Style Q & A: Kelci Hind and Colin Leach, owners of The Silk Road Spice Merchants

VIDEO: Talking Style with Kelci Hind and Colin Leach

Variety may be the spice of life, but for married spice savants Kelci Hind and Colin Leach, spice is life. As owners of the online spice and herb emporium The Silk Road Spice Merchant, Hind and Leach import herbs and spices from all over the world, and have pounded, ground and mixed their way to signature blends and a loyal foodie following.

Business success stories often come with auspicious beginnings, and this one came via a karmic frustration. Irritated at the slew of shop visits needed to obtain all the spices for creating a proper curry or an authentic Mexican dish, a quick and serendipitous ponderance gave way to a new path.

“We kept thinking, ‘Why isn’t there one place that specializes in spices, the way the tea shops around town specialize in loose-leaf teas?’” remembers Leach.

Both enamoured with the idea of a one-stop exotic flavour shop, Hind took a break from her nursing job, and together they jumped in.

“It was one of those sort of things that I thought ‘if I could quit my day job, that’s what I’d want to do,’” says Hind. “I always wanted to be a costume designer, but I don’t really have the skill or talent to do that. But this was something that we really thought we could actually do. We know a lot about this stuff, and there’s a market there. It started out as an idea and turned into something we could really pursue.”

Now the successful and ever-growing online and Calgary Farmers’ Market venture has a Ramsay shop opening this summer at 803 24 Ave. S.E. However, both Hind and Leach plan to stay grounded and away from the lure of mass-market super-grocery chains — looking forward to a lifestyle that affords a more leisurely approach to life.

“Working with spices is just really pleasing,” says Hind. “You get all the senses involved, and you get to create something with your hands. For me, it doesn’t get better than that.”

What advice would you give people who want to spice up their lives?

Colin: Spices are a great alternative to salt. People tend to season their food with salt if it’s a little on the bland side. You can get the same effect with spices without all of the added sodium, plus you get the antioxidant benefits that a lot of spices have.You need to play around, see what you like, what you don’t like. For the most part, you can’t ruin anything with spices.

Kelci: There are a lot of spices and herbs that are in almost everybody’s kitchen — basil, for example. Use that as a stepping stone, and branch out to more interesting ones once you get comfortable. Spices are so much fun to work with.

People are so much more interested in food now than they used to be. There’s been a real food revolution with all the cooking shows and celebrity chefs. Almost everyone I know watches the Food Network, whether they cook or not.

Are there any spicing faux pas we should be aware of?

Kelci: You can’t really mess them up. It’s not like trying to perfectly cook a really expensive piece of fish. You just kind of pound away at them, grind them, mix them up, see what tastes good. You don’t have to follow rules. If it tastes good to you, it works.

What’s the most exotic spice you carry?

Colin: Grains of Paradise. It’s a little tiny seed from the west coast of Africa. And it’s kind of like a mild peppercorn. It was once really, really common back during the spice trade days, once more common than pepper, and used like a table condiment.

Being relatively new to the world of business, did you seek out anyone’s advice?

Colin: A lot of people advised us to be careful, to be wary, not to grow too fast.

Kelci: A lot of people told us you need to get into supermarkets, get into restaurants, go the Avon-type route, sell at parties or get big as fast as you can. But that kind of goes against what we’re interested in. Obviously, you need to make money to keep the business going, however, we really want to stick to high ideals of quality and freshness, and really good product knowledge. If we expand, we want everyone working for us to love spices, to really know about them, want to talk about them. We want to keep it small enough that we can be hands-on.

Colin: We’re doing it not so much for the money, but for the lifestyle. Running our own business, talking to customers, making our own spice blends.

Kelci: I don’t want my job to be managing a franchise. I want my job to be selling spices.

Colin: There are businesses out there locally, like Janice Beaton Fine Cheese, that seem to have the same motto. It has a very good reputation, but doesn’t seem to want to become a national brand.

You both seem to be pretty laid back. Does that transfer over into your personal style?

