Start With Why
From design decisions to what drives us to start work each day, we value the ‘why’ of things.
Say hello to the humans of Forge and Smith! The powers of our backgrounds, skills, and experiences unite to make great websites.
We don’t make hollow promises to our clients, or to each other. We’ve built a team of problem solvers who care about people as well as their work.
From design decisions to what drives us to start work each day, we value the ‘why’ of things.
Our team and our clients are people deserving of our care and respect, and we want to help.
We don’t half-ass it. We encourage ourselves and each other to become masters at our craft.
We make the world better through our collaborations and promoting inclusive, respectful ideals.
We can often be found crafting winning strategies and code in our pyjamas, from locations around Vancouver, the Lower Mainland, Vancouver Island, the Okanagan, and even the Cariboo.
A 22 year survivor of the design industry, Shawn is the Founder and Principal of Forge and Smith. He plays a variety of roles from client rep to sales person, project manager to chief bottle washer.
I love the process of craft… the learning, experimentation and honing of it. To collaborate with people and create something that other people can use and benefit from? That’s a great way to make a living.
Troy coins himself a jack-of-all-trades, particularly when it comes managing all the parts that make up a website. When he’s not rocking WordPress sites, he’s waxing his board and expanding his small business of crafting Puka shell necklaces.
Pam’s backgrounds in journalism, private investigation, and public libraries all flowed into her ultimate career in digital strategy – she loves good storytelling! She’s a master of content writing and an analytics nerd. In her “spare time” (lol) she hangs out with the many animals on her ranch and reviews Westerns.
In every job I’ve had, my favourite thing has always been translating complex stuff into words people can easily understand. Whether it’s analytics data or the mechanics of WordPress or what the heck is up with Instagram’s algorithm – I love to help!
Oscar is a versatile and experienced digital project manager, which makes sense since his favourite thing to do is watch The Flash with his sons. When he’s not helping our clients get to the finish line, he’s training and competing in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu competitions. Watch out!
Matt is our design slayer, who crafts user-friendly interfaces that command people’s attention. His ability to meld colours, typography and style allows sites to shine and brands to pop, leaving a memorable impression.
A film minor with a theatre major in college, Meg has a true love of stories and how we tell them. When she’s not crafting people’s excited thoughts into clear visions and integrating them into WordPress, she’s probably rollerskating on the seawall or walking her dog along Sunshine Coast beaches.
Born visual narrator, Andrea uses digital marketing to share the stories she believes in. She takes populating a client’s website very seriously; when she is not obsessing over the perfect pic for a website, she can be found talking with her furry son Ander the Pug, hiking, and/or enjoying a pale ale. An enthusiastic, lifelong commercial photographer, Andrea frequently drools over all the delicious food waiting for her to immortalize it with her camera.
Serena has never figured out what she wants to be when she grows up. With her background in Graphic/Web Design, QA, Sales, Digital Marketing, and Customer Service, image specialist on the Content Team at F&S was a perfect landing place for her many talents. When she isn’t looking for the perfect image, she’s also a hairstylist and nail tech, and when she’s not working, can be found playing with one of her 3 pet snakes or singing karaoke.
I get my job satisfaction from helping people, be it to look their best or to put their best foot forward online.
Sarah is what you call a chameleon in design. She takes on all forms, a natural problem-solver conquering challenges along the way, and an advocate for self-development. She’s known for going past the limit to achieve her fullest potential, with a winning attitude. Apart from being a young grasshopper as an SEO specialist, you will most likely find her curating the best Spotify playlists, a Masterchef of UberEats, training in boxing, and a Formula 1 enthusiast.
What’s not to love about the digital world? I get to evolve with it like a Pokemon and strengthen my artistry into mastery. All I can say is “put me in coach!
Sean is a developer living in beautiful Pemberton. When he gets away from the keyboard he can be found mountain biking, skiing and exploring the BC wilderness. His passion for computers is only eclipsed by his love of the outdoors.
Cameron thinks coding is fun, and his friends and family hope against hope that one day he’ll come to his senses. He has a wife and a dog, drinks a lot of coffee and loves Manilla Road.
Vanessa is a passionate web developer with a background in international trade. Vanessa has a strong sense of ethics and a driven, results-oriented personality. When she’s not debugging, she travels, watches cat videos, and dies her hair in crazy colours.
Since the turn of the century, the web has been paramount to most of us. Being part of enhancing our experiences in this constantly mutating realm, making it clear, accessible, and following new technologies, has been highly fulfilling. Besides, programming is another way of being creative. Not exactly in the visual sense, but solution wise.
Tim is a former musician turned developer based in Kitchener, Ontario. He loves to learn and enjoys troubleshooting problems more than he probably should. Tim is a lifetime Arizona Coyotes fan and passionate musician. If he’s not watching sports or going to concerts, he’s writing his own music with his bands or scouting hockey prospects for blogs and publications.
This line of work offers so much to my personal growth, the challenges and problem-solving are incredibly fun and rewarding – I feel like I’m essentially being paid to build big digital Lego sets all day, how can you beat that? I feel you can never stop growing, and being a developer satisfies that with how much I learn from not only the work itself, but my wonderful peers here at F&S.
Chloé is a very curious person, which is reflected in her professional background and her personal life. She studied literature, communications, and business before enrolling in the training that led her to become a web developer. When not working, she loves to saw, paint, dance salsa, learn a new language, or drive fast cars. The world is full of wonders! And Chloé finds it hard to resist the temptation to go out and explore.
Gabriel is from Brazil, and he has been an athlete since a young age. He was a tennis competitor until graduating in college D1 as a student athlete, while majoring in Business Administration. If you don’t see him in front of the screen coding or playing games, he is probably outdoors living the athlete lifestyle.
Amelia is a web developer based in Vancouver who loves making beautiful and user-friendly websites. When she’s not working on web projects, she can be found in the Harbour Dance Centre dancing with friends, doing workouts, playing video games and exploring the great outdoors.
I love it. I love the thrill and challenges it brings me. I love learning new technologies and making creative designs come to life.
Like what you see? We are pretty awesome. And we love to meet fellow craftspeople who care about producing great digital work.
View CareersSign up to get our latest articles, packed with website tips and more.