How can we start describing Malina and Steven? They are a surprising blend of adventurers, artists, entrepreneurs and landowners. In the arts, just as in real life, they believe in interdisciplinary work.
At the beginning of this innovative enterprise, two artists who graduated from the prestigious Valand School of Fine Arts (University of Gothenburg) in Sweden and needed a stable base to work, after moving from one art residency to another throughout the world.
An interdisciplinary way of life
In 2012, after exposing and creating in Sweden, Ireland, Germany, the UK, Finland, Iceland, Malina Cailean and Steven Ladouceur decided to come back to Montreal – Steven’s birthplace and Malina’s city of adoption – to look for a storing place which would also serve as a working studio.
“We considered our buying options and decided to go for an entire building – two floors and four condos.”
The building, on Notre-Dame in the new popular area of Saint-Henri, was in need of major repairs, in fact it had to be entirely reconstructed starting with the wood support pole. When normal people would have considered the help of carpenters, electricians, architects, or bricklayers, Malina and Steven decided to do it themselves. These two autodidacts went through hundreds of books, learnt the composition of walls, fire resistance of components, and completed the Autocad Training in Montreal for Interior Design.
“We saw this reconstruction challenge like artists – we know we can do it all, we just need the proper tools”.
Multidimensional entrepreneurship: a do-it-yourself pulse
To finance this massive project, Steven & Malina received a Major Residential Renovation grant from the city of Montreal providing them with 60% of the total cost of renovation. To receive the grant, they had to work with an official General Contractor so Steven went through the whole training and got the official certificate to become his own general contractor.
However, they still had to find the other 40% to renovate the building and both worked in diverse environments to earn money: Malina became a designer for a stationery shop while Steven worked as a projectionist or telemarketer.
Last year, as they were working on their endless renovation task, Malina looked on the other side of the road and noticed that a slot was for rent. Then again, following their surge for adventure and entrepreneurship, they decided to rent it, renovate it and launch a coffee shop – Café Tome – with the perspective of selling coffee to pay the renovations. But wait, if they have to sell coffee… why wouldn’t they make it themselves?
More challenge, more innovation, more originality. After working on an innovative concept of cold brewed coffee, Malina was awarded a grant to follow the Self-Employment program at SAJE Montreal, a management consulting organization whose mission is to stimulate, promote and support the expansion of small and medium-size businesses in Quebec. Soleil Mouvant will be a cold brewed coffee produced, bottled and distributed in different places, one of which will be her own coffee place.
“Cold brew has many advantages: we don’t use any preservatives, we do not need any costly equipment and it can be consumed within 7 days of preparation”
Today, Malina & Steven have many projects underway: they have to finish the renovation of the building by end of March while Malina resumes cost studies and seeking suppliers for Soleil Mouvant. But nothing is impossible for these promising entrepreneurs and it is with a sweet (Steven lives up to his name, Ladouceur) and untroubled perspective that they consider their future.
If you want to know more about the project, you can always contact Malina on her website and follow our Instagram feed as we post pictures of the building’s renovation.
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Innovation Montreal 