about AO2

Aroundsquare creates minimalist, functional tools to promote focus, personal growth, and creative expression. Our products are built to be durable, and get better with age, becoming trusted companions in your daily life. We may not be for everyone, but we're for anyone.

our story

Aroundsquare has been creating compelling, functional goods since the early 2000s. The company was incorporated in 2008, as opportunities arose for founder, Matt Hiebert, to begin licensing his designs to larger companies. By the mid-2010s, Hiebert saw an opportunity to expand Aroundsquare, eventually leaving a thriving consulting practice as a social development expert, pursue Aroundsquare fulltime. The growing company currently employs a team of eight, and is based in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.

Those who become acquainted with Aroundsquare quickly recognize that there is more to the company and its products than meets the eye. Hiebert, a PhD holder in education, has had a decades-long fascination in the idea of the "hidden curriculum." Through this lens, he saw a place for design work that would contribute positively to shaping lifestyles in the modern world. These would be beautiful, durable goods that would encourage mindful presence, active living, and a general playfulness that too often gets lost in the modern world. The objects would embody key positive values, responsibility, inclusivity, creative exploration, critical reflection, and personal growth. The materials would be premium and robust; and the designs would be timeless, refined, and minimalist. This may seem a lot to pack into a small object, but it comes with a recognition that all objects embody a broad set of values, and whatever space is not filled with intentionality will be left to the status quo, or driven by market forces.

The hidden curriculum refers to the tacit, unspoken ways in which the schooling experience shapes the development of students. This includes all of the internalized norms, standards, and judgments within a school, as well as objects within it. There is, in fact, a hidden layer to our lives--not only in school, but everywhere--that guides and shapes our behaviours through each and every day. Much of this happens through taken for granted assumptions we adopt and internalize when we are young. We breath in judgments and prohibitions, we limit our thinking and our aspirations, we supress many aspects of ourselves through pressure to fit in. The hidden curriculum also operates in the physical world, where decisions about how our physical environments are structured and filled embody their own set of values--hiding in plain sight. Aroundsquare produces physical goods, but we care very deeply about the ways of being that our products contribute too, the community surrounding them, and the individuals using them. These reflections on the "hidden curriculum" of what we do is a large part of what makes Aroundsquare so unique. 

cross-cutting themes

  • social engineering

    We believe that innovative products and community building can support positive social change. Our products are designed to support a good, balanced lifestyle, with plenty of analogue activity and a healthy dose of playfulness.

  • mind control

    We are committed to mental clarity and cognitive freedom. Most of our products connect to this theme, as tools that support the practice of mindfulness, the development of focus and perseverance, and providing opportunities for creative exploration and expression.

  • human potential

    All of our work and all of our products are, in their own way, connected to personal growth and the realization of human potential. This is not about changing our nature, but rather, about growing from within that nature--a process that begins with self-acceptanc

the bottom line

We have four. This quadruple bottom line thinking is one way of representing the values embedded in the products we create, and the way we conduct business.

  • financial

    Aroundsquare is a for-profit company, and we aim to do well by doing good. We don't cut corners, and our prices reflect this, but the result is very high quality products, excellent customer service, and solid value to our customers.

  • social

    We are socially responsible, and care about our impact on society. Since the beginning, Aroundsquare has been focused on community, and we are priviledged to have one of the most positive, constructive, and inclusive communities around.

  • environmental

    We use an environmental lens to analyze our practices and inform our decision making. We create long-lasting, high quality products, and favour natural materials and packaging wherever this is practical. We are always reviewing our practices with a review to improving our environmental impact.

  • lifestyle benefit

    We evaluate everything we do by asking what benefit it will deliver. We only create products that we believe will have a meaningful and positive impact for our customers. The evidence of our impact comes from the feedback and testamonials we've received from customers whose lives have been positively impacted by what we do. We are extremely proud of this.

AO2 news

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AO2 blog