Community Highlight: Bronte Freeman
Our community is an integral part of the success of our company. HAVN’s vision and vitality are brought to life with the support from our community members helping us work towards achieving this dream. It is our pleasure to highlight some of our members, to showcase their incredible talents, hard work, and creativity in our weekly segments.
Bronte Freeman and her Freeman Fabrication’s team are the incredible welding crew responsible for all twelve of HAVN’s enormous circular and asymmetrical windows. The handcrafted round windows range in diameter from 36 to 132 inches, providing a contrast to the sharp and square saunas. Aside from these unique windows, she also designed and built beautiful rooftop planters that help transform our wellness space into an urban oasis.
It's Bronte's warm, welcoming, and relaxed nature that makes her the person you want to chat with after a long day at work. She drives a classic 1973 Ford F-250, which is just one more indication of how cool she is.
Along with owning and running an amazing welding company that employs and mentors women and non-binary people, Bronte and her team at Freeman Fabrication bring exceptional craftsmanship to innovative designs. You can find her quality metal furnishings in other residential and commercial spaces.
Q: What did you work on for the HAVN project?
We built all of their circular and asymmetrical windows on the boat. We also constructed all of the rooftop planters that are lining the perimeter of the barge. Part of their design was to make it feel like you weren't in the downtown core. They make it feel majestic in ways that there's greenery everywhere and they transport you out of the city and into the wellness aspect of the boat. We built around 150 feet of planters so that was a neat project.
Q: Did you face any challenges with the construction of the planters or windows?
The windows were extremely challenging. We typically do a lot of residential and commercial work, like custom and fine metal work, and the windows are more of like an industrial part of our trade. When you actually see them in person, they stand 10 feet tall, 8 feet wide. We were playing Tetris with them in our workshop space. Nick was really specific with what he wanted to encompass with the design so we worked together to make sure that it met all of his standards aesthetically and structurally. It was a really neat part of the project and definitely not something we typically do and I’m really satisfied with how they turned out.
Q: Did you know Nick before the project or how did you get involved with it?
I have another business with my partner and my friend that is The Cabinet Mobile Bar. We popped up at an event that one of Nick’s friends was hosting and we just got chatting while I was making him cocktails. He mentioned that he had this project and he thought it was really neat that I was a welder so he wanted to throw me the drawings to see if I was interested. After that we've become really good friends. Nick is super inspiring. He's so passionate and he’s a wonderful person to be around. He’s super inspiring as an entrepreneur and a business owner. He’s a total dreamer but also has all of the passion and drive to actually do it. He’s also really inspiring as a business owner myself because it was a lot of work to get HAVN even to council, so the fact that it's approved and he has so much support from our community is really inspiring.
Q: Did you have to learn any new skills for the project or were there tasks you had never done before and had to figure out how to do?
Definitely just building the windows because the mass and size of them is pretty intimidating. We had to rent equipment and outsource to other local makers to be able to roll all of those shapes. It was incredibly time consuming and physically exhausting because we don't have large machinery to move things around so we're just using what we have within the shop and our women power. I think the really neat part about HAVN and the window design is it's not something that many people would even expect someone to build. It's entirely out of the box. Nick really wanted to be hands-on with this project, so whenever he could, he'd pop by and give us a hand, which is super cool because you don't see many CEOs wanting to be in the shop. I think when people see the boat and the windows in real life they're going to think wow, because you can see the effort put into it and there's definitely a big shock factor to them.
Q: What is your background and how/when did you get into this line of work and start your business?
I always knew I wanted to get into the trades but I wasn't sure exactly what area I was interested in. My grandpa worked in the mines and mills in Ontario so there are some family ties to the industry. I feel like I really made the decision to pursue welding when I was home helping out my uncle one day and he asked me if I wanted to weld and I was like sure I'll give it a go. Instantly, from that moment on, I became obsessed with the trade and I wanted to learn more about it. I think most people think this trade means you're working in really industrial settings, but we get to do really fine metal work where we're building custom pieces for people's homes and commercial spaces. So once I realized how vast and versatile the work is, I always had this idea that I wanted to start my own business. I worked in the field for a couple of years and then I bought a welder to start building things for myself. I feel like there's been a new shift in the last few years where people are wanting to integrate fine metal work into their homes so when I recognized that there was an interest I started doing markets and working in the evenings and then once I felt I had a client base, I went full time. We have now just celebrated five years in business.
Q: What do you see for the future of your business?
Freeman Fabrication has been in business for five years and this is the first year I've actually been able to offer mentorship and hire staff. I feel like we've hit a bit of a ceiling at this location though. In the future, I’m excited to scale up to have more people on the floor and to have a bigger space to tap into. I would love to offer workshops for people within the space, weekend workshops or evening workshops for women and non binary people. Specifically for people that don't usually feel comfortable in this industrial setting. Offering workshops to be able to learn how to make something as basic as a bracket or a coffee table. I think it’s really important to extend mentorship outside of people that are actually in the trades, to people that are just curious about learning more about this work and don't have opportunities to try it out.
Q: Do you have any other passions or side projects that you are working on?
I am a part of the Cabinet Mobile Bar. We are a 1963 gravely mobile trailer that we converted into a bar and we pop up at weddings, private events, and corporate events. It took us about a year and a half to build it out. We started the project in 2020 but we just started operating last year and we are now booked up for the summer. We keep the business local as there’s enough business here this year, especially after COVID a lot of people are wanting to do outdoor events, so I think it’s the perfect time for us. I think our team would love to be able to have multiple units but right now we’re just getting to know the industry. It started out as a weekend side hustle, but it's definitely expanding into a bigger business that needs a bit more attention.
Q: What are some things you love about working and living on the West Coast?
I kind of spoke to it earlier but there's been a shift to people wanting to spend money on fine metal work in their homes and there’s more opportunities to have clients who let you use your creative freedom to build metal work for their homes. There's a good market here and we can work twelve months of the year. I feel like there's a really great community of entrepreneurs here, especially like millennial entrepreneurs that are running small businesses and who are super passionate about what they do. The standard of work here on the island is also really high and there's a great opportunity for small businesses to thrive.
The women in trades program at Camosun College is pretty amazing as well and there’s a lot of opportunities on the island for women in trades to recieve the education they need. There is also an incredible community of makers, contractors, and entrepreneurs in the city and everyone is really supportive. There’s two other welders within 100 meters of my shop and we should all be in competition but instead we give each other jobs, share materials when needed, and support each other.
Q: What are some fun facts about you or interests you have?
Honestly, running a small business. All I really like to do is work, I love my work. I love to spend a lot of time at the shop and since we have more staff now it’s been really nice to put attention into laying out the shop. I have two Bernese Mountain dogs at home, so I love walking my dogs. I love the climate here, I love that we can hike and walk the dogs all year round. I also like riding motorcycles and checking out all the local restaurants and bars around town.
Follow us on Instagram if you want to see more photos of Bronte, the construction progress, and other HAVN content. Stay tuned for more HAVN community highlight features to come! We hope you enjoyed :)