It takes Craig Pearce 90 minutes to prep the wood-fired hot tub that sits on the edge of his Bowen Island property€¦ and that's the way he likes it. €œI love the ritual of it,€ says the founder of Union Wood Co., a beloved Vancouver-based furniture maker. €œGetting the wood, stacking the wood, heating the tub, stoking it up. there'san anticipation to it, and elemental feelings that are being stirred up.€ 

there'sno doubt he's a true believer in the experience; an evangelist for a slower pace and mindfulness. €œIt'll change your entire life,€ he says. It's why he started an offshoot to Union this past fall: Goodland is entirely focused on creating products for outdoor lifestyle experiences. While his other business has found success specializing in modernist handcrafted tables and furniture for residential and office spaces, Goodland is about stepping out into the wilderness€¦ and loving every minute of it.

€œI want to embrace the €˜art of pause,€™€ says Pearce. €œI want to make products that encourage that time-out to chill and focus on yourself, on your family, on your friends.€ Goodland's first offering€”that wood-fired hot tub, hand-crafted from marine-grade aluminum and Western red cedar€”delivers on that promise. Beautifully considered accessories like a brass hand shower or minimalist firewood holder add to the experience.

Whether soaking alone or sharing the tub with a loved one or tight-knit family of four, the wood recliners inside practically force you to sit back and relax, as you watch the smoke plumes curl away from the heater and drink in the oh-so-coastal smell of warm cedar. It's a product that isn€™t necessarily reinventing the wheel, but one that's honed a time-honoured tradition of rejuvenation and connection with nature into a purer form. Just like Pearce, our anticipation is building, both for a ritualistic soak of our own€¦ and to see what comes next for Goodland.

Goodland wood-fired hot tub, $7,295