About Chairlift Co.

Chairlift Co. was born on a run. After hours of wrestling with names, I laced up my shoes and set off on my usual route, about a mile from home, at the base of Baldy in Sun Valley, Idaho. I paused to catch my breath, looked up, and saw the chairlifts rising into the sky. In that moment, the name clicked: Chairlift.

The meaning runs deeper than chance. Sun Valley is home to the world's first chairlift.

Think about what a chairlift really offers: a moment to just be with yourself. For a few minutes, there's no phone signal, nothing to do, nowhere to be — just cold air on your face, the swing of the chair, your hands on the bar. You feel your body whether you meant to or not.

That's what we're doing here. We're a somatic studio, which simply means through the body, not around it and a chairlift is one of the only ordinary experiences that does exactly that, without effort. You don't climb. You're carried. The tools do the work of getting you there; you just have to let them.

A chairlift ride is also suspended, not where you got on, not yet where you'll land. That's where the real work happens. Not at the top of the mountain, but in the in-between, held and moving at the same time.

Chairlift Co. is built on that same principle: you don't have to force your way back into your body. You just have to stop climbing for a minute and let something carry you there.