WESTERN LIVING AB, September2017

WESTERN LIVING // SEPT 2017

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a n n i v e r s a ry

PM 40068973

Designers of the Year The Very Best in Ones to Watch: Architecture, Furniture, Rising Stars You’ll Interiors and More Want to Know

Photo: Michel Gibert, image for advertising purposes only. Special thanks: Stone Sculpture museum of the Kubach-Wilmsen Foundation. *Conditions apply, contact store for details.

Kenzo Takada dresses the Mah Jong

Free spirited and audacious designer Kenzo Takada, known as "the most Parisian of Japanese fashion designers," has designed an exceptional collection of fabrics and ceramics for Roche Bobois. To dress the Mah Jong sofa, he drew inspiration from traditional kimonos of the NĹ? theater. He reinterpreted the motifs and colors, creating delicate and sophisticated harmonies that symbolize the three times of the day: Asa (morning), Hiru (noon), and Yoru (evening).

Mah Jong. Modular sofa system, design Hans Hopfer.

Upholstered in NĹ? Gaku fabrics, Yoru version, designed by Kenzo Takada for Roche Bobois.

Manufactured in Europe.

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CALGARY - 225 10 th Avenue SW - Tel. 403-532-4401 VANCOUVER - 716 West Hastings - Tel. 604-633-5005

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Experience the before and after

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DESIGNERS OF THE YEAR

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An abandoned factory inspires Geoffrey Lilge’s latest design project.

18 // Shopping

Mix-and-match modular sofas, whimsical area rugs and more cool new products.

23 // The Winners

The entries came pouring in from all across Western Canada for our 10th anniversary of our design competition. We’re delighted to present the cream of the crop.

19 // Openings

A Scandinavian-meets-Japanese online boutique and other shopping hot spots.

55 // The Finalists

The scope of the talent on this year’s finalist list demonstrates the strength of Western Canada’s flourishing design scene. These are the ones to watch.

travel 56 // My Neighbourhood

DSquared2’s Dan and Dean Caten share their version of Mykonos, Greece.

55 // The Judges

This year’s all-star panel of judges includes local heroes, international icons and tastemakers for some of the biggest design brands in the world.

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design 17 // One to Watch

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plus 58 // Trade Secrets

Designer Gillian Segal reveals her trick for revamping a dated feature fireplace.

Cover: Robert Lemermeyer. This page: building: John Sinal; Geoffrey Lilge: Cooper and O’Hara; Mykonos, Greece: f8grapher.

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WESTERN LIVING GENERAL MANAGER | PUBLISHER Dee Dhaliwal EDITORIAL EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Anicka Quin ART DIRECTOR Paul Roelofs EXECUTIVE EDITOR Stacey McLachlan TRAVEL EDITOR Neal McLennan ASSOCIATE ART DIRECTOR Jenny Reed ASSOCIATE EDITOR Julia Dilworth ASSISTANT ART DIRECTOR Natalie Gagnon STAFF WRITER Kaitlyn Gendemann CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Amanda Ross, Nicole Sjöstedt, Barb Sligl, Jim Sutherland, Julie Van Rosendaal CITY EDITORS Karen Ashbee (Calgary), Jyllian Park (Edmonton), Rosemary Poole (Victoria) EDITORIAL INTERNS Christine Beyleveldt, Lexy Dien, Alec Regino, Aryn Strickland ART INTERN Lydhia-Marie Bolduc-Gosselin

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WesternLiving.ca

Daily stories that connect you to the best of Western Canadian designs. Fresh, local topics that keep you in the know. Plus the Western Living Recipe Finder, with hundreds of our best recipes that you’ve come to expect from Western Canada’s lifestyle source—as gorgeous on your phone as it is on desktop.

But that’s just the beginning.

See more at WesternLiving.ca.

The West lives here. Daily.

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WL // EDITOR’S NOTE

ANICK A QUIN, EDITORIAL DIRECTOR ANICK A.QUIN@WESTERNLIVING.CA 1 2 S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 7 / westernliving.ca

Q& A This month we asked our contributors, what piece of great design can you not live without?

T s O’Ha & B C ‫פ‬r P

‫ה‬rs “D rs t‫ ה‬ar” 23 For O’Hara, it’s a Hydro Flask water bottle. “It stays cold for hours, even if it’s sitting in the sun.” For Cooper, it’s a messenger bag. “I’m known to live out of mine. From cameras and a laptop to lunch and anything I need to take on the day.”

T s i­ e P

‫ה‬r “D rs t‫ ה‬ar” 23 A soother! I have a five-month-old daughter and she’s a testament to the desperate need of that genius design. We gave one to my two older children, and I also needed one as a kid—so it’s been a lifesaver for myself and my parents.

Behind the Scenes Stylist Jennifer Stamper gets the grill ready for our Chicken with 40 Cloves of Garlic recipe—not for the faint of heart—on-site at Purity Farms. Find the recipe, and the story behind the garlic producers, at westernliving.ca.

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Anicka Quin portrait: Evaan Kheraj; styling by Luisa Rino, makeup by Melanie Neufeld; outfit courtesy Holt Renfrew, holtrenfrew.com.

DESIGNING COMMUNITY

Over the years, whenever I’ve been asked what work I’d do if I weren’t editing a magazine, my answer has always been immediate: I’d open a knitting store. Don’t get me wrong—I know how lucky I am to love both what I do and the people I work with. But, still, I’ve always had this little fantasy of creating a (licensed!) space where locals could hang out, grab a glass of wine and work on a project together.

I’ve come to realize that my alternate world is less about the knitting (though I can whip up a mean toque if you ask me to) and more about creating a great community space for people to find connection through an activity they cherish together. And that’s what I love most about our Designers of the Year Awards—in particular, the event that caps off the creation of the issue you’re reading right now.

Ten years ago, we held our first Designers of the Year in a show suite for the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Vancouver (the following recession meant that particular project never came to pass). We’d predicted about 150 guests, but it was close to 300 that ended up cramming into a fairly tight space. The sound system wasn’t quite up to par, but the mood was electric—it was the start of one of the buzziest design awards programs in Canada.

Since then, that awards night has grown to 700 guests each year, and the vibe is just as thrilling. Last year, no less than three of our winners teared up during their acceptance speech (as did the crowd listening). We’ve seen an incredible roster of judges join our annual panel—Karim Rashid, Barbara Barry, Jonathan Adler, to name a few—and a just-asincredible lineup of winners, including the nine highlighted in this issue.

Yes, it’s a competition—there’s a real rush to being named Designer of the Year, after all—but on awards night, the community of designers we have here is one that’s incredibly supportive of each other’s work. There’s great cheer for every winner up on stage and lots of laughter as everyone catches up over a glass of wine. And that’s a community I feel privileged to be a part of—no knitting required.

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2017 IS THE YEAR TO GO GREEN! “Greenery” is the pantone designer colour of 2017.

Green is back in every shade from spring to emerald. It’s easy to introduce just by bringing some outdoors in — try jade plants, fig trees, succulents or anything that thrives in your area. Another easy step is bright new pillows, or a statement rug. If you’re feeling adventurous, paint a place that will be a smile-inducing surprise, like the inside of a closet, a door, or your powder room.

