Sara Darius has worked as a first responder for 10 years, and she desperately needed an outlet to distract from the stress of the job. She took an interest in concrete decor after seeing concrete plant pots on Pinterest, and her hobby quickly turned into a side business.
“I love creating something that’s balanced between ruggedness and delicate,” says Darius. “Creating with concrete and making beautiful pieces helps me relax and it makes me happy.”
Darius experimented with concrete for the first time by using Coke bottles as moulds and pouring concrete in them. She then removed the bottles after the concrete dried and had bottle-shaped pieces of decor. She spent her free time experimenting with new moulds and now she makes plant pots, furniture, jewellery, wall decor, kitchen items and other home decor.
She started Grey Shed in 2019 and stocks her products in HomeSense stores across Canada and local shops like Majesty and Friends, Little Plant Shop and Hideout Distro.
“I literally do happy dances every time I have an order,” says Darius.
Each item is made to order. It takes between two days to two weeks for Darius to create an order depending on the size of the item and furniture takes longer to produce. Darius makes everything herself along with a small team who help with grinding the concrete, packing and delivering. Darius is also open to custom orders.
“I like it when people give me creative freedom to mix colors and textures,” says Darius.
Grey Shed’s best selling items are the bust and butt planters, skull candles and heart planters.
Shop the bestselling products and more at greyshed.ca
This content was produced to support the Edmonton Made community. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Edify staff.
