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WESTERN LIVING // SEPT 2018

Designers of theYear nual n A 11 th

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The Very Best of Western Canadian Architecture and Design

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Dresses to Impress Wedding dress maven Gaby Bayona of Truvelle blew the judges away with her modern bridal pieces. Read the Fashion Designer of the Year’s story on page 120.

S E P T E M B E R 2 018

Cover: Ema Peter; this page: Carlo Ricci

B .C . & A L B E R TA // V O LU M E 4 7 // N U M B E R 7

DESIGNERS OF THE YEAR 61 // The Winners

Introducing the designers whose work— whether in architecture or fashion, landscape or interiors—is shaping life in the West for the better. And the winners are...

126 // The Judges

This all-star panel of design minds dedicated countless hours to poring over this year’s entries. Meet the international design stars and local heroes on this year’s judging team.

128 // The Finalists

Every year, we’re floored by the talent that comes in from across Western Canada. These excellent designers are the finalists for this year’s Designers of the Year. westernliving.ca / s e p t e m b e r

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WL // contents

56

142

28

design 27 // One to Watch

Textile designer Carolina Eliasson weaves a playful spirit into her creations.

28 // Shopping

38

Pop art pillows, Tiffany-blue glasses and all the goods on our wish list right now.

32 // Openings and Events

The coolest new stores and hottest events happening in the West this month.

36 // Great Spaces

Peek inside Calgary’s tiny pretty-in-pink Bar Annabelle.

A new cookbook from the Wickaninnish Inn and must-try restaurants opening soon.

38 // Sofas We Love

These stylish modern seats are sure to spark a little conversation.

139 // The Check-In

Design lovers are flocking to Marrakech— here’s why you should, too.

42 // Design at the Peak

We’re shining a light on the makers of Alberta as part of our IDS Vancouver showcase.

142 // Cibo di Strada

Skip the tourist hordes and discover the wonders of Italian street food.

51 // Modern Homes Tour

Your sneak preview of one of the stunning spaces featured on this year’s tour.

56 // Icons

In conversation with world-renowned architect Todd Saunders.

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

38

plus 154 // Trade Secrets

Designer Gillian Segal reveals her technique for mixing modernism with warmth.

Squish Studio: Bent René Synnevåg; charcuterie: Foxys Forest Manufacture

food + trAVel 134 // Bites

aeonhabitat.com

visit us at booth 623 at ids west show

WESTERN LIVING editorial editorial director Anicka Quin creative director Cathy Mullaly executive editor Stacey McLachlan art director Jenny Reed travel editor Neal McLennan food editor Julia Dilworth contributing editors Amanda Ross, Nicole SjĂśstedt, Barb Sligl, Jim Sutherland, Julie Van Rosendaal city editors Karen Ashbee (Calgary), Jyllian Park (Edmonton), Rosemary Poole (Victoria) editorial interns David Kitai, Sam Nar, Laryssa Vachon email mail@westernliving.ca

westernliving.ca online coordinator Theresa Tran production manager Kristina Borys production support technician Ina Bowerbank designer Amanda Siegmann marketing manager Kaitlyn Lush marketing coordinator Christine Beyleveldt vancouver/victoria tel 604-299-7311 head office/sales inquiries web westernliving.ca tel 604-299-7311 email cwm@canadawide.com

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1606 West 2nd at Fir Armoury District Vancouver Mon-Sat 10-5:30 604 736 5681 eastindiacarpets.com

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BA K E R

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WL // editor’s note

DESIGNING A COMMUNITY

Q& A This month we asked our contributors, What is the most perfectly designed object you own?

Guy Saddy, “Cibo di Strada,” page 142 My Joule sous vide circulator. It’s a super-sleek white tube that heats water quickly and efficiently, and the hardware is controlled via wifi from a userfriendly app. If Apple ventured into kitchen gadgetry design, this is what they’d make.

Carlo Ricci, “Designers of the Year,” page 61 While tempted to say my Moto Guzzi for its Italian beauty, the award goes to our ’84 VW Westfalia.

It’s the ultimate travel machine (we drove one from Argentina to Canada), with every inch of space used beautifully with functionality and style.

Behind the Scenes Yes, that’s me on a motorbike. I got a sneak peek at a new launch geared at the design industry in NYC—the Vitpilen by Husqvarna—and I kind of fell hard for its Scandi-cool looks. (Though its solid kickstand meant I didn’t fall off).

VISIT

anick a quin, editorial director aquin@canadawide.com 2 2 s e p t e m b e r 2 0 1 8 / westernliving.ca

FOLLOW US ON

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

Follow Anicka on Instagram @aniqua

When I tell people I meet that I work for Western Living magazine, I often get one of two responses. If it’s someone significantly younger, they’ll inevitably say, “Oh, my mom LOVES that magazine!” If it’s someone who has long called the West home, however, they’ll tell me how important WL has been to them—they grew up with it, and they appreciate having a magazine that celebrates the way we live here, when magazines further east sometimes have a hard time visualizing anything past Sudbury.

We Western Canadians identify strongly with our geography, and I have seen how important it is to my community to have a magazine that creates space for us to live in and to reflect what’s ours. We are producing a magazine that truly belongs to its readers.

Early in September I’m going to be giving a talk along these lines at TEDxVancouver (join me if you can!). While I recognize that I’ve been a part of magazine culture for more than 20 years and am perhaps more than a little biased about my industry, my attraction to it has everything to do with how central magazines are to building community. And this issue—featuring our Designers of the Year Awards—is the perfect example of that.

The nine Designers of the Year named in this issue have been creating their work right here in the West and, in doing so, building a more beautiful place for all of us who live here.

The winners are officially crowned by an illustrious jury (check out the rock stars on this year’s panel on page 126), but it’s also all of you who support them, commission their work and display their designs in your living rooms. And it’s you who will continue to build and grow this big, beautiful and well-designed Western Canadian community that we all are a part of.

We’ll be celebrating the winners of our 11th annual Western Living Designers of the Year on September 17 in Vancouver, and we’re thrilled that, for the first time, tickets are available to the public. Head to westernliving .ca to grab yours and to join us at this amazing party, and together we’ll raise a glass to Western Canada’s world-class design community.

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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

On the Ropes

Carolina Eliasson, textile artist, Coastal Craftwork, Vancouver “I love the design challenge— whether it’s using something that would otherwise be wasted or solving a problem,” says Vancouverbased designer Carolina Eliasson.

From tote bags to signature baskets to small jewellery trays, each of her Coastal Craftwork creations features an unembellished look inspired by Scandinavian aesthetics. Eliasson’s artistic approach showcases a simple, stacked pattern spiralled with colourful poly-core threads to emphasize the design’s balance of durability and longevity with fun.

Since launching her new career and stunning craftwork just two years ago (formerly, Eliasson worked as a doctor of traditional Chinese medicine), Eliasson already has her hands set to unveil new creations this fall. “Crafting developed from a creative outlet that I would only be able to tap into on my off time into my job,” she says. “I’m so lucky I was able to move my passion from the background to the foreground.”—Sam Nar

Krista Jahnke

See Eliasson’s work on display at Kate Duncan’s Address in Vancouver, September 21 to 23, addressassembly.com

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

2 0 1 8 2 7

WLDESIGN // shopping

by RosemaRy Poole

Anicka’s Pick

Vitpilen 701

$13,399, available at Husqvarna Motorcycles, husqvarna-motorcycles.com If Scandi style were a motorcycle, it would be the new Vitpilen 701 from Husqvarna. Typically my picks here tend to be homes-related, but this über-cool bike is just so modern-architect friendly, I couldn’t resist. French designer Maxime Thouvenin wanted to bring the bike back to a ’70s-era stripped-down, approachable and simplified look that would be appealing to both men and women (and it worked for this woman). Catch my interview with Thouvenin about the bike’s design origins at westernliving.ca.

Storybook Ending

The artful, occasionally whimsical designs of the late Austrian modernist Carl Auböck, including these patinated brass and cane bookends ($1,165), are still produced by his family-owned workshop in Vienna. litchfieldtheshop.com

High Definition

We love the eye-popping digital language of Rouge du Rhin, a studio founded by graphic artist Marianne Diemer. The Newport pillow (shown, $110) is printed on natural linen and comes with a featherand-down insert. espacedonline.com

Well in Hand

Tiffany’s new Diamond Point glassware (double old-fashioned glass and highball glass shown, $90 each; set of four shot glasses, $170) sees the company’s signature shade applied to faceted crystal. tiffany.ca

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

NOTEWORTHY New in stores across the West.

Required Reading

With Currents (New Heroes and Pioneers, $65), IDS Vancouver surveys the work of 40 designers and makers in the Pacific Northwest, including WL regulars ANDlight, Knauf and Brown, Niels Bendtsen, Molo, Jeff Martin Joinery and Cathy Terepocki. Curated by Jody Phillips for IDS Vancouver; pre-ordered copies can be picked up at this year’s fair, happening September 20 to 23. vancouver.interiordesignshow.com

Squared Away

With its boxy metal frame, Crate and Barrel’s new Alessia chair ($2,799) sets a decidedly mod tone; wood accents and neutral upholstery move the look into the present. crateandbarrel.com 2 8 s e p t e m b e r 2 0 1 8 / westernliving.ca

WLDESIGN // shopping

Sense of Purpose

Christian Woo’s new Column series (dining table starting from $15,000; bench from $5,000; desk from $7,000) is by turns quiet and monumental.

Available in whitewashed ash, natural walnut, blackened walnut or charred oak. christianwoo.com

Out of the Box

Artist Statement

From her studio on Mayne Island, B.C., Zoë Luyendijk creates rugs with a luxurious, painterly quality. Their organic shapes and colours are inspired by “the wildness in nature and ourselves” (shown: the St. Lawrence rug in taupe, burnt orange and indigo, $14,285). salari.com

On Display

Coloured glass figures prominently in Ikea’s Hjärtelig pieces—a material trend spotted in collections from Hay to Tom Dixon. Here, it makes up a series of cones and small dishes to keep odds and ends in their rightful place ( jewellery dish, $10; cones sold in a set of three, $8). ikea.ca

3 0 s e p t e m b e r 2 0 1 8 / westernliving.ca

The components of DXV’s new Modulus collection combine to create streamlined bathrooms with thoughtful details. Among them: a doublebowl sink that incorporates a semi-wet transition zone for toiletries and accessories, and soft-close storage drawers with nubuck leather pull tabs (55-inch sink, $1,430; double countertop slab, $1,100; storage drawers, $1,430 each). kitchenandbathclassics.com; splashesonline.com

A PASSION FOR COOKING Scott Myler 604-301-3427 16 Locations Across Canada In Vancouver: 8488 Main St.

Surrey Coquitlam Edmonton South Edmonton North

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Susan Ford 778-386-7122 Designer & Multi-Family Sales sford@coastappliances.com

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Victoria Regina

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WLDESIGN // shopping

OPENINGS Hot new rooms we love.

B y D av i D K i Ta i

Calgary Arc’teryx Originally hailing from Vancouver, Arc’teryx trades its signature temperate rainforest gear for more insulated mid-layers and outerwear to combat the coming prairie winter. Its 2,300-squarefoot space features a trail map of the Rockies on the wall, along with multimedia areas for events and teaching clinics. They’ve also launched a series of community hikes and trail adventures, so making mountain friends should be a breeze. 815 17 Ave SW #150, arcteryx.com

EDMONTON Plum Home and Design This mother-daughterowned design and decor store recently moved into the renovated Oliver Exchange building. They’re doubling their floor space to become a 2,000-square-foot retail area, selling everything from nursery essentials to jewellery to antique tableware. They’ll soon be joined in the 1913 heritage building by city market regular Brio Bakery; the artisanal baker comes with its sourdoughs, croissants and brioche, too, so any shopping trips are bound to smell amazing. 12019A 102nd St., plumhomeanddesign.com

So Pretty Cara Potter: Emily Schutz

EDMONTON So Pretty by Cara Cotter Flagship Store Local Cara Cotter has finally opened up a flagship store in Edmonton for her “royalty inspired” jewellery, presenting large, dramatic stones in elegant, modern settings. The new store is trim and millennialchic, replete with rose-gold accents, marble tabletops and geometric displays. Cotter shares the 700-square-foot space with long-time pop-up collaborator Pura Botanicals, and soon she’ll be releasing her fall collection, built around an “unusual” selection of diamonds and solid gold in her signature style. 10120 124th St., soprettycaracotter.com

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WLDESIGN // shopping

DIARY

The coolest events.

B Y D AV i D K i tA i

VANCOUVER IDS Vancouver September 20 to 23 Vancouver Convention Centre Alberta designers are stepping into the spotlight at this year’s IDS Vancouver event thanks to WL’s exhibit, Alberta REdeFINED. Designer Kevin Mitchell and Ritchie Custom Homes came on board to help us spotlight top talents like furniture designers Mtharu (a previous WL One to Watch) and AdrianMartinus (you’ll want to see the cheery wooden planters made from colourful skate decks). vancouver.interiordesignshow.com

CALGARY Calgary Fall Home Show September 20 to 30, BMO Centre Calgary is getting its dose of home care this fall, and attendees will want to check out new exhibitors like architecture and interior design firm Crafted Edge Homes and meal-kit innovators HelloFresh. Cozy up with a craft cocktail at the Gioia Interiors-designed Burwood Distillery lounge and hear talks from speakers like “DIY ninja” Leigh-Ann Allaire Perrault. calgaryfallhomeshow.com

Adrian Martinus planter: Jameel Aziz

VANCOUVER Address September 21 to 23 The Settlement Building Kate Duncan, our furniture Designer of the Year in 2017, brings an intimate showcase of designer-makers to Vancouver’s Settlement Building.

This part gallery, part pop-up shop, part showroom is where you can check out exhibitors like coiled-rope homeware creator Coastal Craftwork and custom lighting designer Propellor. We are also sponsoring the afterparty (cheers to that!), which is open to attendees of Address or day one of IDS Vancouver. addressassembly.com

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WLDESIGN // great spaces

THINK PINK

Calgary’s tiny 22-seat Bar Annabelle is a pretty-in-pink hidden gem.

3 6 s e p t e m b e r 2 0 1 8 / westernliving.ca

Bar Star

Bubbly pendant lights from West Elm hang over a pink onyx countertop; the unique textured wall is made from half-round oak dowels.

bringing in labels that are often exclusive to the tiny 22-seat hideaway. (Japanese whisky and specialty gin are also on the menu.) The record player holds centre stage on the onyxand-brass bar and plays a rotating selection from the house’s eclectic record collection, although guests are welcome (and encouraged) to bring in their own vinyl to spin. “I wanted a small, cozy space modelled after the fun wine bars that I have visited in New York, Madrid and Paris,” shares Echino. “My intent was to have a space that was intimate, where guests would interact with each other and make friends.”—Kait Kucy

MORE INSPIRING SPACES Find more great rooms to inspire at westernliving.ca

Gutter Credit

If you blink, you might completely miss the blush-coloured door that leads into Bar Annabelle. That’s because the wine and tapas bar is quietly tucked alongside its big sister, Blink Restaurant and Bar, one of Calgary’s staple eateries in the heritage district of Stephen Avenue Walk. But seeking out that pink entrance is worthwhile: behind it, you’ll find the ideal spot for a modern-day flâneuse to perch with a glass of rosé at a sparkling onyx countertop.

The design world has successfully established that pale blush (a.k.a. millennial pink) is officially a neutral, and the interior design team at McKinley Burkart has embraced this decree in full force with Annabelle, pairing the colour with a lush olive green, velvety plums and antique brass throughout the 315-square-foot space.

It’s not all “millennial modern” here, though: a rich sense of history shines through. Housed in a 19th-century sandstone building, the bar had its fair share of design challenges—old plumbing, dodgy electrical work and “paper thin” walls—but McKinley Burkart was able to transform the space into something new while still maintaining raw elements and historic integrity.

The solid brass archway is decidedly an Accidentally Wes Anderson candidate, with perfect symmetry evoking the glamour of yesteryear’s luxury railway cars. “Since it is an old building, those raw elements were important to me,” says Bar Annabelle owner Leslie Echino. “The brasswork feels so warm and welcoming; all of the tables, bar and shelving are wrapped in brass—I even bought matching cutlery.”

The tapas menu and the by-the-glass wine list changes weekly, with Echino

WLDESIGN // sofas we love

CONVERSATION STARTERS With seating this welcoming, it’s easy to get comfortable and catch up with a friend or two.

By BarB sligl

It’s a Wrap

The Gentry sofa, designed by Patricia Urquiola for Moroso (from $8,061), evokes tradition while playfully poking fun at it (hence its name).

A touch louche with its bowed back and chunky cable-knit tufted upholstery, it almost begs you to take a seat. informinteriors.com

Signature Sweep

Designer Karim Rashid invites play and convivial chatter with Ottawa (from $6,559), the sofa he designed for BoConcept.

Streamlined yet supple (with 10 different modules), its sculptural shape awaits your signature. boconcept.com

Lounge Act

3 8 s e p t e m b e r 2 0 1 8 / westernliving.ca

Recline, linger and converse on the Flex Air from Resource Furniture (from $4,500), which recently won a Red Dot design award. Pliant geometric backrests on the island-like base morph the set-up from sofa to guest bed to double-faced tête-à-tête chaise longue. resourcefurniture.com

Home Base

Paola Lenti’s Agio (from $35,000) is a low-slung modular sofa system that comes together (or apart) in whatever way a social (or solo) situation calls for; backrests flatten (or not), and platforms mix and match. livingspace.com

Nesting Place

The all-rounded profiles of the Geo armchair (from $4,150) and loveseat by Saba (from $6,050) are generous and oh so expressive.

Voluminous yet light, they’re a soft nest of a perch atop metallic, branch-like legs. broughaminteriors.com

Winged Beauty

The Butterfly by Danish design house Eilersen ($6,549) is a Japanese-Scandi collaboration (hello, hot hybrid style Japandi!) to create a sofa that’s both formal and informal—minimalist from the back, yet soft and relaxed in the front. cfinteriors.ca

ClassiC Comfort designer’s pick

Jamie Hamilton and Greer Nelson

“The Kane sofa by Van Gogh Designs (from $2,600) is classic. It’s not so traditional that it feels stuffy and not so modern that it’s uncomfortable. It’s relaxed and simple, and the ability to choose your own fabric makes it a perfect fit for almost any room. We return to this sofa over and over. One more tip? Splurge on the feather-fill upgrade—it costs a little more, but with that extra comfort, you’ll never regret it!” vangoghdesigns.com Jamie Hamilton and Greer nelson of oliver simon design, vancouver, oliversimondesign.com

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

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WLDESIGN // IDS VANCOUVER

DESIGN AT THE PEAK

Western Living shines a light on the makers of Alberta at our IDS Vancouver showcase, Alberta REdeFINED.

Designer Kevin Mitchell of Mitchell Design House

By Anick A Quin

When we decided we wanted to spotlight Alberta makers for our showcase at Interior Design Show Vancouver this year, I knew designer Kevin Mitchell would be the perfect fit to curate and create the space for us. You’ll likely recognize his colourful and often playful designs from past Western Living issues (he once papered an entire ensuite, ceilings and all, in silver leaf)—and his profile in 2015 as our Robert Ledingham Memorial Award winner for an emerging interior designer. He loves design that tells a good story, and he’s someone that pays attention to the burgeoning maker scenes in Calgary and Edmonton that are grabbing attention on the international stage, too.

And, no surprise, he’s come up with both a clever and elegant design for the showcase. “I was trying to be distinctly Albertan without putting a flag on it,” says Mitchell, who runs Mitchell Design House. “I wanted to show the world what we have to offer. Alberta’s known for white cowboy hats and oil—no one thinks there’s anything designerly in the Prairies. But these people are putting Alberta on the map.”

Initially, Mitchell scribbled out ideas on a piece of paper and drew the shape of the province as a door in the wall, but he thought the amount of walls might block the views to the work inside.

When he held the paper off the table, a eureka moment hit him: why not horizontal instead?

It was a subtle homage to the province and allowed for more visibility to what was inside.

Essentially, guests in the showcase will be walking into a piece of Alberta—the space

4 2 s e p t e m b e r 2 0 1 8 / westernliving.ca

itself designed as the shape of the province, right down to the faceted wall that represents its mountainous border with B.C. (We’re also working with Nicholas Hill of Ritchie Custom Homes to build the space—bringing this vision to perfect fruition).

Within that territory, the eight designers’ work will be treated with gallery-like respect, showcased on plinths throughout the room.

“It’s a little more sophisticated than the typical hay bales and fences,” he laughs.

Visit WL’s Alberta REdeFINED at IDS Vancouver from September 20 to 23, vancouver.interiordesignshow.com

Alberta Bound

Mitchell designed the space so that visitors would walk right into Alberta. To read more about the participating makers, turn the page.

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

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WLDESIGN // iDS VANCOUVER

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1. Birch and Grey

Edmonton “I’ve quickly fallen in love with all the pieces they’re producing. They’ve got all these functional pieces that are much more than just pretty things. Their sense of scale and sense of line are so spoton—they really understand what’s going to work.”

2. Loyal Loot

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6. Izm

Edmonton “I’ve always been a fan of theirs. They think of these cool details for joinery— they’ve taken Craftsman style to the next level and also pushed those classic midcentury details even further.”

3. RNDSQR

7. Ryspot

4. AdrianMartinus

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Edmonton “It’s cool to see textiles locally produced— it’s such an untapped market. Vikki Wiercinski’s prints are beautiful—colourful and really unique, but you can see she pays homage to the past with a little modern edge.”

Edmonton and Calgary “Those bowls! That natural bark and colourful lacquer—they’re derived from a natural element, and so no two pieces are exactly the same. And they’re great in either a contemporary or a rustic environment.”

Calgary “I think they’re great people—they’re building communities here, and what they’ve done for affordable architectural homes is amazing. They really understand the components of houses and how people actually live—and it all started with these screens. They have an incredible hand with architectural styling.”

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5. Mezzaluna Design

Calgary “I found them on Instagram years ago, and I bought all their crib boards—they’re all so unique and I didn’t know what I wanted, so I just took them all. They work with recycled skateboards in their designs—they’ve taken essentially trash and made it into treasure.”

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Edmonton “I stumbled upon these guys more recently, and I think their use of mixed media is amazing. Their concrete-core table with lacquered metal components is totally cool—I’ve not seen anything like it. The ability to pick any colour you want in certain components gives you a lot of flexibility, but it’s still one of a kind.”

8. Mtharu

Calgary “I think Sumer Singh’s engineering background is amazing. He’s been able to create these beautiful works of art that function as pieces of furniture as well— he’s thought of the technical as well as the aesthetic. There’s a lot of consideration put into what he’s designed.”

—Kevin Mitchell

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Ema Peter

WLDESIGN // modern home tour

GREAT AND GREEN

A new development company wants to demonstrate that truly sustainable design is beautiful, too.

by SuSan bryant

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

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Sustainable Beauty

The concrete wall is a central design feature and runs through all three floors (top left).

In the main living area (above, left), the framing of the site-built curtain wall of windows has been powdercoated white rather than left as aluminum.

The wooden screens on the stairwell are actually structural (far right) and result in a free-floating design.

For more homes on the tour, visit westernliving.ca

When builder Nick Kerchum of Natural Balance Homes teamed up with David Battersby and Heather Howat of BattersbyHowat Architects to cre­ ate a development company, they knew they didn’t want to enter Vancouver’s spec market with just any kind of home. Instead, their new company, Sea­ change, would be working to get buyers to rethink how they look at sustainability.

Their homes are designed to be healthy and beau­ tiful—and also incredibly energy efficient and often off­grid. Materials are sourced from ethical compa­ nies—there’s value placed on the provenance of mate­ rials in both where they come from and how they are made, so Seachange emphasizes local resources and artistry. And because this is BattersbyHowat (a win­ ner in this year’s Designers of the Year Awards), great architecture is also part of that sustainable vision.

“We are going to invest in good architecture, to do it well, to do unique buildings that people will have for a long time—and that other people will desire in the future,” says Battersby.

For their first project, which will be showcased in the MA+DS Vancouver Modern Home Tour on Sep­ tember 15, the home itself is in an unusual parallelo­ gram shape: the east side of the wall is pulled back,

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

which has the effect of creating a view corridor of down­ town and the North Shore. That view continues throughout the home, all the way up to the circular rooftop deck. “It’s really interesting when you have people on a circular deck, as opposed to a rectangular one,” says Kerchum. “When you have people on the roof deck, it naturally brings them together. The way people use that space is much different—it creates a more intimate and connected space.”

The 3,850­square­foot house is also designed to capture rainwater and keep it from overloading the city of Vancouver’s stormwater system: two large tanks in the ground retain water for household use such as irrigation and sewer lines, and they also filter the water to slowly allow it to return to the ground, rather than flooding the city’s storm lines during heavy rainfall.

It’s stunning inside and out—from a central concrete fea­ ture wall that runs on all three levels to the floating staircase that’s an engineering feat, the home is made to feel both beau­ tiful and functional, a building meant to stand the test of time.

“If you design and build a house to a high quality that captures the magic of the lot, that house will never be torn down,” says Kerchum. “A home that lasts a long time is a sustainable home, and that’s something that’s missed.”

Catch the MA+DS Modern Home Tour in Vancouver on Saturday, September 15; vancouvermodernhometour.com

Top left: Andrew Latreille; bottom left and right: Ema Peter

WLDESIGN // modern home tour

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WLDESIGN // icons

Q& A Your firm specializes in experience-based architecture—from artist retreats to extreme sports centres. What design challenges do these offer you as an architect?

I’ll tell you the reason I want to go in that area: I want my personal interests in life and architecture to criss-cross. I’ve lived in eight different countries.

I like travelling, and I want to combine my hobby, travelling, with my architecture. I also have a lot of friends who are artists, and I designed the artist studios on Fogo. I’m doing artist studios now— they’re extremely good projects to work on. It’s quite fulfilling, and the program is very different— there’s a lot of freedom. It felt good doing this sort of project, and I want more of that in my life.

I’ve been doing a lot of private projects. What I’ve noticed about the private projects is that they’re very good to get built very quickly, but not a lot of people experience them. With Fogo, it’s been very good with people coming there: Gwyneth Paltrow, David Letterman, the Prince of Monaco. That’s a good feeling—when I sit eating dinner at night, I meet all kinds of interesting people. It’s a different way of experiencing architecture.

Newfoundland-born, Norway-based architect Todd Saunders became a household name when he designed the world-renowned Fogo Island Inn in 2013, and he has since created stunning works of architecture around the world—including, most recently, a series of homes in Carraig Ridge outside of Banff, Alberta. He joins our Designers of the Year jury this year and spoke with our editorial director, Anicka Quin, when he was in town.

5 6 s e p t e m b e r 2 0 1 8 / westernliving.ca

What else do you have coming up?

I’m working on a contemporary stone sculpture museum on the west coast of Sweden. And I’m doing a nature trail in northern Sweden with 14 very different buildings. The client owns a very successful hotel that was designed by Olson Kundig. They want to expand what guests do there— they have a walking trail, and they asked me to do whatever I wanted. So I designed a little library, maybe 15 square metres. You can go with two or three people to read books and light the fire. And then, walking farther, I designed some saunas by a lake. Then a church, where people can get married. Farther on, I designed a dining hall, which has a Michelin-starred chef who lives in the same

Portrait: Martin Tessler

THE GLOBETROTTER

And the extreme sports centres—you’re building those because extreme sports have been a part of your life?

Yeah, and every time I experience it, I experience it with bad architecture. We’re in discussion with some heli-ski companies. They get all these Japanese and European clients who are interested in very high-level architecture, but the resorts they make are terrible. They’re all exactly the same.

There’s not one heli-skiing company that’s saying, “Our market is wealthy Europeans who like architecture, and we’re providing it.” These heliski companies would be the first people to do it in Canada. We’re trying to get them to see that the contemporary architecture we did for Fogo Island can really help them.

Remote Architecture Fogo Island Inn is a five-star inn owned by the Shorefast Foundation on Fogo Island, Newfoundland. Saunders designed both the main 29-room Inn (right and below) and its artist studios (left).

Bent René Synnevåg

village. There are five cabins for guests and a couple of other programs. They loved it.

You were allowed to choose what the buildings would be?

I do that with a lot of my projects. I don’t like being given a brief—it’s half the fun, dreaming up ideas for the clients. We prefer that the client does not decide too early. The decisions you get to make there always begin with a blank page, with no preconceived ideas. We’ve done other projects where they’ve told us exactly what they wanted, and when you start understanding the site and the needs, it was actually wrong. But they were so married to this idea—we kind of talked them out of it, but it was so much energy to agree on what was needed.

You have these projects all over the world. Are there similarities, or does your work shift according to local culture?

It’s a good question, because I actually don’t want

to be so global. It just happened. I enjoy it, but it comes with an enormous amount of responsibility, because architecture is cultural. Norway, I understand the culture there, but it took me 20 years to understand it, so I feel very comfortable there. Canada, I understand the culture to a certain degree.

Newfoundland, I really understand it. The project in Newfoundland turned out so well because I didn’t have to study the culture. Whereas, just after Newfoundland, I did a project in Istanbul, and I didn’t draw until I had spent a lot of time there. It was a lot more effort. I take it quite seriously.

Right now we’re doing projects in Morocco, and I’m studying their construction culture. Then we’re doing Costa Rica and Bali, then I’m going to Patagonia. I’ve done projects in Polynesia and in Finland. There are common denominators in my architecture—for example, it’s very respectful of the site. That’s why I think a lot of these people call us. They have these beautiful sites and they don’t want to mess them up, and they see that we respect that.

But visually speaking, it’s all different. Every project we do has a different program, and it’s based on the people who live there. So now we’re doing a house in New Zealand, but it’s quite similar to Scandinavia and Canada. Sometimes you arrive at these places and there are a lot more similarities than differences.

So what similarities do you see?

There’s a rawness, a roughness in the architecture. I don’t want to criticize American architecture, but the contemporary American architects are very hung up on materialistic, expensive stuff that doesn’t really matter. With the project I did on Fogo, you can buy all that stuff at Home Hardware. I try to focus on functionality. Studying at McGill and then going to Germany, things had to work.

In Istanbul, you said you spent a long time there.

What influences did you pull in?

The density, how they live. Families of 14 can live westernliving.ca / s e p t e m b e r

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WLDESIGN // icons

Rural Retreat Saunders is designing five homes for Carraig Ridge, a nature-focused, architect-designed community just outside of Banff, Alberta.

How many people are on your team now?

We were 10 or 15, but I didn’t like it. I’m down to 10. I almost died a year and a half ago. I was in an avalanche in Japan, with a Canadian guide—it changed my life. I said I needed a year where I could focus on my health. I cut the team down to the five best people I had. We actually made more money with five than we did with 15. I like these little groups of five or six people. I used to play hockey, and I was a goalie. There were five people in front of me. It’s more my mental capacity.

I hear that from a lot of architects and designers—they prefer having a small team around them because they don’t want to let go of the creative process themselves.

It’s very personal. It should be. And I can’t be everywhere all the time. We have a guy working for 5 8 s e p t e m b e r 2 0 1 8 / westernliving.ca

us in Seattle, and another guy in Lisbon, another in Budapest. We run offices, and we’re always on the move. We’re meeting in Stockholm, meeting in Toronto, meeting in New York. We’re flying to Bali.

The way we work—I’m sketching on the airplane and taking a picture in WhatsApp, going to sleep and seeing a picture in a 3D model when I wake up.

I can’t believe the way we work sometimes.

What would excite you enough to build a project in Vancouver?

I’d draw a garbage can if it were exciting. It’s a chemistry thing with the clients. I’ve looked at all my

clients in the last 10 years, and they’re all eccentric, and they’re risk takers. They’re not afraid of failure.

If I haven’t done a church, they’re not afraid to ask me to do a church. They’re confident. Money is a part of the equation, but it isn’t the guiding factor.

When I’m in a meeting with a client, if we don’t talk about money, it’s actually a good sign—they’re more interested in architecture, and the money they’ve got sorted out. They need ideas, and we provide very good ideas. And the ideal client, they’re just kind and nice. Everyone in Canada is really kind. In other places we’ve been, it’s a dirty game sometimes, and I don’t like that.

Bent René Synnevåg

together; everyone is comfortable with it. It’s the same thing I see in the Netherlands. You’re walking down the streets and the sidewalks and you look down, and there’s somebody’s kitchen; they’re sitting in their underwear with their wife drinking coffee, and nobody cares. Personal space is different.

The materials in Istanbul are quite different; they’re quite cheap. It’s a bit sad, because this Islamic and Eastern architecture wasn’t brought into the 20th century. That’s what I was trying to do, to ask, “How can we use these cheap, modern materials but pay homage to some pieces of the past?” We’re using playful forms with Islamic tiles and colours on a larger scale.

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ESIGNER F THE EAR 2018

Hundreds of entries, 20 judges and just nine winners. From a pair of unabashedly modernist architectural designers to a creative director bringing Vancouver’s bridal fashion scene to the international stage to landscape architects who create symphonies for their clients: here are the 2018 Western Living Designers of the Year.

Check out videos of our winners at westernliving.ca

westernliving.ca / m o n t h

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WL DESIGNERS OF THE YEAR // a rchitec tur a l de s ign

The Modernists

Lisa Bovell and Matt McLeod of McLeod Bovell create striking residences that captivate attention.

B y G u y S a d dy // P o r t r a i t B y c a r lo r i c c i

6 2 s e p t e m b e r 2 0 1 8 / westernliving.ca

Martin Tessler

Unabashedly Modern Lisa Bovell and Matt McLeod in their Gastown office (opposite). The Esquimalt home (this page) is designed to capitalize on views of downtown Vancouver, the Lions Gate Bridge and Burrard Inlet.

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

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WL DESIGNERS OF THE YEAR // a rchitec tur a l de s ign

Striking a Balance The Esquimalt house (this page) was designed for a couple who requested that the home function both as a space for religious gatherings for their community as well as a private home. As such, quasipublic areas are on one side of the property and private living spaces on the other.

6 4 s e p t e m b e r 2 0 1 8 / westernliving.ca

Left: Martin Tessler; right: Ema Peter

Continental Divide The G’Day house was commissioned by an expat Australian couple, who asked that the design of the home help them support a relaxed attitude toward daily living and that it would re-connect them with a warm-weather lifestyle—thus, indoor and outdoor spaces here hold equal priority.

We don’t do this sort of thing,” says Matt McLeod, who works alongside Lisa Bovell as one of the rising architectural stars behind McLeod Bovell Modern Houses (MBMH), this year’s Designers of the Year in Architectural Design. The “sort of thing” McLeod is referring to, of course, is media attention. If true— and the fact that McLeod Bovell has been featured in magazines ranging from Wallpaper* and Dwell to, of course, Western Living, colours us skeptical—we offer some sage advice: Get used to it.

Kicking back in a glassed-in mezzanine space in their clean-lined Gastown studio, both exude a slightly nervous energy that spills into their conversation. Like a married couple (they’re not), they finish each other’s sentences: thoughts slide into thoughts, occasionally buttressed by a handwritten set of talking points whipped up to ensure they stay on message—like, say, discussing the building site as an integral design element.

“Yeah,” says Bovell, “I mean, that’s—” “That’s our thing,” says McLeod.

MBMH doesn’t do classic West Coast modernism: mid-centurystyle homes designed to disappear into their surroundings like a moss-covered tree in an overgrown forest. Rather, their signature is bold, striking and strong-lined residences that are hard to ignore. Cantilevered outcroppings hang precipitously over rocky cliffs; smooth, hard surfaces connect inside and out, creating an elemental flow that extends interiors to exteriors and the surrounding grounds. Glass glazing walls disappear almost magically, while the occasional blast of colour plays counterpoint to the dominant neutral palettes. This

is not for fans of “contemporary” design—they are, says McLeod, “unabashed modernists.” Yet unlike some modernism, where an “ornament is crime” philosophy trumps all else, there is a warmth to McLeod Bovell’s vision. You can live in their homes. You want to.

All of which was noted by this year’s judges. “Their work is very site specific and responds in beautiful, thoughtful and poetic ways to the site and landscape,” notes architect Michelle Biggar of the Office of McFarlane Biggar. “The work has a consistent sensibility while each home remains unique.” Architect James Cheng agreed, citing McLeod Bovell’s “impressive and consistent body of work” and, more granularly, their innovative use of sliding partitions “to blend the interior and exterior, and expand the spatial perception” of their homes.

Before making the jump to architecture, McLeod, who was raised in Chilliwack, B.C., was considering graduate studies in evolutionary genetics. But being a scientist (“I was facing a future doing mating trials using fruit flies,” he says) paled next to the possibilities offered by doing the other thing—exploring a budding interest in architecture.

Bovell travelled a similarly roundabout route. Born in Jamaica, she went into geography as a UBC undergrad but ended up in the architectural program, where one of the first people she met was the man who would become her business partner—eventually. After trying for two years to entice McLeod to join her fledgling practice (he was happy working with Battersby Howat, winners of our 2011 DOTY award for architecture and this year’s Landscape Designers of the Year), Bovell issued an ultimatum. “I basically said, ‘You have a week to decide if you’re going to be my partner.’” McLeod took an extra 24 hours. On the westernliving.ca / s e p t e m b e r

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WL DESIGNERS OF THE YEAR // a rchitec tur a l de s ign

Great Outdoors In the G’Day house, a reflecting pond and fence connect a generous side yard with an open terrace to the south and an enclosed garden to the north while creating privacy from the street.

6 6 s e p t e m b e r 2 0 1 8 / westernliving.ca

Ema Peter

“The trick with that house is that the structure extends beyond the side yard,” notes McLeod.

Bovell agrees. “It’s part of the house but not really part of the house.”

WL DESIGNERS OF THE YEAR // a rchitec tur a l de s ign

eighth day, McLeod Bovell was created.

The first home they designed together, the Esquimalt house, has no elevation: since the roof of the home is level with the street (the site drops down from there), even the rooftop factors into the overall design. A more recent home, the G’Day house—designed for expat Aussie clients, naturally—erases the barrier between interior and exterior to the point where one is never quite sure where inside stops and outside begins. The extended roofline seems like architectural sleight of hand, but underpinning the illusion is deft engineering: an unseen steel beam spanning the full width of the building is buried about 30 inches deep into the rock below to provide stability. The result is dramatic. “The trick with that house is that the structure extends beyond the side yard,” notes McLeod. Bovell agrees. “It’s part of the house but not really part of the house,” she says.

Of all the hallmarks that compose MBMH’s architectural vision, perhaps the most significant design element is not of their own making. MBMH has an attraction to—and a reputation for taking 6 8 s e p t e m b e r 2 0 1 8 / westernliving.ca

on—challenging sites: so far, West Vancouver’s often ridiculously steep and craggy lots have almost exclusively provided the backdrop.

To McLeod and Bovell, these are not simply “landscapes” to be navigated. Instead, they are topographies—a distinction that isn’t merely semantic. Whereas “landscape” implies the natural world surrounding a man-made structure, they explain, “topography” also encompasses the artificial world. A stand of old-growth trees exists next to a half-hidden rock retaining wall, or the expansive Gulf Islands view that, from certain angles, also includes a neighbour’s overbuilt pink stucco—that, too, is part of their design equation.

Like with so many artistic endeavours, parameters imposed upon their process can end up being inspirational. “We’re looking to create environments that are unique, and in that we’re obviously helped by the topography that we inherit,” says Bovell.

“Anything that can inject idiosyncrasy is good,” adds McLeod.

“That’s the kernel of creating work that can ultimately have character.”

Left: Ema Peter; right: Martin Tessler

Sea to Sky Positioned to capture the open ocean views to the west, the Sunset house is a celebration of materials: the board-formed concrete walls mimic the texture of the natural wood. Despite being on a steep site, stair runs are no more than a half storey in any one place.

8

Problem Solver Architect Joanne Gates with her dog, Rex, at her home office. For a bathroom renovation (right), Gates designed an unusual sculptural surface on the walls to create soundproofing and buffer noise from the adjoining room.

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

WL DESIGNERS OF THE YEAR // a r thur e rick s on me mori a l awa rd

The Visionary

Architect Joanne Gates’s practice finds both elegant and creative solutions to classic design problems.

J Andrew Latreille

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

oanne Gates is a problem solver. Her designs— from a bathroom renovation that gives a wall surprising dimension to a physiotherapy studio that’s evocative of a West Coast rainforest—are striking in their simplicity, but, as any great designer knows, simple isn’t easy. The Vancouver-based architect’s work starts with one central problem in a space: that bathroom is full of echoes and noise; this physio office has no natural light. And then she gets to work.

Even her own firm’s name was chosen to address a problem: she runs a company that’s in a field dominated by men, so decided the name Gates-Suter Architects would help potential clients feel confident in the size of her firm.

The decision to keep her firm small is the solution to a problem, too: as a solo operation, her time is at her own discretion—Gates takes on a carefully curated selection of projects so that family and teaching at UBC are also given the space they need.

When the problems are architectural, it’s inevitable that Gates will find her solution in a deep dive into materials, a process that started back when she first worked on towers with Henriquez Partners after graduating from westernliving.ca / s e p t e m b e r

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WL DESIGNERS OF THE YEAR // a r thur e rick s on me mori a l awa rd

Island Living For this Southern Gulf Islands home, Gates kept the palette simple—white walls, concrete floors and, a few steps down, dark oak. Those dark oak floors reflect the water outside. “It’s magical,” says Gates.

“I love those remarkable moments, when something transcends what you thought it was going to do.”

7 4 s e p t e m b e r 2 0 1 8 / westernliving.ca

This is not an offering for sale. Such an offering can only be made with a disclosure statement. E. & O.E.

WL DESIGNERS OF THE YEAR // a r thur e rick s on me mori a l awa rd

the University of Manitoba. “It was a great experience to work on such a huge scale,” says this year’s winner of the Arthur Erickson Memorial Award for an emerging architect. “Because it came down to materials and details at the scale of the tower, which was pretty exciting.”

For the bathroom, the solution to the noise problem was in Corian: Gates found that the material could be manipulated into a bumpy, rolling surface that would confuse the echoes in the room and create a stunning architectural surface at the same time. (A first test of the surface is now an Arctic landscape for her son’s Lego).

For the lightless physio studio, Gates researched and sourced perforated metal panels to place on the ceiling, just below the lighting. She then had the screens corrugated and painted white—an ingenious solution that would allow uplit light to reflect off the white ceiling above and filter down through the perforated panels as though through a skylight. They’re examples of the “well-executed details and unique material applications” that judge and architect Michelle Biggar lauded her for and that judge and architect James Cheng described as “poetic.”

Ultimately Gates is a modernist, but practically so— and her take on how modernism fits into her designs has evolved over time. “There are projects out there that look similar when you go into them, and you think, ‘Where do I put my keys and my book?’ because you might spoil the space when you put something down,” she says. “Having a family has certainly taught me to enjoy stuff—I always think of the Eames house and the collection of things that the Eameses had around them. The strength of the house wasn’t taken away by any objects. Great architecture accepts people in all their ways—while keeping the integrity of the space while you do it.”

7 6 s e p t e m b e r 2 0 1 8 / westernliving.ca

Shane O’Neill

Healing Design For the renovation of Sitka Physio (left), Gates was directed to make a low-ceilinged room feel as airy as a West Coast rainforest.

The solution was in the ceiling: corrugated white-painted screens allow light to filter through and create an illustion of height and natural light.

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The Sophisticate

Juli Hodgson’s elegant designs are the result of a process that covers all the bases—from construction right through to the interiors.

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B y a m a n d a r o s s // P o r t r a i t B y c a r lo r i c c i

t’s no secret that ambitious design types frequently play in each other’s backyards. From architect Le Corbusier’s venture into now-iconic furniture design to Dutch furniture designer Marcel Wanders’s recent foray into prefab modern housing units, doing away with silos and labels can often lead to new wellsprings of creativity.

And that’s how it’s been for designer Juli Hodgson, who took home top honours in this year’s Designer of the Year awards thanks to a rare trifecta: a debate-free, unanimous vote by all three judges. She may hold the title of Interior Designer of the Year, but Hodgson doesn’t operate in just this one field of design.

She was still in school in the mid-1980s when she took an impromptu summer job to work for Coco Cran, Calgary’s grande dame of interiors. She ended up staying for three years and then decamped to B.C., this time Victoria-bound to work under veteran builder/contractor Bill Patterson, where she honed her development chops at Città Group. “Learning the construction side of things makes designing much more seamless ,” she says. Grateful for that building experience, coupled with the design side from Cran, Hodgson moved to Vancouver to hang her own shingle. The rest is design-build history.

In 1991, the first year after Hodgson started her business, she was hired to design and build Middle Beach Lodge in Tofino, an oceanside getaway of heavy timber and classic board-and-batten cedar siding paired with cozy Ralph Lauren-esque styling. Soon after came a longstanding gig at Aritzia, where, over a period of 16 years, she developed and designed the brand’s signature modern, pop-retro interiors. Her style has evolved, but the core DNA of her design has always remained constant: a clean, simple palette that’s long on light, short on accoutrements—an aesthetic that lets the form, whether it’s furniture or an westernliving.ca / s e p t e m b e r

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Martin Tessler

Winning Design The well-conceived architectural form of Hodgson’s new home “feels large, with all the amenities of a big house—there’s a wine cellar, a big ensuite and walk-in closets,” she says.

It’s not just its space that belies its size: passersby routinely stop and take photos of Hodgson’s all-white modern beach house just steps from the water. Its contemporary design fits into the context of the neighbourhood but is sufficiently different to inspire photographs and conversation.

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Beachy Vibe One-by-six tongue-and-groove walls in the designer’s own bedroom and bathroom lend a distinctly beach house vibe (above and right). “New plumbing fixtures come out all the time, but I really like to stick with Arne Jacobsen’s Vola fixtures from the 1960s,” says the designer. “He was the pioneer of modern plumbing fixtures, and his designs haven’t changed— they’re also the best quality.”

Calm and Colourful In the Southlands house (opposite), Hodgson turned a pool utility room into a cabana, complete with an outdoor kitchen, a Mah Jong sofa and a shower.

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Martin Tessler

exterior shell, stand alone. She has an “expert appreciation for the relationship of form to space at dramatically different scales,” says judge and architect Jeremy Sturgess—through which, despite a range of scales and budgets, each project is “beautifully executed and unique.”

To wit: Hodgson’s own new house. A spur-of-the-moment decision to sell her Shaughnessy home on a large, leafy lot led to her next chapter. “I have six kids who transition in and out of the house with only two left full-time,” she says. “I still needed a family house, but I wanted to be more inner-city and to be able to bike to dinner.” Ultimately, she and her husband landed on a small, well-priced Kitsilano box on a smaller lot, which could be simply renovated and sold when she found the exact place she wanted. Except the Kits spot turned out to be precisely that.

“It came about completely by fluke,” she says. “We got to designing and realized we could do something really cool because we were on a corner lot with no trees.” That little box came down to make way for a new structure—with a brand-new address, thanks to Hodgson moving the front door to the 122-foot long side of the property rather than the traditional 33-foot short side. On this smaller lot, Hodgson needed to take advantage of every square inch of usable space, both inside and outside. On one short side she placed a plunge pool, while at the opposing end—which would have been the original backyard—she built a

courtyard fringed with a 12-foot hedge; the area features seamless indoor/outdoor living via 16-foot glass doors. “When you open up the glass walls on either side of the house, there’s so much cross-ventilation with those 18-foot ceilings,” she adds. “We’ve never had to turn the air conditioning on!” Indeed, as Sturgess muses, “There’s clever use of space and architectural details to exploit the interior/exterior relationship.”

For the renovation of a Southlands home, Hodgson transformed it from a dark and dated French Country theme to a bright and airy urban farmhouse in harmony with the outdoors. First up: a massive fireplace flanked by two dinky exterior French doors came down to make way for Doors and Rayners’ 30 feet of folding doors. Now light bathes the interior space; the furniture and natural materials are in perfect black-and-white concert to allow for dimension and depth. “I really love black,” says Hodgson. “I like it for the same reason I like white—they’re both neutral.”

Although Hodgson’s exterior and interior palettes tend to be monochromatic, spaces are anything but plain or perfunctory. The three-storey concrete Durmaz house, also in Vancouver, pays homage to a spectacular view in all glass and steel without losing strong family-focused areas (media room, pool, piano room). The Adamson westernliving.ca / s e p t e m b e r

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“I don’t like decorative light fixtures. I have a problem with them as they transition out of fashion quickly.”

home—originally designed by Hodgson in 2012—received an update for new owners in an all-white palette to better showcase an extensive art collection. Its oak kitchen was removed in favour of an all-matte-white Corian kitchen—including cabinet doors and counters—with no seams or visible banding for crisp, dramatic serenity.

It’s the first kitchen of its kind in Vancouver. And, finally, Hodgson’s Carnarvon renovation takes a 1960s shell into the new age with an expansive kitchen and dining room in bleached French oak wood for casual, relaxed entertaining. Black dining chairs and bright green sofas add pop to an otherwise subdued, streamlined scope.

And therein lies the crux of Hodgson’s design: neutral but dramatic, simple but sophisticated. “I try to keep it to three or four materials as I think things are easier to see and feel, and it’s easier to enjoy the space when it’s simpler,” she says. “I’m not saying I’m a pure modernist, but I don’t like having too many materials cluttering things up.” Judge Alessandro Munge of Studio Munge agrees: “Her space planning is clean, and she focuses on personality in the third dimension rather than the second.” Sturgess adds, “Her lyrical and progressive design approach is based on invention and a serious embrace of client context, which yields poetic purity.”

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Martin Tessler

Calming Plan Hodgson applies the principles of feng shui wherever possible, again seen in the design of this Southlands home. “We tend to use stone in every house, steel for thin profiles, wood for warmth, glass for transparency and water for well-being.”

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Step by Step

Interior designer Andrea Rodman finds the artistry in the process.

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

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Ema Peter

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ndrea Rodman wants to know how many shoes you own.

You might expect an interior designer to be more interested in your favourite shades of blue or where you land on the modern-to-traditional spectrum, but for this year’s winner of the Robert Ledingham Memorial Award for an emerging interior designer, great design starts with lifestyle, not just “style” style.

“Functionality is extremely important to us, so we want to make sure we know all the quirks and requirements that come with each family,” says Rodman, sitting comfortably at a marble-topped table in the Vancouver office she shares with fellow interior designers Shift Designs and Gaile Guevara. “We want to know every little thing so we can maximize their lifestyle and use every square inch in a positive way.” Her team of three starts every project with extensive interviews and research, a process that delves into the day-to-day nitty-gritty with extensive surveys asking everything from “How many dinner guests at your dream dinner party?” to “How many pairs of pants do you have?”

Luckily for her clients, the maximum functionality Rodman strives for comes with a liberal dose of beauty. “I really want to create a harmony,” she explains. “I want to create elements that pull

“I enjoy the technical and problem-solving aspects, and the 3D spatial thinking. I love walking through the space and visualizing how it all fits together. It keeps you sharp.”

Scandi Cool Rodman’s North Vancouver project was a change of pace that pushed her to new heights. “I was surprised the client came to us for such a modern home. I didn’t have a super-modern portfolio, but it was exciting to flex those muscles and see what we could create.”

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“For me, there’s a level of fulfillment knowing you’re impacting lives in a positive way.”

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continuously from each other.” Her spaces are airy and light, with thoughtful details layered in that keep them hovering somewhere in between contemporary and homey—a coffered ceiling, laser-cut walnut screens, pleasingly textured bathroom tiles. Rodman spent her early 20s in Australia (her mother is an Aussie), and the cozycasual modernism of Down Under designers certainly works its way into her projects. “I love their aesthetic and the mix of modern and traditional design,” she explains, though Scandinavian and European design are inspirations, too, popping up frequently on the mood boards Rodman—a self-professed Pinterestophile—builds for clients.

For a kitchen renovation in a home near Victoria, Rodman gutted the room and replaced it with clean and simple integrated cabinets that blend into the background—ideal for a couple that loves to cook and entertain; glam gold Gubi pendant lights, a marble backsplash and camel-coloured bar stools add warmth and sophistication to the hyper-functional space.

A family home in North Vancouver has a Scandinavian-modern

Top photos: Ema Peter; portrait: Carlo Ricci; kitchen: Joshua Lawrence

Light and Airy The floating staircase is a central feature of the North Vancouver home Rodman designed (left). Part of the clients’ directive was to take full advantage of the views over the harbour—a feat easily achieved in the master bath (right). For the design of a kitchen in a home near Victoria (below), Rodman chose soft, rounded pieces from Gubi in the lighting and bar stools to provide contrast in the straight-lined space.

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Pretty Perfect For the large-scale renovation of this west side Vancouver home, Rodman re-used as many existing elements and materials as possible, including the flooring and the ceiling details.

Challenge Accepted When Rodman and her team run into difficulty during renovations, like this extensive reno for a home on the west side of Vancouver—a gas line running through a space at an odd angle, for example—rather than design around it, they turn it into a feature or design element. “I really want to create a harmony. I want to create elements that pull continuously from each other.”

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vibe thanks to a soothing neutral palette, but its open-concept ground floor isn’t designed just with trends in mind: it’s intended to gather everyone together at the end of the day.

There’s a cohesiveness and through-line to each project that captivated our judging panel. “Andrea shows restraint with a clean and simple execution of her design details in spaces featuring a warm and modern palette,” commented DOTY judge Alessandro Munge, principal for Studio Munge. “The story of the interiors really held together nicely.”

The heavy research component of her work may not be what drew Rodman to the job in the first place—she stepped into the industry after a stint in the fashion world, on the hunt for a way to turn her artistic inklings into a career—but 10 years after opening her eponymous firm, she’s confident that this strong foundation is what allows her to do her best work. “I feel like in the last few years, I’ve honed in on how to max out my creativity and process and self-expression,” she explains. “Process is what creates beautiful work. Putting in time, that’s how we get results that we love. We can’t rush creativity, and we don’t want to.”

Ema Peter

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WL DESIGNERS OF THE YEAR // l a nds c a pe

Hot Seat David Battersby and Amelia Sullivan of BattersbyHowat Architects, photographed at the west side Vancouver home they designed in 2016. There’s incredible detail in their designs, right down to planting a spring ephemeral such as native fawn lilies, which appear for only eight days (opposite).

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The Triple Threats

BattersbyHowat creates landscape designs as detailed and striking as the architecture they’re already celebrated for.

Joshua McCullough

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

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and the details of the planting design, along with the architectural design and the custom elements,” says Battersby.

The seamless nature of their design was celebrated by judge and landscape architect Andrea Cochran. “The landscape and the architecture are so well integrated, beginning with the siting of the building,” she noted. “The two reinforce each other, creating a stronger whole.”

Judge Kelty McKinnon of PFS Studio agreed. “BattersbyHowat pays serious attention to the haptic qualities of landscape materiality and species,” she said, “resulting in a powerful juxtaposition of clean architectural form with the heady ecologies of the Pacific Northwest.”

And indeed, the landscape is planned and designed simultaneously with the home—it’s anything but an afterthought. “When David and Heather are starting with the initial concept of the house and the site, the way the landscape will feel and look is part of that process,” says

Joshua McCullough

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hen architects David Battersby and Heather Howat won the doubleheader of Architects of the Year and Interior Designers of the Year back in 2011, they were the first to take home both awards in one go. This year, they’ve rounded out their victories to a happy trio by winning our 2018 Landscape Architects of the Year award.

The only surprise is perhaps that they hadn’t won it sooner, given how much they’ve been lauded for the landscape design of their modern homes in Vancouver (and now Edmonton, as the team has also opened an office there in the past year). To be fair, this is the first time they’ve entered the category, as they didn’t feel ready until now— Battersby credits designer Amelia Sullivan with, as he says, “really upping” their game when she joined the team in 2014. “With Amelia, we’ve been able to give so much more consideration to the planting

Sweet Serenity For the team’s design of the Fairmile residence, there’s a holistic approach to both hardscaping and plantings.

Concrete “stepping columns” rather than stepping stones reference the home’s architecture. And the gardens are meadow-like, designed to provide four seasons of stunning landscape.

“It creates a really rich ecology and habitat—the yards are filled with birds, bees and butterflies.”

Sullivan. “We often look to natural plant communities that allow that tone to be expressed. We work in layers; we think about structure in the winter, that the garden will still do what we want it to do—and work backwards from there.”

It’s a palette and design that’s crafted for all four seasons. Drifts of green and white foliage in summer give way to branches that are bright red-orange come winter, offering an almost architectural structure to the frozen months. Perennials may be selected for the attractive seed heads they display in autumn; others are chosen because they green up early in the season. A field of buff and champagne-coloured grasses is meadow-like in the fall; come spring, it becomes chartreuse and dotted with the surprising reds of early species bulbs. And the sites are just as aural as they are visual, as certain species are selected for the way the wind moves through their leaves. “One client called her grove of poplars

her orchestra, her sound machine,” says Sullivan.

“The gardens are really active, too,” notes Battersby. “I think that’s something people miss a lot in landscape work generally—that the diversity in gardens is so important. You have different conditions around the house, and the mix of the planting changes in response to those conditions. It creates a really rich ecology and habitat—the yards are filled with birds, bees and butterflies.”

The team works with horticulturalist Dave Demers to cultivate unusual, often native selections for their designs that are tough to source. Or they’ll seek out the lesser-known nurseries to find the perfect species to match the colour of some of Howat’s interior design work. One perfect pink flower—the “hula dancer” echinacea—was introduced to Sullivan by Langley’s Free Spirit nursery; she selected it to reflect the colour of a bathroom inside the home. westernliving.ca / s e p t e m b e r

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It’s a careful dance, this play between the building, the hardscaping outside and the plantings. And Sullivan is quick to point out that the holistic nature of their planning is what brings it all together. “I think it would be easy for all of our projects to be just this mass of planting,” says Sullivan. “But the reason it works is because of the

one to watch

Green Elevations On one of Tania Xenis’s first landscaping projects, her client—a happy homebody—asked that her plain front yard be made into “something nice to look out at.” But to Xenis, principal of Green Elevations, a garden’s purpose isn’t just to be seen—it’s to be experienced. So the landscape designer integrated beech hedging, recalling her client’s home in White Rock, and added a fire bowl surrounded by seating. Now that client spends hours outside in the garden.

Xenis draws much of her inspiration from European garden design, especially work in England and the Netherlands. Her gardens pair these more traditional techniques with sleek and modern elements, breaking up patterns of stone and concrete with hedges and loosely planted European perennials.

With her work in Vancouver, the goal is always to create outdoor spaces that can be beautiful even on the greyest and wettest days of winter, says Xenis: “A garden should be something that makes people pay attention when they walk past.”— David Kitai 1 0 0 s e p t e m b e r 2 0 1 8 / westernliving.ca

Joshua McCullough

Rich in Detail In the gardens of this west side Vancouver home, varieties like rusty foxglove and moor grass create drifts and add depth to the backyard (left). At the side garden, “puddles” of groundcover spill out between concrete bars (right).

consideration of the architectural details—the juxtaposition of the soft and the wild with the decisions made about the architecture of the house, rather than trying to repeat it out in the garden. You don’t need to repeat that same form—it’s nice to have the landscape be a breath, and a break.”

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WL DESIGNERS OF THE YEAR // indus tri a l

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Hang ’Em High Júbilo’s Array light fixtures were inspired by his restoration of a vintage Alfa Romeo that belonged to his father.

The Tinkerer

Happiness for winner Ko Júbilo lies in getting to the heart of an object‚ even if he has to take it apart first.

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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 a r lo r i c c i

ull disclosure: I’ve always found the concept of industrial design to be more than a little fluid. Sure, I know the stock answer: “It’s design applied to products that are to be manufactured through techniques of mass production.” But when does a table move from the realm of furniture making to a product of industrial design? Or when does a shelf shift from the work of a maker to the output of an industrial designer? For this year’s Industrial Designer of the Year, Ko Júbilo, the answer to the question lies in a vintage Alfa Romeo Giulia.

The Vancouver-born Júbilo studied industrial design at Emily Carr and upon completing his degree landed a position at Stephanie Forsythe and Todd MacAllen’s revolutionary Molo design studio—a genre-bending institution that combines architecture, sculpture and industrial design. It was here that Júbilo honed his own love for crossgenre creation and experimentation while working on projects like the stunning Nebuta House museum in Aomori, Japan. The team was

challenged with tasks that blended the artistic with the practical, like crafting a partitioning wall that evoked the feeling of wind blowing through a forest.

This international experience ultimately led him farther afield than his hometown of Vancouver—all the way to the prestigious design studio of Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby in London, where he worked on projects for established brands such as Vitra as well as the successful design for the Olympic torch for the 2012 London Games.

As appealing as the buzzy design scene of London was, Júbilo returned to Vancouver to finish a very special project: the restoration of a 1960s Alfa Romeo Giulia that he had started before leaving for London. And not just any Alfa, but the first car his architect father bought in Canada after emigrating from the Philippines. Complicating matters even further, not only was Júbilo untrained as a mechanic, he also didn’t even really know that much about cars. But the Alfa was westernliving.ca / s e p t e m b e r

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“For me, restoring the car had a lot of parallels with industrial design.

It was all about looking at a new problem with fresh eyes.”

Triple Threat The Around About table, shown here with an Arrays pendant light, has seating for eight yet rests on only three legs. The balance of heft and lightness is a hallmark of Júbilo’s approach to crafting objects that are practical and beautiful in equal measure.

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Owner, Rob; client, Lynda Steele; and designer, Stephen at the condo

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hen she purchased a heritage loft in Yaletown, award-winning journalist and host of CKNW’s “The Lynda Steele Show,” Lynda Steele, loved its juxtaposition of brick walls, reclaimed-fir floors, and timber beams with modern glass walls and concrete, but she recognized that the 100-year-old warehouse which had been converted to condos, needed some updates.

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WL DESIGNERS OF THE YEAR // indus tri a l

Shelf Life Júbilo’s Beam floating shelf was designed for stylish retailer Neighbour. Here it holds objects of inspiration for the designer—including some models of the famed Alfa Romeo.

one to watch

Shipway Living For Romney Shipway, founder of Shipway Living Design, a childhood spent in the great outdoors was the first step in his design process.

“I grew up in nature—I had my first boat before I had my first bike,” says Shipway, who was born and raised on Cortes Island, B.C. “Having a connection to the actual wood in the object gives a point for people to connect with, something more to attach to it tells a story.”

Using sustainable materials of the highest biodegradable standard and remnant scraps salvaged from land clearings, Shipway forges simple yet striking pieces—his Ostra collection exudes a sense of playfulness with pure pastel accents—that honour their natural origins, from the inside out.— Sam Nar 1 0 6 s e p t e m b e r 2 0 1 8 / westernliving.ca

a beauty, and his process is telling as to what an industrial designer does—take each piece, examine it, determine its utility and then fix it.

Close to the time the car was complete, Júbilo had launched his own atelier in Vancouver. That same insatiable desire for understanding has imparted itself on the designs that wowed our judges this year, like his Around About circular dining table with a flush-mounted rotating centrepiece subtly inspired by communal eating practices. The first impression it gives is that it’s serenely balanced—no small feat, considering it features a massively heavy top on only three sculpted legs.

With its nod to the function of a traditional dim sum table married to an unapologetically modern design, it may be the perfect piece to represent that convergence of Vancouver design in 2018.

With Arrays, a versatile series of modular, customizable lighting fixtures, Júbilo took his new talent for working with sheet metal (thanks, Alfa Romeo) and explored how both beauty and functionality can coexist: the lights are minimal to a fault but can be grouped together or aimed in order to solve whatever lighting issue presents itself to the end user. In his Beam floating shelf design, Júbilo again drew on his metal-bending skills and knowledge to craft a shelf that outwardly looks light and airy but is capable of holding significant weight. “My father is an architect, so the first idea that popped into my mind was to use the strength of an I-beam,” he recalls, and the result is ethereal to the sight but sturdy to the touch—the perfect combination for a high-end retailer.

“For me, restoring the car had a lot of parallels with industrial design. It was all about looking at a new problem with fresh eyes,” says Júbilo. So we offer a new definition of an industrial designer: someone with a relentless thirst for understanding the confluence of beauty, form, function and the story that links it all together (and who can replace a transmission in a pinch).

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WL DESIGNERS OF THE YEAR // furniture

Playful Pairs Kaly Ryan and Bram Sawatzky (opposite) in their East Van shop.Horizon series LED wall lights above and below use offcuts from woodworkers’ projects. The Corian chair (centre) was designed to explore the material’s new colour, Deep Anthracite.

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

The Originals

Furniture makers Kaly Ryan and Bram Sawatzky of Willow and Stump create pieces that are thoughtful, fresh and sustainable.

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 a r lo r i c c i

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

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WL DESIGNERS OF THE YEAR // furniture

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All the Right Curves The steam-bent ash ribs of the Fluyt bench (top) are inspired by traditional canoe construction. For the Traverse collection (right), the team partnered with Lemonni, a Vancouver-based pattern designer. The wooden night table Ballast (below) was the couple’s first design.

veryone knows “form follows function” and “design is in the details,” but we’d like to add our own design aphorism with a western twist: “Never trust a furniture maker who doesn’t have sawdust in their hair.” Looking back at the past winners in this category—like Steven Pollock, Sholto Scruton and Kate Duncan—I’m pretty sure you could get several cups of wood shavings if you shook their hands hard enough. In the woodworking collective that this year’s Furniture Designers of the Year, Kaly Ryan and Bram Sawatzky of Willow and Stump, share with four other artisans just off Vancouver’s Clark Drive, there’s one airborne constant: there’s sawdust everywhere, and they couldn’t be happier.

The pair met at the University of Alberta’s legendary Industrial Design program in 2006, but it wasn’t until both had independently made their way to Vancouver—she from Edmonton, he from Lake of the Woods— that the idea of working together started to take root. Their first digs were in a garage behind Ryan’s house: “A cold, tiny, one-car garage,” Sawatzky is quick to point out. But the cramped quarters did produce the duo’s first piece: a modular, wooden nightside table named Ballast that they brought that year’s IDS Vancouver.

The deceptively simple design was a hit. It not only validated their design ethos, but it also enabled them to get out of the garage and focus on a partnership that shifted from custom furniture to creating their own designs that spoke to their sensibility. “I think of us as industrial designers who work with wood,” opines Sawatzky. The pair’s follow-up to Ballast, the visually minimal but technically

“Never trust a furniture maker who doesn’t have sawdust in their hair.”

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

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WL DESIGNERS OF THE YEAR // furniture

Light It Up The Perk lamp was the pair’s design-forward answer to unattractive desktop Seasonal Affective Disorder lights.

one to watch

Studio North Between the laneway houses, public art installations, climbable bookshelves and lakeside nap pods, Mark Erickson and Matt Kennedy have been keeping themselves busy. But for the partners behind Calgary design firm Studio North, a wide scope was always part of the plan.

“Each scale offers different design opportunities,” says Kennedy. “We can focus on articulating a brand in a hotel or get into tactile elements with furniture.” Working at so many scales informs Studio North’s small-space-focused furniture design. The firm’s sleek, modern stools and benches from their “flat furniture” line assemble without screws or nails; dining tables with natural wood finishes are designed to transform from seating four to seating 10. Because even in small spaces, the duo tries to preserve a sense of play.

“Being playful,” says Kennedy, “is about thinking how things can transform.”— David Kitai 1 1 2 s e p t e m b e r 2 0 1 8 / westernliving.ca

complicated Fluyt bench, stretched their respective talents by requiring them to learn the art of steam-bending wood in order to craft the canoe-evoking rounded bottom.

“There was a lot of expensive firewood that came out of that process,” says Sawatzky.

But the duo does not live by wood alone.

Their Darth chair was an exercise in working with a new shade of perfect black Corian, and its slick presentation couldn’t be further away from anything resembling a rough-hewn ethos.

Their Perk light is a beautiful approach to a very West Coast problem: Seasonal Affective Disorder lights look ugly. Their solution? Pack all the healing blue light power into a compact, warm wood-based light that passes for a normal desk lamp—albeit one that someone with exceptional design sense would choose. And their latest project, Traverse, is a collaboration with textile designer Annie Chen of Lemonni, which judge Brent Comber says “clearly shows the trajectory this dynamic company is on.

The progression in their design and business is thoughtful, fresh and sustainable.”

It’s all a long way from the unheated garage, but while the digs have gotten nicer and the accolades more frequent, there is one constant: sawdust makes these two smile.

WL DESIGNERS OF THE YEAR // m a k e r

Quiet Transformation

A ceramic artist from Golden, B.C., honours the magic in the little moments. 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 L a i r e D i B B L e

1 1 4 s e p t e m b e r 2 0 1 8 / westernliving.ca

K Raw Power The objects in Bowlby’s Nest collection (this page) pair a raw clay bottom with a candygloss finish that feels smooth and gentle to the touch.

alika Bowlby may have been born a potter. That’s not to say the winner of our Maker of the Year award hasn’t also worked hard on her craft. She studied ceramics at the Kootenay School of the Arts in Nelson and the Alberta College of Art and Design (where she graduated with distinction and was the recipient of many awards and scholarships), and she honed her skills post-graduation with a stint as artist-in-residence at Red Star Studios Ceramic Center in Kansas City. Running her own studio, first in Nelson and, since 2015, in Golden, B.C., where she now lives, has offered plenty of opportunity to discover new depths in her ceramic work.

But first, she was just a kid with some clay. Playing down by the creek, she’d collect mud from the bank and fashion her own pottery projects—Bowlby’s mother still has a collection of pinch pots her daughter made as a young child.

Her connection to nature and respect for her material haven’t changed. “It’s still kind of mysterious that you start with this malleable material and end up with something so stone-like that can’t be made back into its original form,” she explains. “It’s transformational.”

The simple, functional pieces she crafts from this magic material are intentionally unfussy (“a goal of mine is to make work that’s kind of quiet,” says Bowlby) but deeply thoughtful, bringing in subtle contrast and texture that references the natural world. Her Seastone collection evokes the lapping tide at a rocky shore—a custom stone-like matte glaze makes the mugs smooth as a worn pebble in your hands. The objects in the Nest collection are glossy, like they’ve been dipped in candy coating, but the base of each bowl or cup reveals the raw red clay beneath. The Facet dishes—each angle hand-cut with a wire cheese slicer—feature a palette inspired by the Bowlbys’ kitchen garden. westernliving.ca / s e p t e m b e r

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WL DESIGNERS OF THE YEAR // m a k e r

Object Work The objects in Bowlby’s Facet collection (top and inset) are intended to be reminiscent of the furrows of a freshly plowed field.

Her Seastone collection (right) explores ideas of contrast and harmony, finished with custom glazes she developed over two years to imitate the finish of a rock worn smooth by the ocean.

1 1 6 s e p t e m b e r 2 0 1 8 / westernliving.ca

WL DESIGNERS OF THE YEAR // m a k e r

“I was always attracted to minimalist design…

I just felt insecure about it, that it wouldn’t be interesting to people.”

one to watch

Benjamin Oswald After graduating with a master’s in education from the University of Alberta, where he used art principles to better visualize scientific concepts, Edmonton-based ceramic artist Benjamin Oswald took his passion for clay out of the classroom and onto the road. He trained with a professor of sculpture in South Korea and studied under celebrated British ceramicists in the U.K.—but wherever he was working in the world (he’s currently back in Edmonton), Oswald found that his greatest challenge with this expressive medium is deciding which ideas he wants to try versus those that should be tried.

With this sense that he is always “beginning,” he is able to keep things new and in a state of continuous learning and improving—whether through manipulating pure white porcelain into different colours or cutting and altering slip-cast vessels—like his most recent vase collection, which took seven months to get just right. “The concept of a vessel has become a bit of a metaphor for being human to me,” he says. “I think that’s why I love to see my hand-thrown pieces and cut and altered vases in multiples and in relationship to each other. It appears to me that they are engaged in a conversation.”— Laryssa Vachon 1 1 8 s e p t e m b e r 2 0 1 8 / westernliving.ca

“At one time, my work was more decorative, but I was always attracted to minimalist design…

I just felt insecure about it, that it wouldn’t be interesting to people,” Bowlby explains. As it turns out, she couldn’t have been more wrong. As judge Kelly Deck writes, “Each bowl, cup or jug is so inviting to use, and thus each one inspires a certain ritual in the daily employ of its function.”

In a world that can be loud and busy, Bowlby creates little reminders to pause. “I make objects meant to be used every day: that’s the cup they drink coffee out of every day or the bowl they eat lunch from,” says Bowlby. “They sort of set the stage for everything else that happens in life. I think that’s a special thing.”

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WL DESIGNERS OF THE YEAR // fa shion

Labour of Love

The creative director of Truvelle and Laudae has put bridal design on the map—and brought Vancouver’s fashion reputation with her.

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

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

Dress: Brian Van Wyk

A Perfect Balance The Halsey, from the Laudae Numinous collection, pairs long bell sleeves in artful lace with flirty details like an open back, deep-V neckline and a sexy, hip-hugging fit.

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rowing up, Gaby Bayona didn’t just lend a hand at her single mother’s custom dress shop; she picked up cheques, made bank deposits, set up accounts and was heavily involved in running the business from the age of 12 on (and would own it by age 18). She also learned how to sew and make patterns, and soon she started her first solo venture, the handmade, non-traditional bridal line Truvelle.

A lot has changed since Bayona stepped out into the entrepreneurial stage. For starters, she no longer works out of her apartment, and her signature minimalist chiffon-skirt gowns (which were turning half a million in profit by year two) are sold around the world—from the U.S. to Singapore—and have made it onto the pages of Flare, British Vogue, Elle UK, New York Weddings and more.

Five years in, the now-25-year-old creative director is running two bridal lines—in 2016 she joined her mother to launch eco-conscious Laudae, which celebrates unique laces and sexy silhouettes—and has clinched Western Living’s Fashion Designer of the Year title for the second time. “I can only imagine the sigh of relief after a young brideto-be discovers Truvelle’s beauty and tasteful simplicity, aspiring to westernliving.ca / s e p t e m b e r

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WL DESIGNERS OF THE YEAR // fa shion

truly what a modern-fashion woman desires,” says DOTY judge Richard Simons, VP of Buying for Simons. On the surface, her meteoric rise seems as effortlessly cool as her non-traditional gowns, but Bayona laughs when she recounts her growing pains. “I just didn’t know about PST, but I’m never going to make that mistake again,” she says. But the self-described data geek researches hard and adapts quickly, pulling info from retailers’ reports, sales numbers on the best-selling styles and sizes, and even feedback from one-on-ones with brides themselves.

In Truvelle’s 2018 collection, the Kim dress (one of eight new dresses named for special people in Bayona’s life) has a long train and gorgeous beaded Spanish lace, which is the direct result of requests 1 2 2 s e p t e m b e r 2 0 1 8 / westernliving.ca

from brides. With Laudae’s second collection, Numinous, Bayona reeled in the brand’s designs and gave the whole look a major edit.

“There were a lot of ideas, a lot of colour, a lot of shapes and fits—but with Numinous it’s more focused, which I’m really proud of,” she says.

“We really dialed in on what kind of shape people want—things that are a little bit more sexy.” So in addition to Laudae’s signature sweeping ornate lace and figure-hugging fits, the line grew to include elegant leg slits, eye-catching open backs and plunging necklines.

In 2016, Bayona moved to her current 10,000-square-foot garment studio in Mount Pleasant, where everything is cut, sewn, manufactured and shipped within its walls. Controlling production is a big

Left: Brian Van Wyk; right: Blush Wedding Photography

The Right Touch All gowns are hand-sewn in Truvelle’s East Vancouver garment studio. Here, the Lupine, from Laudae, features a plush Spanish velvet bodice with a floral lace centre-slit skirt (above).

The latest veils (right) represent an editing of Truvelle’s bestsellers, some with delicate metallic details or lace trim repurposed from dress offcuts.

“I really like elevating Vancouver and knowing that anything that we do that ends up getting worldwide notice is going to bring up the city that I love so dearly.”

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WL DESIGNERS OF THE YEAR // fa shion

reason why they’ve managed to maintain that sub-$3,000 price point. