The crew at Rangate have been members of TWIG since the early days, and Chris Chan is on the advisory board for TWIG and part of the organizing team. Over the years Rangate has contributed in many ways to the community through connections, resources, education, expertise and supplying high-quality tooling and equipment to some local companies. As the industry has evolved over the last decade, so has Rangate as they are committed to meeting the current and future needs of their customers. From their home base in East Vancouver, they operate a grouping of companies that include Rangate, Soukup, CutterShare and Alpine Workshops. Rangate lives by their Knowledge, Product, Connectslogan and principles Greg and Chris are always keen to share what they know about the industry, tooling, machinery and best practices that can evolve our industry collectively. In the last year, they completed renovations on their HQ as a means to have space for clients, friends and the local community to gather.

We are heading back to the Rangate offices in October for another edition of Seed Night, where we hear from people about opportunities, services, projects and processes that inspire them to think about a new ideas for the future. (Seed Night…Planting a seed….get it?). The Rangate team provided support to Daly Co. on the design and construction of a large wood component for a sculpture installed at the National Art Centre this summer by TWIG organizer Patrick Christie. The project was extremely complex in terms of its design, engineering and CNC machining, and representatives from Rangate worked with Patrick on the production plan and detailing of the wood components to be CNC cut at Hone Workshop. This project relied heavily on the accuracy and quality of CNC machining and made use of the 5-axis capabilities offered by Deagan at Hone. The project was made using a combination of Eastern Pine and Sitka Spruce - East and West and manufactured into 10 separate sections made in Vancouver and shipped for installation in Ottawa. The 3D modelling of the tree form was done by James Spouler of Mainland Woodworks, with additional hand shaping and carving done after to bring out the tree character. The team at CBR Products helped in coming up with a finishing process and colouring that would give the tree a driftwood look.

Join us at Seed Night for a social gathering and a presentation from Patrick, where he will talk through the project and highlight the advantages of using digital fabrication techniques, in combination with craft and artistry. By using a combination of approaches, processes, practices and especially our creativity Patrick believes we can create much more inspiring and aesthetic work from the available second and third-growth species in the province of BC. Work of this scale and value should not rely on high-grade or Old Growth wood, but should be made from what is accessible and has a limited impact on the environment. It’s a matter of thinking differently, working from the available resources locally, and understanding more intimately the species we have to work with and what they afford us. This project had been underway for 2.5 years and without the people met through TWIG, a project like this would not be possible - a demonstration of the TWIG network in action.