Colin: The only thing I can come up with in terms of my own style is professor chic. [Kelci laughs.] I was once on the path to becoming an English professor, so I feel like I still have an element of that whole grad student thing, mixed in with a little bit of jazz and Indiana Jones.

Kelci: I don’t know if I can follow that. I didn’t come up with my own catchphrase. My style is generally relaxed, and I tend to borrow from other eras. The ’60s and ’70s appeal to me a lot. That whole effortless bohemian sort of thing. That’s definitely what I’m drawn to. I like to wear classic things, mixed in with a little bit of vintage.

Colin: I think it’s probably important to note that neither one of us takes [fashion] all that seriously.

Kelci: I’m definitely more into it than he is, but he does have his own style, for sure. I really
like fashion. I spend a lot of time reading the magazines, shopping online.

Do you have favourite shopping spots?

Kelci: I really like consignment stores. Pendulum was a big one for both of us [it closed in January]. I like boutiques where you’re hopefully going to find things that not everyone in the world will be wearing.

Do you both like to shop, or is that Kelci’s department?

Kelci: I love to shop. Colin likes to shop if he needs something. Whereas I’ll go to Holt Renfrew and just look at the shoes. I know I can’t buy them — l don’t spend a lot of money on clothes — but I sort of see really expensive things like that as art. And I like to go and look at all the pretty things.

Colin: I’m not a browser.

Kelci: Unless we’re talking watches, because Colin will spend a lot of time looking at watches. Which is really the same thing.

Colin: That would by my one weakness in that area, I would say.

Are you a watch connoisseur?

Colin: Yeah. I don’t have a lot of money to spend on them, but I know my way around. Oris and Hamilton are my favourites. They’re both affordable, high-end brands.

Kelci: But if he had $10,000...

Colin: …then I’d buy a Panerai.

Can you describe what would be your perfect outfit?

Kelci: I’m kind of the two-extremes person. I really like jeans and relaxed shirts. I’m working with spices all the time, so jeans and T’s and an apron. I like that. But I also really love dressing up.

Colin: That’s true. The fancier, the better for her.

Kelci: And I don’t have enough opportunity to do that. I always think, “Why don’t I have balls to go to? I really need people to invite me to a ball so I can go and buy that floor-length dress.”

Colin: I’m pretty much the same way. I alternate. Most of my wardrobe is conservative — jeans, cords and variety of shirts and sweaters. I put most of my effort into accessories — watches, and shoes and hats. I can go from incredibly casual one day with a hoodie and a T-shirt, to a sweater and a shirt and tie the next day, just because.

Kelci: Usually with the sleeves rolled up, sort of like —

Colin: — ready for action!

Is there anything in the closet that is “grab-in-the-case-of-fire”-worthy?

Kelci: I have a pair of Frye knee-high boots that have buttons all the way down the front that I saw at Gravity Pope that I looked at, tried them on and put back, because I couldn’t afford them. I then found them on Ebay for a third of the price, and I just love them.

Colin: My watches, probably, and my grandfather’s top hat.

Do you wear it?

Colin: Only for fun.

Is there a story behind it?

Colin: I have a tuxedo of his that goes with the hat, that doesn’t fit me. And I have one of his three-piece suits. Grey, pinstriped pants with suspenders, pearl-gray vest. He used to call it his director’s suit, though I’m not exactly sure why.

Was he in the arts?

Colin: No, he was a chartered accountant. But he was one stylish man.

Kelci: That’s the kind of stuff I love. I have this one vintage dress that I wear to go out, and it’s not costume-y, it’s just enough to look interesting.

Do you follow trends?

Colin: I don’t. I like to stick with the classics, and I try to avoid anything with a visible label. I’m always torn with going for quality over quantity, which is what I prefer to do, but then again, the way our society works now, I’m more inclined to buy five things for $100, then I would be to buy one. I’d rather wear things until they wear out, then until they go out of style.

