Our
Story.
Why we set out to build a better way to live, and what comes next.
The beginning
It began with
a question
How do humans live well — really live well — in a world changing this fast?
We (Euvie and Mike) met in Vancouver in our early 20s. We were freelancing in creative industries – Mike as a recording engineer and lighting technician on film sets, Euvie as a photographer and actress.
We were curious, restless, and painfully aware that modern life — despite convenience and comfort — was making people lonely, disconnected, stressed, and numb to each other and to nature.
So we started an online content creation service, and we left. Backpacks and one-way tickets with no plan beyond listening for what mattered.
That decision changed everything.
The journey
A decade of
living & learning
From Europe to Southeast Asia to South America, we lived deeply inside other cultures — not as tourists, but as residents. We launched the Future Thinkers Podcast, built online businesses, and connected with thinkers, artists, technologists, philosophers, and community builders from around the world.
Living inside other cultures taught us what most Canadians never get to see: what it looks like when people actually live together — with shared rituals, seasonal rhythms, and a real sense of place.
Community matters. Stability matters. Shared culture matters.
When we had children, we knew it was time to stop observing and start building.
Coming home
Returning home —
to build what we
couldn't find
We returned to British Columbia and began building something we wished existed in the world:
A place where people could live closer to nature, raise families in community, create, learn, heal, build, and grow — not just vacation.
Not a utopia. Not escapism. A living prototype for the future.
That vision became Portal.Place — and the first village took root on a 400-acre riverside property near Wells Gray Park.
Today it includes RV and tenting sites, bunk cabins, a geodesic dome, sauna and cold plunge, kids' play areas, woodworking shop, maker-space, small gardens, horse corrals, event gazebos, private lake access, and acres of forest and water.
It's early — but it's real. And growing.
The vision
Why Smart Villages —
why now
We believe the world is entering a post-job era where automation, AI, loneliness, and rising costs are pressuring people to rethink how they live.
We see a future where:
- People return seasonally to the same place, year after year
- Families grow beside friends, not alone behind walls
- Creativity, wellness, and cooperation become normal, not rare
- Nature and technology coexist — instead of competing
- Villages form a network, not isolated pockets
Portal.Place isn't just land. It's a pattern — one village leading to many.
Where we're going —
and how to be
part of it.
We're growing Wells Gray into a full-season Smart Village and preparing to expand into additional locations over time — connecting them into a single membership-based network.
This project is still being built — and we're building it with others.
If this resonates, there are three ways to engage: