Talulahs baby food, then graduated to popsicles (of both the children and adult variety). Storage containers and ice cubes were next. Friends pitched their ideas, or sparked new ones straws, kids cutlery. She is currently working on stainless steel ice packs.
Getting Onyx onto shelves in Whole Foods and Williams-Sonoma in 2008 erased any question that she was on the right track.
It made me feel bonafide. Theyre pretty serious about who they deal with.
Last summer, the New York Times featured her ice cube tray and the queen of kitchens herself, Martha Stewart, came calling. Cameron took part in an episode that aired in November.
Shes really good looking, laughs Cameron. And not what youd expect at all. She made a joke to the audience about pot! Looking at some of Camerons air-tight storage containers, we can think of a few of our own.
In possibly the coolest PR stunt ever, Grey Goose vodka had several thousand of her popsicle molds branded to ship vodka pops packed in dry ice to media outlets around the world. You cant help but stare at the office mail tray wistfully when you hear that campaigns like that still go on.
But for all these exciting milestones, what drives the Vancouver inventor to carry on in this direction all comes back to the heart.
I thought I could go back to film, but I was wrong. I miss it, but I had no idea how much Id want to be with her, she says of her now five-year-old daughter. Onyx allows her to continue that ideal.
Cameron is relaunching her original retail website, the Tickle Trunk an homage to Mr. Dressup and her own career in costumes in addition to her current wholesale page.
Tickle trunks have always had warm childhood connotations safe places for children to let their imagination run wild, overflowing with props and possibilities. This tickle trunk, though, is filled with objects meant to make the diets of children a little bit safer.
