At 27, Mischa Couvrette bought a battered 40-foot steel cutter sailboat, a French-built vessel dating from 1976, and set out on a journey that would test both his skills and his spirit. 'I wanted to feel the world move beneath me,' he recalls. But sailing wasn't just about the open water, it was a masterclass in problem-solving, resilience, and freedom. Over two years, he restored the boat and navigated from Nova Scotia to Central America and back, repairing engines, patching leaks, facing storms, and learning celestial navigation along the way. Each day brought new challenges, and each solution demanded ingenuity, patience, and adaptability.
For Mischa, the adventure was more than a voyage, it was an initiation into self-reliance. It was also the foundation of the mindset that would later guide him as a designer and entrepreneur: curiosity, persistence, and a desire to create something entirely his own.
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Mischa credits much of his mindset to growing up in an entrepreneurial household. 'I had lemonade stands at five and a lawn care company at 15,' he recalls with a laugh.' I never really had a "real" job. I was always creating something.' He remembers long summer days improvising business strategies and experimenting with products. 'Those first ventures taught me more about persistence than school ever did,' he says. 'They were small failures, but each one pushed me to think creatively, to plan, and to take responsibility for the results.' These formative ventures instilled curiosity and a desire to forge his own path.
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Learning freedom at sea
For Mischa, freedom was never simply a romantic notion, it was a guiding principle. Nights navigating open waters and days fixing or modifying the boat honed his patience, resilience, and ability to embrace uncertainty. 'You learn humility at sea,' he reflects. 'A storm doesn't care about your plans. You can only adapt, correct mistakes, and keep moving forward. It's a feeling of accomplishment unlike anything else, an entirely earned freedom. We stumbled, made mistakes, corrected them, and learned so much along the way,' he says. These early experiences with autonomy and responsibility would later shape the way he approached design and entrepreneurship.
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Discovering craft
Upon returning home from his sailing adventure, Mischa faced a new challenge: channeling his restless energy into meaningful creation. 'I started building things in my garage,' he states. 'I loved the speed at which you could produce a product versus a project. Architecture can drag on forever, but here I could design, build, and see results.' He experimented with furniture and small-scale product design, often losing track of time as he refined techniques. 'I remember staying up late trying to perfect a joinery method or sourcing unusual materials,' he says. 'It was messy, imperfect, but deeply satisfying.' Over two years, he experimented with furniture and product design, treating each prototype as both a creative outlet and a lesson in making. 'Those years were like my industrial design school,' he laughs, 'learning new materials, failing, and learning again. Every mistake was part of the process, and every success felt hard-earned.'
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The spark of entrepreneurship
The spark for entrepreneurship came as Mischa realised he wanted to create something entirely his own. 'I got frustrated building bespoke pieces for others every week,' he admits. Within six months, he had designed, prototyped, and built a small collection, culminating in a launch at the International Contemporary Furniture Fair in New York. 'I drove it down in my station wagon,' he says, recalling the chaos of transporting it across borders. 'That was the catalyst. That was when I knew I could make something of my own.' Even as he pursued his ambitions, Mischa quickly learned the delicate balance between creativity and business. 'Being true to who you are, designing what I want to design and building the business I want to build, that's been my guiding principle,' he says.
Looking back, he sees each challenge as a lesson in patience, adaptability, and perseverance. From restoring a sailboat to launching Hollis+Morris, Mischa's journey has been defined by curiosity, freedom, and the desire to create. 'If people experience our work and feel that sense of wonder or possibility, then we've done our job,' he says.
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More information:
Hollis + Morris
501 Alliance Ave Suite 4, York
ON M6N 2J1
[email protected]
www.hollisandmorris.com
+1 647 970 9716
Canada
