Meet the Hands: Gilroys Originals

We keep saying "made by real craftsmen," and we mean it every time we say it. But a phrase like that only means something if you can point at somebody. So here's somebody: Chris Thompson.

Chris runs Gilroys Originals up in Essa, Ontario with Ashley Gilroy-Thompson. Family business, not a studio with a rotating cast of freelancers — the name on the door is the name on the work. They've been at it since 2016: oil and acrylic on canvas, giclee prints, custom commissions, the kind of graphic arts work that doesn't come off an assembly line no matter how technical the process gets. Most of their business comes from repeat customers and word of mouth, which tells you everything about the work without us having to say another word about it.

This isn't a vendor relationship. It's one of the closest ones we've built since taking this over — the kind where you're not emailing a supplier, you're talking to family.

When we needed art that actually meant something — not stock, not filler, not something that could've come from anybody — Chris and Ashley are who we went to. That's the whole reason the "craftsmen and craftswomen" line isn't just brand copy. It's them.

More of these are coming. Every hand behind Cleaver & Blade has a name and a story, and we're done letting the products speak for people who deserve to speak for themselves.