Fresh Emblem started as a hobby and has steadily become a cutting-edge wood design company that is starting to smell like success (all puns intended).
Owner Joel Miyazawa founded Fresh Emblem six years ago after being introduced to laser cutting. His first project involved creating a custom sports logo for a buddy that he turned into a car ornament. He soon realized the potential of adding a scent to this carved wooden car art, literally making it one fresh (looking and smelling) emblem.
The local business is a success story formed out of North Forge Fabrication Lab, an incubator accelerator in The Exchange District. At the lab, Miyazawa applies sustainable and environmentally friendly practices to manufacture re-scentable wooden car art using Baltic birch wood. By applying scented oil every three to five weeks, the car art can be reused for up to four months.
The success story of Fresh Emblem is the perfect example of innovative and authentic business practice that parallels Winnipeg’s new place brand, “Winnipeg: Made from what’s real”.
To amplify the new Winnipeg story, we partnered with a series of local businesses like Fresh Emblem to introduce the city’s new place brand. They reflect the narrative of Winnipeg, its people and the innovation that contributes to our growing economy.
“People would be shocked at what’s actually made here. The talent here is crazy, it is just a matter of keeping it here and incentivizing it, building a better brand around it will definitely help,” says Miyazawa, owner of Fresh Emblem.
Miyazawa designed a piece of car art in partnership with Winnipeg’s new place brand logo. The art itself uses a scent with notes of French vanilla–warm and cozy–to remind you of Winnipeg every time you head to your next destination.
There is an abundance of talent that exists in Winnipeg, it just becomes a matter of recognizing that talent and celebrating the unique collection of innovative thinkers and makers that fill our city.
Fresh Emblem x Winnipeg: Made from what’s real scented car art is available for purchase at winnipegshop.ca.