DIY vs. DIFM? There’s a definite shift happening in home renovation and design trends, a shift that has many of us choosing experts to do-it-for-me. Do-it-yourself is a great choice for so many fun projects, like a family gallery wall or creating an indoor garden spot. But there are always those mind-boggling tasks that require design experience, measuring skills, installation talent and more. More and more Canadians are realizing the cost of hiring a professional compares very well to the real costs of first-time mistakes, time spent doing and redoing the job, and our own personal level of satisfaction with the final result. Summertime motto: put the pros on the jobs you keep postponing because they are just too much! (Save the fun stuff for yourself.)

Warmer and richer? Yes, please.

Whatever your style, from sleek and modern to cozy and traditional, 2017 is a welcome move to a softer, richer look and feel. Think 3D fabrics. Velvet pillows. Choose organic bamboo or wood tables. And wallpaper is back, but we’re over the florals. Try marble or other sleek, contemporary finishes. Put on a little lux.

Peace out. It’s amazing what getting a little help can do to reduce your stress level.

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DESIGN

S H O P P I N G // T R E N D S // P E O P L E // S PA C E S // O P E N I N G S // I N T E L

ONE TO WATCH

Consummate Creator Geoffrey Lilge, Div. 12, Edmonton

Cooper and O’Hara

When Geoff rey Lilge surveyed the remains of a shuttered steel chair factory ravaged by a fire in 2014, he saw an opportunity. “The metal shop was basically still intact,” Lilge says. “It was full of specialty tooling made to manufacture steel tube seating—the medium that essentially launched modern furniture.” From its ashes, the already well-established Edmonton designer of OnOurTable fame formed his next project: Div. 12. The new collection is rooted in an appreciation for modernist design and the beauty of natural materials. “I wanted to create a diverse collection that works in both residential and commercial settings,” says Lilge. “Good design should work anywhere.”—Alec Regino

On the Road Catch Div. 12 on display as part of Studio North during this year’s Interior Design Show Vancouver, September 28 through October 1.

westernliving.ca / S E P T E M B E R

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WLDESIGN // SHOPPING

A a’s Pi

Mah Jong Sofa

Shadow Box

From $1,450, available at Roche Bobois, roche-bobois.com Already a playfully colourful (and ridiculously comfortable) design, the iconic Mah Jong sofa from Roche Bobois gets a creative update this fall from Japanese designer Kenzo Takada. The founder of Kenzo reinterpreted the look of vintage kimonos for his Nogaku collection of fabrics, with colour schemes that coordinate with different times of the day: Asa (morning), Hiru (midday) and Yoru (evening).

It’s the last one that seems the perfect fit for the Mah Jong, I think—paired with bowls of popcorn and a media screen for a great movie night in.

Jordan Tomnuk’s new Veil collection (from $506) sees hand-blown glass shades obscured by shadow-throwing, perforated steel screens.

Tomnuk, Edmonton, tomnuk.com

Dream Weaver

The Hayon x Nani rugs (from $1,775) depict whimsical sketches by “it” designer Jaime Hayon—catch him speaking at IDS Vancouver on September 29—for Nanimarquina’s 30-year anniversary.

Le Belle Arti, Calgary and Edmonton, lebellearti.com

For more of Anicka’s picks, visit westernliving.ca

NOTEWORTHY New in stores across the West

Against the Grain

Hot Seat

Green House

From the storied Kew Royal Botanic Gardens, Get Plants ($52) makes the case for integrating greens into your interiors—plus advice on how to keep them thriving. Indigo, across the West, chapters.indigo.ca

1 8 S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 7 / westernliving.ca

Room B’s new AC3 chair (from $400) is a study in versatility: components can be ordered in myriad finishes, materials and colours. Decisions, decisions.

Room B, Calgary, roomb.ca

Ikea’s new Östernäs leather handles ($13/ two-pack of tabs; $15/ two-pack of handles) are treated to withstand daily use in bathrooms and kitchens. Ikea, across the West, ikea.ca

OPENINGS Hot new rooms we love

By alEc rEgino

The Western Living e-newsletter brings you inspired home and entertaining ideas three times a week, including: Edmonton Poppy Barley Flagship Store The popular Edmonton-based online shoe company (which has been doing pop-ups across the country in recent years) is finally opening a flagship store in Southgate Centre. The new 1,000-square-foot space will house the entire Poppy Barley line—from footwear to purses to personal leather accessories. 200–10822 82 Ave. NW, poppybarley.com—with files from Jyllian Park calgary Granary Road The foothills of Calgary serve as the backdrop for Granary Road, an enormous compound that aims to entertain the whole family with its active learning park, day camps, bistro, bakery (and bar)—but we’re most looking forward to the 40 eclectic vendors in the year-round public market, which will include Chocolate Lab, Urban Butcher and Dipsology. 226034 112th St. W, MD Foothills, granaryroad.com

SquamiSh The Fjord Store Andy Meakin’s online Fjord Store (named after Howe Sound) is the new kid on the block, but its curated selection of modern-Scandinavian-meets-Japanese-minimalism home wares has already captured our hearts. Many of the Nordic and Japanese brands in their catalogue have never been sold on Canadian soil (from sleek Skagerak dining tables to one-off Reiko Kaneko ceramic vases). Bonus: the website is organized so you can shop by price point. thefjordstore.com

• Exclusive home tours • Design advice from the pros • Wine picks • Fabulous events • Must-try dishes from our Recipe Finder

2/3 Non Bleed

PLUS entertaining tips, fantastic contests, getaway guides, cooking tips, and everything else you need to know to live life well in the West.

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DESIGNERS OF THE YEAR 2017

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Architects who celebrate simplicity.

The industrial designer whose work takes a natural spin. The furniture maker who embraces tradition.

Meet our 2017 Designers of the Year: the thoughtful, talented, innovative creatives and makers who are transforming the Western Canadian design scene right now.

Check out videos of our winners at westernliving.ca 2 3 M O N T H 2 0 1 7 / westernliving.ca

Gutter Credit

a n n i v er sa ry

SEE SOURCES

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architectural design

Pure and Simple

a n n i v e r s a ry d o t y 2017

Javier Campos designs stunning, stripped-down spaces with modernist heart.

B y s ta c e y M c L a c h L a n // P o r t r a i t B y c a r Lo r i c c i

Gutter Credit

Here and There Javier Campos, pictured opposite in his East Van studio, is this year's Designer of the Year for Architectural Design. Our judges loved his regionally minded modernist projects, like this moody Wallace House.

See SourceS

westernliving.ca / S e p t e m b e r

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“Our work is really dumb,” insists Javier Campos. He is sitting in his studio in East Vancouver, surrounded by tiny, intricate architectural models, national design awards and magazine covers featuring his work, so it’s a little difficult to really take him seriously on this one.

Another factor hurting his argument: his portfolio of projects looks anything but dumb. From off-the-grid residences in Baja California Sur, Mexico—where sleek white forms have been crafted into modernist desert shelters—to his asymmetrical urban laneway homes in the Pacific Northwest, Campos has honed his guiding principles (sustainability, context) to create stunning modernist spaces.

But the principal of Vancouver design firm Campos Studio—and this year’s Designer of the Year for Architectural Design—is not trying to be modest, necessarily. Rather, he’s emphasizing the ultimate pursuit: simplicity. “Light, wind, volume, form, all these things: the tool palette isn’t very complicated,” he says. “Good architecture is simple and dumb . . . it’s just hard to do.”

His humility didn’t fool our judges. “Despite Campos’s self-proclaimed ‘passive approach,’ I find the work bold with a lot to say, both in its approach to site and in its development of form,” says DOTY judge and architect Michael Shugarman. “Yet I also find the work resolves itself elegantly in plan, section and material.”

