A Manitoba couple is pursuing their passion and bringing joy to people worldwide through the art of puppetry.
Kara and Curtis Nordstrom are the owners of Steinbach-based North Stream Creations—a company that creates lookalike puppets and puts on puppet shows for its customers.
“We make one specific type of puppet,” Kara explained.
“We make hand puppets, but we make them as blanks, and then we decorate them for people as lookalikes. So, you can buy them as blanks or as lookalikes.”
The Nordstrom’s business began nearly a decade ago after Kara asked Curtis one simple question—if he could do any profession, what would he choose?
This prompted Curtis to quit his job of 14 years and begin to work as a cartoonist.
The puppets then came into the picture when Curtis asked Kara to make a puppet version of one of his cartoon characters.
“It turned out great, in my opinion,” Curtis said.
“So, I asked [Kara] the same question: if she could do anything in the world, what would she do?”
For Kara, her dream was to make and sell puppets.
“I wanted to spread joy around the world and want to inspire people to do what they love to do,” she said.
The company eventually took off when the couple took their puppets to a night market.
Kara recalled that customers were amazed and excited by the creations.
“We just kind of knew from there we have to just make this into a business,” she said.
“And we tried to just make pre-made puppets, like monsters and whatever, but people kept asking us for lookalikes.”
Now, North Stream Creations main clientele are people wanting lookalike puppets for themselves or to give as gifts.
The Nordstroms say the creation of these puppets involves using pictures and different fabrics and yarns to make puppets that closely resemble their customers.
“We’re very communicative during the whole process, and we make sure that we’re getting people the puppet they want,” Curtis said.
Kara said the pair loves puppetry because it brings out the child in people.
“We’ve noticed people just light up when they see them, and you want to see more of that joy in the world,” she said.
“Like, there’s a lot of hurt in the world right now, so you want to see joy come back.”
