Mineral Collection Shaving Tools

Rattlestick’s painstakingly handcrafted wares ask the user, “what if one of the most mundane parts of your day could be made extraordinary?” The Mineral Collection shaving-tool kits are one-of-a-kind treasures designed and crafted on a family acreage in the Foothills. Inspired by the mountains, proprietors Deb Rowlands and Butch MacPherson emulate the landscape by using semi-precious stones, including amethyst and black tourmaline, as well as minerals such as aragonite and blue quartz. Nearby Calgary is represented by burl wood rescued from a Ramsay-area box elder tree and stainless-steel end pieces machined by Aaron Machine Shop.

Only 25 sets (approximately) have been produced for the Mineral Collection, components of each brush and razor hilt requiring woodturning, stabilizing in a vacuum chamber, baking, curing and crushing before being cast, pressurized, polished and water sealed. Each kit comes with a story written by Rattlestick, to help make the “connection between one’s inner self and their inner wild.”

The pieces would be easier to mass-produce if Rattlestick was interested in making something quickly and with detachment. Put simply, the company is anything but interested in taking that direction. In fact, when Rowland and MacPherson’s previous company was robbed of its entire stock in 2016, the two decided that a rebirth worth having would be done their way, no compromises.

“We are not content pushing large volumes of ‘safe’ pieces,” says Rowland. “We are interested in making truly amazing and creative works of functional art, something that inspires awe and wonder when you hold it.”

The Mineral Collection accomplishes that goal. The dazzling colours, impossibly smooth finishes and golden-hour refraction of light of the pieces are likely to make you more excited to shave than you previously imagined possible.

$1,100 to $1,600 per set
rattlestick.ca, @rattlestickshaving