This thoughtful consideration of space runs in the family. As a kid, Campos loved spending time at the home of his great uncle, a Chilean architect who cut a Corbusier-like figure. “I used to go over and sharpen his pencils and look at his stuff,” says Campos. “He would explain to me all about his house, how the sun came in in the winter and not the summer, how you can control the wind.” It was a pivotal time and a pivotal space, one that would eventually lead him to a career of his own in design—albeit with a few detours to study science and earn an art history degree along the way.

2 6 S e p t e m b e r 2 0 1 7 / westernliving.ca

Down Mexico Way Campos has crafted four different homes in the remote Mexican community of Los Zacatitos. Each design is a reflection of the climate, defined by the elements and a relationship to shade and water.

He started taking on work while he was still at UBC, and his early designs—like a critically acclaimed hair salon on Vancouver’s Robson Street—tended to buck convention. “Someone once said to me, ‘You didn’t know what you were doing, did you? If you did, you wouldn’t have tried any of this,’” says Campos. “Basically, if you don’t know anything, you can make anything up.”

That just-wing-it attitude was appealing enough to attract a commission in 2000 to design a property in Mexico—Campos’s first free-standing residential project. So he spent six weeks living in Baja Sur California, experiencing the landscape and the environment firsthand before starting the design process.

It was his first foray into critical regionalism: modernism that bows to its surroundings. But it certainly wasn’t his last. To Campos, modernism isn’t just straight lines and glass and something repeatable, but instead something clean, stripped down and responsive to its surroundings. So a home in Mexico gets a perforated wall to keep bedrooms cool, while a Vancouver residence is stained charcoal grey to stand out in sharp contrast in Canada’s weak winter light.

Another key component throughout his work is a commitment to passive sustainable design. Passive ventilation methods and shade canopies are regularly created through structure; solar panels, underground water tanks and grey-water recycling for irrigation are incorporated into many projects.

Though each piece from his portfolio (whether from his own design firm today or from previous stints with Design Collective, Acton Ostry or Campos Leckie Studio) shares some modernist DNA, they’re all achieved from a ground-up design philosophy that starts with function.

“We never work from an idea to development. We work inside out,” says Campos. “That means it’s ugly for a long time before it gets to look like something good.” He pauses, smiling. “Good and dumb.”

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Past and Present Ben Klumper and Dustin Couzens of MoDA (far right) were commissioned to convert a large house into a mixed-use commercial structure in Canmore, Alberta (centre) and the Village project (left), a mix of townhomes, lofts and studios in Calgary.

arthur erickson memorial award

Harmony in Practice Calgary’s MoDA designs spaces that challenge the idea of architectural perfection in lieu of great storytelling and true livability.

B y n e a l m c l e n n a n // P o r t r a i t B y c o o P e r a n d o’ h a r a

2 8 s e p t e m b e r 2 0 1 7 / westernliving.ca

You can learn a lot about a firm through their renderings. Freed from the strictures of budget, clients and engineers, they allow an architect to capital-D Dream Big, and dazzle with their imagination and creative power. Scan most architectural firms’ websites and you’ll see image after image of literal castles in the sky, untethered by the grind and monotony of daily life.

Not so Calgary’s Modern Office of Design and Architecture (MoDA), the winner of this year’s Arthur Erickson Memorial Award for an emerging architect. On the MoDA website, you’ll find snow falling, neighbour facades that are less than perfectly scrubbed, and even lawns that look like they could use some mowing. Oh, everything still looks beautiful, but our judges revelled in the fact that this was a beauty grounded in the experience of the everyday, a practical exploration of modern living. “If anything, I think we’re more interested in telling stories with our designs,” says founding partner Dustin Couzens, “than in creating some version of perfection.”

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From left: Turbulentarch, Robert Lemermeyer

a n n i v e r s a ry d o t y 2017

Couzens met co-founder Ben Klumper when both were master’s students at the University of Calgary’s architecture department. After graduation, both went on to work for different firms, but it was, oddly, music that brought them back into each other’s artistic spheres. Couzens, a guitarist and vocalist, began to jam with drummer Klumper—and while there was no danger of any Grammys, the experience did convince the pair that they possessed the temperament to work together on a creative pursuit. In 2013, the two founded MoDA. Their ambitions were different than many of their peers’. While many new firms target the more manageable single-family dwelling as a reasonable scale to start, MoDA was convinced that both their talents and passions lay in reimagining how Calgary approached traditional multifamily dwellings. But city developers, always with a mind to the bottom line, weren’t chomping at the bit to give a young firm a shot at overhauling the paradigm. “Basically, we started out by cold-calling developers and asking them to sit down with us and hear about our approach,” recalls

Klumper. They were able to persuade a few pioneers that they could deliver projects that were out of the norm, which would be good for sales while still being very budget friendly—good for developers’ profits.

It’s how projects like Village, a soon-to-be-finished 78-unit complex in Calgary’s Bankview neighbourhood, came to be. The design reimagines the idea of communal living by embracing the village atmosphere created by the developer’s required density. Variegated roof lines in the melange of townhouses, studios and lofts that make up the development create the appearance of an English town re-imagined for the 21st century. Already the design has been showered with awards.

Not surprisingly, the firm’s days of cold-calling seem well in the past, as developers approach them as the conduit to designs that inspire (and inspire to purchase). In between, the two squeeze in time to work with the U of C and lecture with Calgary’s popular and influential D.talks series. It’s all about rethinking the Calgary design ethos. “We’ve long been a traditional city, but that’s quickly changing,” says Klumper. westernliving.ca / s e p t e m b e r

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INTERIORS

22 Calibre

Designer Denise Ashmore brings both a relaxed and refined coastal elegance to a body of work spanning two decades.

B y a n i c k a q u i n // P o r t r a i t B y c a r lo r i c c i

Finding Balance Designer Denise Ashmore in her own home (opposite), which was designed to feel like a treehouse perched over Douglas Park. In the Whistler home seen on this page, she shifted from a classic cabin vernacular to a more modern space with vintage accents, like the rug.

3 0 s e p t e m b e r 2 0 1 7 / westernliving.ca

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When designer Denise Ashmore decided it was time to shift her career from the world of commercial design into residential, she didn’t even consider starting slow—it was legendary firm Ledingham Design or bust.

After a year’s stint in Australia post-design school, she’d spent seven years designing public spaces, exhibits, residential sales centres and stores in Vancouver, but she was reluctant to get into residential design until she’d had the life experience to reflect back to her clients.

“I felt I had to learn how to live in a house of my own,” she explains.

“The experience you get as a person, as you age and work through your life, as you have kids, it just gives you a different sensibility and sensitivity about design, especially for the people you’re designing for.”

And when she was ready, she was determined to prove to principal Robert Ledingham that he needed her on his team. “I really respected him as a leader in design, and I just knew that’s where I wanted to work. I tried a couple of times to get in the door,” she recalls. “I already had that architecturally minded training, but I had to beg him to give me a job, because I really wasn’t a residential designer—I was showing all these snippets of my commercial portfolio that seemed residential.”

The late, great Bob Ledingham did see that residential spark: her years of multidisciplinary design in both Vancouver and Australia had shaped a coastal-influenced aesthetic that was a good fit for the firm, and the pair worked together for the better part of a decade. “Bob taught me that, architecturally, you need to get the bones of a house correct,” says Ashmore, who, with the support of her mentor, launched her own firm, Project 22 Design, in 2012. “He always taught us you don’t really need to decorate if you’ve designed the house properly— that’s something you can add to make something more comfortable or to personalize it, but a house works well when it’s well designed.”

It’s a sentiment that DOTY judge and designer Douglas Cridland saw reflected in our Interior Designer of the Year’s current work. “I loved 3 2 s e p t e m b e r 2 0 1 7 / westernliving.ca

her ability to take the architecture of a space and not just embellish it, but layer onto it,” said Cridland.

Since creating Project 22, Ashmore has designed more than 20 residences, which range from a 360-square-foot laneway studio to a 6,000-square-foot home, all with that relaxed-yet-refined coastal aesthetic that still permeates her work.

One of Ashmore’s largest projects is also her most personal: her own family home. (It’s also the naming origin of her firm—the house sits on lot 22 of West 22nd in Vancouver.) It’s also the location of her office, in a laneway house in the rear, providing the perfect on-site lab for clients to see how materials work in real life. “It’s great to have this home as a model, to show clients this is what concrete floors look like, this is what a reveal is and this is how marble ages in your kitchen,” Ashmore explains.

“I chose all of those things very specifically to use as an education.”

And Ashmore holds client care as one of the central tenets of her business—she tries to take away the surprise that can sometimes come from poorly communicated design processes. “I think that the design process can be overwhelming and scary,” she explains. “We’ve developed a process for walking clients through the project. We do it in baby steps.” A questionnaire offers more obvious questions—Do you work from home?

How often do you entertain?—to more specific, but just as important ones: Do you need space for a Christmas tree? Are you right- or lefthanded? (The latter would affect how a single-lever faucet would be placed in the bathroom.) The process leaves clients feeling as if they truly know what the house will look like before they even walk in the door.

It’s that trusting relationship with her clients that seems to have created such resonating work. “There are no shortcuts to establishing a high-quality professional design practice,” said judge and designer Robert Bailey, “and Project 22’s work shows a depth of knowledge and ability, gained over time through thoughtful project engagement.”

Cridland agrees: “Her clients must love her. She has a great sense of who she is and who the client is.”

Whistler home, this page and previous: Ema Peter

Local Talent In her Whistler project, Ashmore brought in local artisans, including Matthew McCormick for the lighting in the powder room (right).

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Mountain Modern Designer Stephanie Brown (left) brings a sophisticated take to a retreat in Canmore, Alberta (centre and right).

Accents of black and bronze, and wide-plank flooring against a soothing grey-and-taupe palette create a “fresh rustic” look that reads stylish, elegant and calming all at once.

robert ledingham memorial award

Confident Restraint

Designer Stephanie Brown strikes the perfect balance between timeless and contemporary.

B y j u l i a d i lw o r t h // P o r t r a i t B y c a r lo r i c c i

3 4 s e p t e m b e r 2 0 1 7 / westernliving.ca

Stephanie Brown was a Prairie kid living in a rural Alberta—“We didn’t even have one stoplight, just four-way stops everywhere,” she says—when her family started building a new home on an acreage.

Like most small towns, Vauxhall (population 1,200) wasn’t flush with architects and building professionals, so Brown’s parents sourced rudimentary (and pre-internet) books of house plans in 2D sketches, with layouts covered in measurements and mysterious scribbles.

Those books should have been dense, dull and incomprehensible to 12-year-old Stephanie, but she was utterly captivated.

“I could pick them apart, critique things, imagine what the layouts would look like,” recalls Brown. “Suddenly, I was really paying attention to floor plans of other people’s houses and imagining renovating my friends’ homes and my family’s, thinking about what I would do to make them better. It became an obsession.”

After design school, then more than a decade of honing her skills at Calgary firm McIntyre Bills, then moving to Vancouver to start her own, Stephanie Brown Design, in 2012—which was “scary as hell,” she says— Brown still feels that pull to reimagine people’s homes for the better.

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Canmore home: Phil Crozier

a n n i v e r s a ry d o t y 2017

“Home isn’t just a roof over your head, but also a space that, of any place you go during the day, should really mean the most to you,” says Brown.

“It’s exciting finding all the different ways that you can still make it special. And elevating it to be something beyond your average house.”

Traditional, modern, minimalist, pied-à-terre—the designer, and winner of Western Living’s 2017 Robert Ledingham Memorial Award for an emerging interior designer, has successfully created a wide scope of design styles thanks to her ability to speak to the heart of what homeowners are looking for. It’s this understanding of design principles and thoughtful, restrained execution that made Brown stand out to our judging panel. “I am impressed with her attention to classic detailing,” says DOTY judge and designer Douglas Cridland, “and her ability to spin it into a hip, contemporary feel.” And it’s from this place of expertise that she can so deftly bend the rules.

Traditional that doesn’t look dated, modern minimalism that’s warm enough for a young family, or, as is the case with her project in Canmore, Alberta, a vacation home that couldn’t be further from “rustic mountain lodge” (nary a log wall, mounted stag or bear pelt in

sight). The now-renovated home started from a place of pine flooring, slate tile and red feature walls. “We knew that’s exactly what the homeowner didn’t want,” says Brown. It took a bit of finessing to get the contractors on board. “They were like, ‘What do you mean you don’t want wood beams and you want the doors to be grey?’ It was really a new concept to them that an interior can still read and feel rustic but be elegant at the same time,” explains Brown. “We could achieve the mountain context in more subtle ways.”

With ongoing projects in B.C., Alberta and Nova Scotia (and vacation homes in Maui), Brown is thrilled at how far her firm has come. “I literally started out of my dining room,” she says, noting that she took the big leap while in the midst of her own home renovation. “Somewhere deep down, I had always hoped to have my own design firm.

I think that’s where I found this determination,” she says. “We’ve launched our new website after five years, the little bits of press we have, and now this award—I just feel like we have this energy and momentum happening right now. Of course, this is when I’ve just had a baby, too,” she laughs. “But I kind of thrive on chaos.” westernliving.ca / s e p t e m b e r

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furniture

Less Is More

Designer Kate Duncan takes a simple, no-nonsense approach to furniture making.

B y K a i t ly n G e n d e m a n n // P o r t r a i t B y c a r lo r i c c i

Modern Classic Furniture designer Kate Duncan (top) in her Parker Street studio; her Shelley chairs (below) feature a sloped and curved back cradle to increase comfort.

Trying to find Kate Duncan at Parker Street Studios is like trying to find a two-by-four in a haystack. You know exactly where she is. And it’s not just because of her boisterous laugh or the happy golden retriever that trails behind her—she’s one of only two women in the wood shop.

It’s a dynamic our Furniture Designer of the Year is familiar with—Duncan spent two years studying gender equality in trades programs while completing her master’s degree at BCIT. “It’s traditionally so male-dominated,” she explains. “To get access to the information, to actually learn how to be a woodworker, you have to subscribe to this hyper-masculine culture.” And though she’ll be the first to admit that she’s lost some of her femininity along the way (“I have short hair, I swear a lot, I slouch”), there are some things she just won’t sacrifice.

“Some people don’t get it,” says Duncan of her tendency to stick with simple manufacturing and joinery techniques. “They don’t understand that I’m not trying to be trendy. I’m trying to be traditional.” At first glance, Duncan’s furniture designs—the angular Shelley dining chair westernliving.ca / s e p t e m b e r

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DOTY ALUM FURNITURE 2013

Brent Comber Brent Comber Originals, Vancouver

with its leather-upholstered seat, the Alexandra bed with its secret compartments and drawers, the mid-century modern-inspired Nicole table with its three-legged base— are understated, but upon closer inspection, “there is clearly a sensitivity to material, form and detailing,” says judge Thom Fougere, creative director of EQ3.

Part of this aesthetic comes from wanting to build a piece of furniture that will last (“It’s not disposable, it’s not a waste of time”), but it also comes from taking a letthe-sticks-fall-where-they-may approach to woodworking. Duncan gleefully tells the tale of when she and her apprentice were given first dibs on a new load of black walnut: “We had this idea of making a dining table, and then there was this one super-wide stick and we thought, ‘That’s a bench,’ and now, all of a sudden, we’re making a bench,” she laughs. Or there’s the time she took her circle jig to a maple slab that was originally intended for a headboard—it’s now one of her two live-edge Pare tables. “It’s nice to let the sticks show up and let them do what they’re going to do,” she says.

Careful Construction Duncan’s Debra collection (top and below) is crafted from North American hardwoods using traditional detailing, including dovetails in the drawers and classic solid brass knife hinges, which require precision installation.

one to watch

STUDIO BROVHN

“It’s always easy to look at something when it’s very minimal and think that it’s really simple,” says Miguel Brovhn, founder and principal of Vancouver furniture design company Studio Brovhn.

But putting his bachelor’s degree in architecture to use, Brovhn applies the latest in technological advances to design his collection of minimalist metal and wood feature pieces. The Glacier coffee table (right), inspired by Icelandic glaciers, is made with powdercoated aluminum and lasercut with a clean pattern of parallel lines. While many designers start off with a sketch pad and pencil, Brovhn starts by looking at how a piece can be fabricated and works backward from there. “We are very intrigued with materials and textures,” he says. “Even just psychologically. When you look at a material—does it feel warm or cold?”—Aryn Strickland 3 8 s e p t e m b e r 2 0 1 7 / westernliving.ca

Has anything changed about the work you do since you’ve won? Everything is still driven by story. I’m involved in larger projects with well-known brands who want to bring their own story to life, but I’m also working through my own personal projects, such as my first upholstered chair.

How do you think design has changed in Western Canada over the last 10 years? It’s more collaborative and accessible. On the other hand, smaller studio space is harder to find and less affordable closer to most cities now. The quality and variety of work, however, has improved.

What’s inspiring you now?

I’ve been drawing on the colours and life found within the intertidal zone around Ucluelet for some upcoming pieces.

What’s your proudest design moment? The first time I could prove good design doesn’t hinge on technology. Perseverance and understanding the process made me feel good about my future as a designer.

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industrial

Natural Connection

Designer Annie Tung creates pieces that evoke an organic reprieve in a hyper-connected world.

B y j e s s i c a B a r r e t t // P o r t r a i t B y c a r lo r i c c i

Organic Design Industrial designer Annie Tung (top) brings organic influence to her designs. Her Peak vase (right) expresses the fragile relationship between nature and industry—much like a flower blooming from a crack in the pavement, nature overcomes human obstacles.

If there’s a category of design that gets to surprise and delight its end user, it’s not often the function-first world of industrial design. But designer Annie Tung’s body of work takes more than a few thrilling turns through disciplines ranging from taxidermy to jewellery to art installations (she was also a finalist for Maker of the Year), and her craft-inspired approach to functional objects ultimately won her this year’s Industrial Designer of the Year title. Despite the range in her portfolio, it’s the 33-year-old’s affinity for non-traditional materials, from concrete to acrylic, that becomes the connective tissue uniting her work, injecting an element of surprise into everyday objects. “The aim is to make something that looks different or unexpected,” she says.

“But it’s a familiar typography.”

From her Eclipse lamp—a marble sculpture that doubles as a lighting fixture—to the mesh enclosure around her cocoon-like Long Time chair, Tung’s work evokes an organic reprieve in a hyper-connected world and a poetic point of view that resonated with our judges. “I can feel the designer is aware of the importance of analog flow of time within the modern digitized world,” said judge Masaaki Kanai of Muji.

The driving force behind Tung’s creativity is a dual curiosity surrounding materials and process. “I try to work westernliving.ca / s e p t e m b e r

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DOTY ALUM INTERIORS 2008

David Nicolay Evoke International, Vancouver

with natural materials whenever possible,” she says. “I’m always asking myself, how can I explore that at the same time with an idea that fits?” That line of inquiry, first piqued while studying jewellery design and metals at the Ontario College of Art and Design, has served her well. Since graduating in 2007, Tung has amassed an impressive list of accolades and exhibitions, including a prestigious residency with Toronto’s Harbourfront Centre.

In 2013, Tung was compelled to expand her repertoire toward product design, and left her hometown of Toronto to pursue a master’s degree in design for luxury and craftsmanship at École cantonale d’art in Lausanne, Switzerland.

“I thought the approach there was more interdisciplinary and more fluid than it is in North America,” she says.

Love brought Tung to Vancouver in 2015, and she wasted no time in leaving her mark on this city’s design community. She snagged the emerging design award at the 2015 LAMP exhibition with her Eclipse fixture, which led to a working partnership with local lighting company Andlight. And we can look forward to more surprises in Tung’s repertoire as she discovers the influences that await her on the West Coast. “Being from Toronto, I’m not much of a camper, so I’m like, okay, take me to the big trees, take me to the desert.”

Singular Focus Tung’s Love spoons feature an erotic poem in Braille on the back, meant to be “read” by one’s tongue (top left). Her Long Time chair creates a cocoon-like environment (top right); Rise vases (bottom right) put the focus on single stems.

Who has been influential to the Western Canadian design scene? Battersby Howat. They really set a new tone for West Coast modernism in residential design.

Who are you most excited about right now? I am very excited to see the work of architects such as Herzog and de Meuron, Bjarke Ingels, Kengo Kuma and Ole Scheeren come to life in Vancouver.

Has anything changed about the work you do since you’ve won? Evoke has grown to a studio of 17 designers. We take a very collaborative approach, where the best idea wins.

What’s inspiring you now?

We have had the great fortune to work with Studio MK27 on a project in Whistler. Their work is a highly rigorous modernism that continues to inspire our own work.

What’s your proudest design moment? It’s still just the everyday experience of working with all the designers in our studio on an ever-growing list of creative client projects.

one to watch

4 2 s e p t e m b e r 2 0 1 7 / westernliving.ca

Left: T. Shabani

KO JÚBILO

It was a visit to a friend’s graduation presentation at Emily Carr University that first opened Ko Júbilo’s eyes to the power of industrial design. “His presentation showed me the potential of how design could affect the world we live in,” Júbilo says. After getting his own degree and working for studios in Vancouver and London, Júbilo started experimenting with projects in his garage before opening his atelier in 2015. Though he takes on a variety of works, his philosophy is consistent: “My approach is driven by innovation and the interplay between concept and materiality. It’s a more minimal aesthetic that relies on the efficient use of form and material.” His Lightway project melds together doors and light fixtures, highlighting passageways through the interaction of shadow and material; his Beam shelf rethinks shelving as a light source (right). “I’m always fascinated with taking on new types of projects,” says Júbilo, “and finding the intersections between different techniques and disciplines.”—Alec Regino

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landscape

Humble Perfection

Straub Thurmayr brings creativity and a little wildness to its architectural landscape designs.

B y j a c q u i e m o o r e // P o r t r a i t B y t h o m a s f r i c k e

Growing Change Dietmar Straub and Anna Thurmayr (top) create experiential landscape designs, such as this modern renovation of a Munich child-care centre.

A quip on Dietmar Straub’s favourite T-shirt sums up his and his business partner/spouse Anna Thurmayr’s approach to their work: “Because good enough isn’t enough.” It’s unlikely that either landscape architect in this duo needs the reminder to strive for perfection. Ironically, one of the guiding principles of Straub Thurmayr Landscape Architects is to “find beauty and spontaneity in imperfection.” Turns out that takes brilliant planning and ingenuity.

Straub and Thurmayr came to Winnipeg from the northern slopes of the Bavarian Alps nearly a decade ago in search of balance. They both teach at the University of Manitoba, in part so that they can spend less time thinking about the commercial viability of their landscapearchitecture business and more time adroitly solving problems with beauty and innovation.

As they had done in Germany, the couple has built their business here by approaching every project with high levels of curiosity, pragmatism and capacity for creative risk.

Their clients are pre-emptively asked about their comfort with risk and experimentation in relation to the design process. “To us, the question of risk is: ‘Are you okay with us identifying and testing out new materials and ideas within your project?’” says Straub. westernliving.ca / s e p t e m b e r

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DOTY ALUM FASHION AND JEWELLERY 2010

Danielle Wilmore Pyrrha, Vancouver

Greening School The pair’s rehabilitation of this 40-year-old school ground in Schoellnach, Germany, included the introduction of tree gardens (left), meadows (below) and “fun...ctional” fields for soccer and rainwater filtration.

For those who have spent time in a Straub Thurmayr garden, the answer to that question is an exuberant yes.

The couple has won more than two dozen national and international landscape-architecture awards—and with every project, says Thurmayr, they aim to create an appealingly “humble” garden that “does not make a spectacle of itself but gives everyday spaces their own energy by injecting a sensual feel.” It’s an aesthetic that has often resulted in spaces that DOTY judge Misty March calls “expressive… lively… ephemeral… wild.” (Straub, as humorous as he is eloquent, put it another way: “Bloody cheap but sexy!”)

Straub Thurmayr’s Folly Forest transformed a section of one of Winnipeg’s most vulnerable neighbourhoods by reclaiming bricks and cracked asphalt as imaginative design elements intended to draw visitors in to think, play and relax. Locals are delighted—no matter that the pair are characteristically critical of their work. “It’s a constant cultivation of doubt,” says Straub. “Without that, you give up seeking something that might be new or different.” Wisdom that could, with a little editing, fit onto a T-shirt.

Who are you most excited about right now? In less than a year we’ll be breaking ground on our new studio for Pyrrha: a 9,000-square-foot space that will be dedicated solely to our design and manufacturing process.

We’re thrilled to be working with our good friend Omer Arbel of Bocci Design on the project.

Has anything changed about the work you do since you’ve won? Since we won, we’ve become a B Corporation, and recently we upped the ante and became certified carbon neutral. For many years we have been casting with reclaimed metals, but we wanted to do more and be more accountable to our customers and to ourselves.

What are you excited to work on in the future? We are designing our new space with the intention of producing product in new categories, like personal accessories and small housewares. Whatever we design, we want to always be able to produce it in Vancouver, and in-house.

CLAIRE KENNEDY DESIGN

“Plants were my first love in landscape design,” says designer Claire Kennedy. After volunteering and studying in the University of British Columbia’s Botanical Garden, she quit her account executive job and now, 25 years later, Kennedy’s passion for nature serves as the pivotal philosophy behind her firm, Claire Kennedy Design.

Though she’s based in Vancouver, her work sees her collaborating with architects on plenty of island projects too, such as a 10-acre property on Bowen Island (right). There, a driveway winds through native woodlands to the gorgeous contemporary home by Frits de Vries Architects. Kennedy placed varieties of ornamental grasses and perennials with aromatic leaves and flowers to thwart the local environment’s challenges, such as drought and deer. The interdependence of the local surroundings to the house is important to Kennedy. “The strength of a landscape is in its connection to the home.”—Alec Regino 4 6 s e p t e m b e r 2 0 1 7 / westernliving.ca

Claire Kennedy Design: Luke Potter

one to watch

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maker

Pattern Recognition

Designer Vikki Wiercinski takes inspiration from the Western Canadian landscape for her vibrant, elegant work.

Tea towels: Aspen Zettel

B y j a c q u i e m o o r e // P o r t r a i t B y c o o P e r a n d o’ h a r a

Design for Living Vikki Wiercinski of Mezzaluna Studio (top) designed her Abstract Garden tea towels (above, left and right) in the dead of winter as an ode to spring.

Vikki Wiercinski had nearly finished her degree at the University of Alberta—and was still unclear on the focus of her craft-practice—when one of her classmates handed her a book on wallpaper. “She said, ‘I thought of you because I know how much you like patterns.’” Shortly after that, another classmate gave her a swatch of Marimekko fabric; she, too, had noticed pattern in Wiercinski’s work.

“I clearly remember having every inch of my mind blown,” says the designer. “I thought, ‘You can do this?

This is a design thing?’” Indeed, her penchant for sketching repeated abstract shapes in vibrant colours—largely inspired by the Western Canadian landscape—has been the foundation of Wiercinski’s elegant work. Her patterns are reproduced on everything from functional ceramics to concrete cladding and a widely anticipated calendar.

As it turns out, however, Wiercinski’s first product has remained her most enduringly successful. After a few years doing corporate design work while sketching shapes and colours in her free time, Wiercinski was moved to have one of her abstract compositions silkscreened to westernliving.ca / s e p t e m b e r

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DOTY ALUM ROBERT LEDINGHAM MEMORIAL AWARD 2015

Kevin Mitchell Mitchell Design House, Calgary

several white tea towels to sell at a local craft fair. They were an instant hit—and, years after she established her Mezzaluna Studio, still are. Her Abstract Garden series, which was also featured in Uppercase magazine (issue No. 32) is, as the artist puts it, “an ode to fresh warm air, new blooming shapes, and the smell of earth and grass.”

Certainly, the patterns are pretty enough to frame, but they’re perhaps more deserving of the startling doses of joy they bring to otherwise mundane daily tasks.

Edmonton-based designer and DOTY judge Geoffrey Lilge was struck by Wiercinski’s “keen awareness of her own personal style” and by the polish of her work, in which “every detail has been considered.” This fall, Wiercinski closes the loop on her trajectory from disbelieving student to bona fide textile artist as she serves as an artist-in-residence in Finland, Marimekko design house’s original home.

After that, she’ll oversee a pattern from her Neon Prairie series go up on a mural at Jasper Place Leisure Centre. Once that’s in place, Wiercinski half-jokingly suggests, she might like to retire to an Australian beach. We sincerely hope not.

Pattern Play Wiercinski’s Midnight Dispatch pattern, cast in concrete outside a fire station west of Edmonton (top, left and right), reflects the lightness and mood of the winter Prairie sky. She designed one-off decals for her Plate series (above).

Has your work changed since you’ve won? I won just as I was starting my own company, so everything changed! My style has remained the same, aside from the fact that I’ve embraced white and love it. It’s such a stark contrast from the body of work I did previously. I still gravitate to that Prairie palette and muddy tones, but I’ve definitely started introducing a much lighter hand.

Can you share any memories from your awards night? I was so nervous. I certainly didn’t anticipate meeting so many new people and felt quite overwhelmed! The one regret I had at the Vancouver awards night was not having a speech prepared, so I forced myself to say something in Calgary. I made a joke about how my friend told me to imagine everyone in their underwear and commenting on how there were so many questionable choices that evening.

The rest probably sounded like the Charlie Brown schoolteacher.

R ACHEL SAUNDERS

When Rachel Saunders quit her day job at a clothing company in L.A. almost three years ago, she was moving home to follow her dream to work with her hands. Today, this Victoria-based ceramicist is living it, getting her hands dirty crafting earth into stunning vessels. “I think one of the most engaging and beautiful parts about handmade pottery is the material itself,” she says. “It’s so neat to see all the different colours and imperfections that can come out of an organic matter that literally comes from the earth.” To highlight the raw material, she leaves most of her vessels unglazed or brushes only the inside with a translucent gloss. Her designs pair the rich clay of the Pacific Northwest with forms well suited to ikebana, the art of Japanese floral arrangement that stresses balance—evident in the sleekly designed Torus vase (right). “I was making these strange shapes that wouldn’t really fit the standard bouquet,” she confesses.—Christine Beyleveldt 5 0 s e p t e m b e r 2 0 1 7 / westernliving.ca

Bottom-right: Guy Ferguson; Others: Aspen Zettel

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a n n i v e r s a ry d o t y 2017

fashion

Heads Up

Designer Claudia Schulz takes the vintage art of millinery into the chic and modern present.

B y s ta c e y m c l a c h l a n // P o r t r a i t B y c a r lo r i c c i

Trevor Brady

Top Shop Designer Claudia Schulz (top) designs hats that are more than just a tool for keeping the sun off one’s head.

Her latest collection, Folklore (right) takes a contemporary twist on hats worn by women in South American cultures.

When Claudia Schulz first approached a local milliner 15 years ago and asked to be tutored in the art of hat-making, she wasn’t bringing a lot of experience to the table. “I come from a social work background. I remember her asking, ‘How are your sewing skills?’ and me just responding, ‘Well . . . I’m crafty!’” Schulz laughs.

Schulz had grown up in Berlin, collecting hats from vintage stores and on her travels; newly immigrated to Canada and without a work visa, she had time on her hands to try designing for herself. Despite Schulz’s lack of skills, that milliner took her under her wing, and from there, she continued honing her craft solo (“I’m a bit of an autodidact,” she says), studying up on new techniques and experimenting as she went. Her signature style began to evolve: classic shapes were deconstructed; sensible materials took on a sculptural edge.

A mention in Daily Candy in 2008 catapulted her brand into the public eye, and coverage in Wallpaper, Glamour Italy and other design and fashion publications followed.

Since then, she’s become a global name (her designs sell westernliving.ca / s e p t e m b e r

2 0 1 7 5 3

DOTY ALUM INTERIORS 2009

Mitchell Freedland

Mitchell Freedland Design, Vancouver

She’s Tops Schulz’s single-cut shapes provide flexibility and movement, based on minimalistic design principles that showcase simple lines—such as those seen in her recent Folklore (left) and 2016 Urban Warrior collections (below).

everywhere from New York to South Korea). But Vancouver remains her home base—hand-carved hat blocks imported from England are scattered throughout the live/work Gastown studio she shares with her photographer husband and their teenage son.

Judge Barbara Atkin calls Schulz’s work “a modern, global view of the fine craft of millinery” and praises her for “understanding old-world craft and reinventing it for modern times.” And that spirit of invention continues, even now. “Playing with the materials and coming up with a good design and something different and new . . . that really keeps me going,” says Schulz. It’s why she picked up straw for the first time last year and tried her hand at some woven designs. The Isa fedora, one of her experiments and part of her summer collection, features whimsical, messy knots of coloured embroidery thread.

Somehow it looks both totally familiar and unlike anything you’ve ever seen. “Trends have a little influence,” says Schulz, “but for all these years, I’m just kind of doing my own thing.”

Who has been influential to the Western Canadian design scene?

Arthur Erickson for architecture and Robert Ledingham for interiors.

Can you share any memories from your awards night?

Anxious anticipation.

What’s inspiring you now?

Nature, always, and the accomplished work of Atelier AM. What are you excited to work on in the future?

The possibility of retail environment branding.

What’s your proudest design moment?

When a client is moved to tears of joy when entering their new home.

What do you think the future of our local design scene will be? What do you think it needs?

It just keeps getting better with time. As a small centre, access to great suppliers is always a challenge.

The ones we do have are to be commended for their effort to bring their vision of the world to us.

one to watch

5 4 s e p t e m b e r 2 0 1 7 / westernliving.ca

Hats: Trevor Brady

BECKI CHAN

Cast in sterling silver, each piece of jewellery in Becki Chan’s Grey line is inspired by her sculptural work, featuring minimalistic geometric designs, with clean lines that are combined and repeated. “I have always wanted to turn my sculptures and conceptual architectural models into jewellery,” says Chan. Born in Hong Kong but now residing in Vancouver, Chan is a jack of all trades when it comes to her career: her experience spans sculpture, spatial design, brand interiors and public installation . . . and now, over the past two years, jewellery design. From her studio in Vancouver, she focuses on using silver and gemstones to create pieces that are artful yet wearable, like the Rift ring collection (right), which features a number of bold linear designs, each with slight variations in the metal as they are all handcrafted. “I want quality,” says Chan. “I want something that is beautiful and that is going to last.”—Lexy Dien

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judgeS

FINALISTS

a n n i v e r s a ry d o t y 2017

ARCHITECTURE

INTERIORS

Michael Green is a Vancouver-based architect known for his firm, MGA, as well as for his research, leadership and advocacy in promoting the use of wood in the built environment. His 2013 TED talk “Why We Should Build Wooden Skyscrapers” has been viewed more than a million times.

Robert Bailey is a registered interior designer and the principal behind Robert Bailey Interiors, a boutique design firm in Vancouver. In 2013, he was named Western Living’s Interior Designer of the Year and received an Award of Merit at the IDIBC Shine Awards.

Brigitte Shim is a Canadian architect and a founding partner of Shim-Sutcliffe Architects, a Toronto-based practice established in 1994. It is widely regarded as one of the most innovative and successful architectural practices in Canada.

Michael Shugarman is the principal architect for Calgary’s Shugarman Architecture and Design, a multidisciplinary practice that also incorporates interior design along with urban and furniture design.

FASHION Barbara Atkin served as vice-president of fashion direction at Holt Renfrew from 2005 through 2015 (part of a 28-year career with the company) and was recently named a “Fashion Visionary” by Fashion Group International.

Michael Budman and Don Green founded iconic Canadian fashion brand Roots and spent decades as leaders in the retail industry and as advocates for environmental matters.

Dan and Dean Caten are designers, twin brothers and founders of DSquared2, an internationally acclaimed fashion brand known for its edgy designs and elaborate runway shows.

FURNITURE Mikael Axelsson, designer at Ikea of Sweden, has studied design in Stockholm, Barcelona and Wellington and is also a trained mechanical engineer. His celebrated industrial design work has been exhibited internationally.

Thom Fougere studied architecture at the University of Manitoba before working in furniture and product design. In 2011, after his studies in architecture, he was appointed creative director of Canadian furniture design house EQ3 at the age of 24.

Shauna Levy is president of Canada’s design museum, Design Exchange, and co-founder of the internationally acclaimed Interior Design Show. She has secured travelling exhibits from prestigious cultural institutions across the globe and curated exhibitions featuring Canadian and international designers.

Douglas Cridland’s 35-plus-year career has produced a portfolio that includes residential, retail and office spaces—many of which have been featured on television and in national publications. He was named WL’s Interior Designer of the Year in 2016.

Rachael Gray is principal architect for Gray Partnership, based in New York City. Her more than 20 years of experience includes terms at the helm of Work Architecture and Design and Gray, Watt and Partners.

Alda Pereira is a Vancouver-based interior designer with plentiful accolades. Her work has been featured in Metropolitan Home magazine (where she was named “one of North America’s bright new design talents”) and on The Oprah Winfrey Show.

LANDSCAPE Misty March is a principal with Hargreaves Associates’ New York office and holds degrees in landscape architecture from Cornell University and the Harvard University Graduate School of Design. Most recently, she completed the planting design for the 30-acre Downtown Park in Oklahoma City.

Kelty McKinnon brings a diverse background in landscape architecture, public art and environmental studies to her role as director and principal at PFS Studio.

For nearly two decades she has specialized in projects within the public realm, committed to the creation of unique, innovative and meaningful urban space.

Dr. Nancy Pollock-Ellwand serves as the dean of the Faculty of Environmental Design at the University of Calgary. She has a broad background in design, with degrees in landscape architecture, architecture and planning, and she leads a faculty that delivers the only accredited Albertan programs in architecture and planning.

Paul Sangha established Paul Sangha Landscape Architecture in 1999, a firm focused on excellence in design, detail and service with the pursuit of becoming one of the world’s premier residential design firms.

MAKER

INDUSTRIAL

Jonathan Adler launched his first ceramics collection in 1993. Now his empire encompasses myriad product lines and 25 stores worldwide, each dedicated to bringing style, craft and joy to life.

Paolo Cravedi is managing director of Alessi U.S.A., a world leader at the forefront of groundbreaking design concepts. Prior to Alessi, he was the managing director for Kartell U.S.A.

Brent Comber is the fourth generation of his family to call North Vancouver home, from where he acts as principal of Brent Comber Studio. His wood furniture, art and installations have found homes across the world.

Masaaki Kanai is chair and representative director of Ryohin Keikaku Co., where he is responsible for sales and merchandising for the beloved Japanese minimalist brand Muji.

5 5 s e p t e m b e r 2 0 1 7 / westernliving.ca

Geoffrey Lilge is an Edmonton-based designer and founder of Div. 12, a manufacturer of restaurant furniture.

His new collection of seating and accessories launched in May 2017.

ARCHITECTURE

Ko Júbilo

Campos Studio

Landon Dix Design Studio

DeJong Design Associates

Maurice Laurent Dery Shipway Living Design

Frits de Vries Architects and Associates

Solus Decor

JWT Architecture

Willow and Stump

RNDSQR

INTERIORS

Rockwood Custom Homes and Dean Thomas Design Group

Alykhan Velji Designs

Russell and Russell Design Studios

Cabin Fever Interiors

Vallely Architecture ARTHUR ERICKSON MEMORIAL AWARD FOR AN EMERGING ARCHITECT Arno Matis Campos Studio MoDA One SEED Architecture and Interiors Platform Architecture

Amanda Hamilton Interior Design Enviable Designs Heffel Balagno Design Consultants MāK Interiors Measured Architecture Project 22 Design RNDSQR Rockwood Custom Homes Sophie Burke Design Stephanie Brown Inc.

RNDSQR

LANDSCAPE

Studio North

Aloe Designs

Vallely Architecture

Botanica Design

FASHION Andronyk Claudia Schulz Dina Gonzàlez Mascaró DSign Step Grey by Becki Chan Joanna Baxter (Lover Fighter)

Claire Kennedy Design Haven Garden Design Straub Thurmayr Landscape Architects MAKER Andrea Wong Annie Tung Béton Brut

Nicole Bridger Design

Kalika Bowlby

Shannon Munro

Mezzaluna Studio

Shelley MacDonald Jewellery

Rachel Saunders Ceramics

Stittgen Fine Jewelry

Studio Brovhn

Westerly Handmade Shoes

Ulla Clark

FURNITURE AdrianMartinus Designs Arostegui Studio Design-Built IZM Jeff Martin Joinery

ROBERT LEDINGHAM MEMORIAL AWARD FOR AN EMERGING INTERIOR DESIGNER Alykhan Velji Designs Andrea McLean Design Office

Judson Beaumont

Angela Robinson and Tanya Schoenroth

Kate Duncan

Gillian Segal Design

Sholto Design Studio

Hazel and Brown Design Company

Studio Brovhn

Project 22 Design

INDUSTRIAL

RNDSQR

AdrianMartinus Designs

Shipway Living Design

Annie Tung

Stephanie Brown Inc.

See 10 years of judges and finalists at westernliving.ca/doty/

WLTRAVEL // MY NEIGHBOURHOOD

3 Cut through winding alleys to the major shopping streets, where big-name designers mingle with local retailers.

The turquoise waters of the Mediterranean Sea at Psarou Beach bring us back year after year.

The marble floors of the spa were sourced from the neighbouring Naxos Island.

2 1

Dsquared2 founders Dan and Dean Caten love the Mykonos lifestyle.

Not only are identical twins Dan and Dean Caten co-founders of fashion house Dsquared2 (and Designers of the Year 2017 judges), but they’re travel partners, too. Each summer, the design duo heads to Mykonos, Greece, for their annual vacation, where they take a break from the fashion scene to soak up the sun, stroll the streets and dance the night away.

5 6 s e p t e m b e r 2 0 1 7 / westernliving.ca

4

2 We love beach life, and the beautiful Psarou Beach is the perfect place to enjoy it.

3 We love to walk in the tiny streets of Mykonos and have a coffee while looking at the windows and shopping for handmade beaded jewellery. (And, of course, we always stop by our boutique.)

4 Belvedere Hotel Six Senses Spa lies among lush gardens of cypress trees, bougainvilleas and wild laurels, right in the heart of Mykonos Town. We come here to take care of ourselves and relax with special treatments.

5 When we want to get away from the crowd and enjoy a different evening, we go to Cine Manto. This botanical garden offers an open-air movie theatre where you can watch films under the stars.

5 Top, from left: f8grapher; street: Jennifer Barrow

GREEK SQUAD

1 Located right on the seawall of the old harbour of Mykonos, we often go to JackieO’ Bar for sunset cocktails and the live performances and music.

WL // trade secrets

designed By

Gillian Segal, Vancouver

The Look

GREY ON GREY

This Yaletown condo featured a dated ’90s black-slate-and-cherry-wood fireplace, but rather than tear it out “and open a whole can of worms,” says designer Gillian Segal, she decided “to paint the mantel the same colour as the walls.” It was an instant update: a coat of Benjamin Moore in Sweatshirt Gray on both the fireplace and the wall softens the ornate detailing and creates a modern feel. “It lets your eye go and focus on the art, because it’s so white against this grey background,” says Segal. From there, the soft pastels in the NG Collective painting inspired the rest of the decor picks: a grey sofa with powder-blue cushions from the Cross, a subtly striped blue-and-grey rug, and the blush-pink lip sculpture on the mantel that seals the look with a kiss.

5 8 s e p t e m b e r 2 0 1 7 / westernliving.ca

Tracey Ayton

A monochromatic backdrop lets the art be the star.

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