Values

Respecting Environment 
We love our planet, it’s the only one we have and it needs our attention. We build things to last, not planned to be obsolete, in a way that makes as little impact as possible. Our work is easy to maintain and infinitely repairable.  We recycle and desludge our water. We incorporate recycled aggregates, our electricity is 100% renewable and we recycle our molds. Our concrete usage is as close to zero waste as possible, less than 0.05% of our concrete is wasted in our unique pouring process. We use ends of ours to make small objects when possible. We source locally, 99% of our raw materials are made in Canada.

Continuous Improvement 
We’ll never be perfect but there’s always room to improve and build upon process. We take daily steps towards perfection by being mindful and present in all tasks at all times.  

Radical Partnership and Equality of the Sexes
Shawna and Matt own Concrete Cat 50/50.  There are tasks where one of them feels more comfortable leading the way and that’s part of having an amazing partner to follow, to dance with. Partnership is the first fundamental building block of society, two people pulling together in the same direction, it grows from there. 

Symbols of Beauty
Life is Beautiful. It’s our intention to help people remember this. 

Made by Hand
What separates humans from animals is our ability to make tools and objects with our hands, our creative inclination for the sake of it, just expression. To help understand this messy life. This is one of the magic gifts of humans, it is no surprise that there are so many creator gods, our inclinations deified. Making things with our hands helps us tune in with ancient humans. Our lives are infinitely richer when we spend time with craft.

What to Expect

Everything that Concrete Cat puts out is made by hand.  Here’s a list of things you should expect to see in handmade concrete work.

Every piece is unique
We’re not machines, even the copies we make contain artifacts of the process that happened on the day it was brought into creation.

Shape and texture
We design and fabricate our own molds. Molds change over time, they get better as they age.  As a mold ages it allows us to produce more complicated colour and pattern work on an object. For this reason we cherish our molds and treat them with respect, we repair them, every mold is precious.  We refine our molds with subtle changes over time.  This is the first reason every object is a little bit different from its family.

Voids
Concrete has air entrained withins its matrix, this is part of its nature. Sometimes this air manifests as surface voids.  Most voids add character, a fingerprint unique to each piece. We fill surface voids that we deem might limit a piece’s intended functionality. We fill voids if we don’t agree with their character.  Sometimes we fill voids in accenting colours to accentuate their beauty.  We embrace voids.

Quantum voids
Some voids impart their spirit on a reciprocal sibling.  This is a rare occurrence, auspicious and celebrated. A quantum void cannot be forced or requested by a customer.  

Blue ghosts
We love blue. Blue is irreplaceable. Blue gets blue on everything.  We remove as much blue as possible but we are not exaggerating by saying it gets literally everywhere.  Chances are if you look hard enough you will find a faint hint of blue somewhere, 99% chance, you may need a magnifying glass but it's there. 

Process artifacts
Concrete Cat’s process to call forth the Oracle pattern is a violent ceremony of chaos.  We work blindly in trust.  The destructive nature of trying to put a harness on chaos leaves a unique mark on every single thing we make.

Environmental changes
Changes in both temperature and humidity have an affect on colouration, we work with nature.

Dye lots
We mix and catalog all our colour formulas from primary colour mineral pigments.  We strive for consistency in our work’s colouration but we can only guarantee exact matches on objects that are made within the same quarterly dye lot.

Time marches
Our concrete objects are subject to the rigors of time.  Like all material goods they will age and change as they age.

Repairability
One of the many marvels of concrete is its ability to be repaired an infinite amount of times.  If you’d like your Concrete Cat goods to be repaired, refurbished or polished please reach out to us.