A line of high-end maple products will add a distinctly Canadian flavour to the swag bags handed out to film stars at Sunday’s glitzy Academy Awards.
Rouge Maple is one of two Montreal-based companies providing contents for the prized gift bag, given to all the nominees in the five big film categories.
Co-founder Julie DeBlois said opportunity knocked shortly after the company’s 2012 company launch, when the line of maple-based goodies caught the attention of the Los Angeles company that puts together the swag bags.
When the company first approached them, DeBlois thought it was a joke.
“My business partner actually thought it was one of his friends laughing at us, or teasing us,” DeBlois said in an interview with CTV News.
“It’s a lifetime opportunity for us, so of course we said yes.”
Given the immense attention the Oscars attracts, companies jump at the chance to include their items in the gift bag, often worth tens of thousands of dollars.
The swag typically includes watches, travel vouchers and personal training sessions.
Celebrities will receive Rouge Maple’s maple syrup, vinaigrettes, jelly, maple butter, spices and lastly, an apron.
“So hopefully someone like Bradley Cooper or … Leonard Di Caprio will wear it,” DeBlois said.
But the sugary delights aren’t the only products to be featured at Hollywood’s biggest party of the year.
Celeb nominees will get Montrealer Randi Vetvik’s eye-catching cellphone cases, which are handmade in Spain with leather from a French tannery.
An accountant by trade, Vetvik said she ventured into high-end tablet, phone and laptop accessories in order to fill a niche.
“I used to travel a lot, I had to lug around a laptop everywhere I went,” she said. “I just couldn’t find anything that suited my needs that was at the same time stylish and functional.”
Vetvik said she is excited about the boost the Academy Awards will give her business.
“Obviously, it’s going to give a tremendous impact, I think, for the visibility and I think the potential is huge.”
With a report by CTV Montreal’s Nadine Ishak