Kelci: I follow trends. But I’m very picky about which ones I’ll adopt. I don’t wear anything that’s just not going to work for me. I don’t want to look “trendy.” Boots are in right now, and I love boots, so it’s a good time for me to go buy boots. But I’m not going around in torn up ’80s clothes — that is not me, and I’m not going to try and force it to become me. I think you can tell when people are wearing things that are trendy and not something they would choose on their own. I prefer to look genuine.

Colin: You want to look like what you’re wearing suits your personality in some way. Not just what looks good on a mannequin.

Is there something you would never wear?

Colin: An Ed Hardy shirt. I don’t think I’d be caught dead in one of those.

Kelci: A pair of big, plastic, white sunglasses, or liquid leggings as pants. Leggings are not pants. They are not flattering, Even supermodels have a hard time pulling that off. I will not be giving that a go.

Are there any style icons that you look up to for inspiration?

Kelci: I really like people who are really stylish and make it look effortless. I always liked Jane Birkin, Françoise Hardy; that sort of bohemian, easygoing look. I have cut ill-advised bangs many, many times because of those women.

Colin: I like people who don’t take clothes too seriously. Someone who I think does a good job is Roger Federer. He’s kind of a fashion guy, he goes to the shows, sits runway-side, is friends with [Vogue editor] Anna Wintour. But he’s a jock at heart, and I think he knows it. He has fun with it. He dresses up, he has his special Wimbledon outfit every year. People make fun of him, but he is clearly enjoying it, and I like that.

Is there a fashion trend you wish would come back?

Kelci: I would really like to see a return to dressing up. Admittedly, I love the fact that I can go out in jeans and not have to worry about it, and I don’t have to answer the door in full makeup — I’m glad that’s not an expectation. But I’m really nostalgic for a time I didn’t live in. I look at pictures from the ’50s and all the men are wearing hats and suits, and all the women are wearing dresses, and it seems so nice. I really do still dress up for all the things that I think you should dress up for. If I go to the theatre, I’m wearing a dress, and am going to look nice. If I am on a plane, I like to dress well.

Colin: Just because we don’t dress up for work and we don’t have to dress up anymore, it seems like it’s extra fun to do it when you do have the chance, so you have to grab the opportunities when they’re there.

How has having a little girl changed your lives?

Kelci: I’m pretty proud to say that we have not let [parenthood] influence the way we live very much. We just bring [two-and-a-half-year-old Juniper] with us. We still go to the Ship & Anchor, sit on the patio — kids are allowed until 7 p.m. — so she comes, and we just go home a little earlier. That’s the biggest difference. We just really try and do things we used to do.

Colin: Rather than change our lifestyle to fit a baby, we incorporate her into our lifestyle, the way people always did up until fairly recently. We expose her to as much as we can.

Where do you hope to be in 10 years?

Colin: The ideal vision is that we would have three or four locations of the shop open in Calgary and Vancouver, and we would be overseeing it from some coastal location. We want to keep it small enough so we can control it, yet expand enough that we can have some flexibility.

Kelci: And take many buying trips to India, Morocco and France.

Our Favourites:

Drink

Kelci: Whiskey sour
Colin: Wild Rose Brown Ale or Rusty Nail

Restaurant

Kelci: Mercato
Colin: Pulcinella

Meal

Kelci: An Indian curry
Colin: Loaded Ship Burger with fries

Music

Kelci: Blues, ’60s and ’70s soul, Indie, Classic Rock
Colin: Wide variety from Roy Orbison to Stereolab

Band

Kelci: Can’t choose
Colin: R.E.M.

Treat

Kelci: Chocolate
Colin: Häagen-Dazs

Salon

Kelci: My stylist moved away. I need someone!
Colin: The Ginger Group

Car

Kelci: ’60s Convertible Cadillac
Colin: Volkswagen Jetta

Book

Kelci: Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole, Catch 22 by Joseph Heller, The Lord of the Rings trilogy by JRR Tolkien
Colin: The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen Shop

Store:

Kelci: Recordland
Colin: Fair’s Fair Books

Spice

Kelci: Green Cardamom
Colin: Mace

VIDEO: Talking Style with Kelci Hind and Colin Leach