It felt like fate intervened when I found Kollage Square — an ergonomic needle-maker that employs people with disabilities in Brockville, Ontario. For half a decade I wrote content for and about sustainable and values-driven businesses in Alberta before I started After This Row. Learning about them was a return to form.
I was thrilled to visit with Ryan Billing, Transitions Facilitator at Career Services, the non-profit agency that operates Kollage Square. Career Services has helped the intellectually disabled community in Brockville since the 1970s find accessible and inclusive employment in the industrial and manufacturing sector that is the centre of the coastal city — often through subcontracting with large corporations that operate there in their packaging departments. It has recently also started lifting barriers to employment for more demographics, such as new immigrants. Career Services currently employs 225 barrier-facing individuals across its programs.
“It’s always been about our service to the community,” Ryan says. The purpose of Kollage is to fund the operations of Career Services. “We purchased Kollage because we wanted to have a product or business that we could be involved in from start to finish,” Ryan explains. “We’d always had a close relationship with the previous owners of Kollage as we already had people working there from Career Services.”
“So when they informed us in 2019 that they were thinking of selling the business, it felt like a perfect synergy between our social mission and business needs.” Career Services is the third owner of the needle business since it was created by Mark and Susan Moraca in Alabama in 2014, and they are honoured to continue its legacy. Its slogan is “Knitting Lives Together.”
“There’s a very similar level of character between the people in the knitting world and those in social services. People who care very deeply.”
Much like how Career Services makes employment more accessible, Kollage’s square knitting needles and crochet hooks are making the fibre arts more accessible. The square shape is easier on your hands than traditional round needles — staving off joint pain by providing a flat surface to rest your fingers on, and helping those with mobility or grip issues enjoy the craft again, or for the first time.
I am no stranger to knitting-induced stress injuries and have been known to go on multi-hour marathon knitting sessions without breaks. There was one time when I was knitting a shawl and I’d gone so hard on the needles that I could barely lift my arms the next day. Ryan generously sent me a pair of Kollage needles — a size 5 circular set with a firm cord, as I mentioned that smaller needles mess with my hands the most. I enjoyed knitting with these, and the square angles along with the aluminum materials made for a smooth, non-slippery experience.
As for what’s next for Kollage, Ryan says that once it’s safe to do so they’re opening a storefront in Brockville to bring part of the shopping experience offline (as they currently only supply to other retailers), while also providing new opportunities for their people to learn retail skills if manufacturing isn’t their jam.
“There’s so much more that we can do.”
Ryan shares his favourite recent success story of someone who was able to benefit from having Kollage as an option. “This gentleman was on the autism spectrum, and he loved numbers. He’d been struggling to find a job that fit his environmental needs — he needed to be somewhere where he wouldn’t be thrown from the norm or he’d be sent reeling. There weren’t any jobs in our industrial realm that met those needs,” Ryan explains.
“Then we placed him at Kollage, and now he’s our Inventory Officer. He comes in once a week and counts rolling inventory and he loves it. Not only is he helping us be more efficient with our inventory but he’s got a routine and a system he’s comfortable in.”
Ryan is grateful to have been involved with Career Services, and now with Kollage, for so many years helping people like this young man find meaningful employment. And I’m grateful to have found a Canadian-owned needle manufacturer that creates jobs for people who wouldn’t otherwise get the chance.
Wow…great article Centaine! Square needles…awesome!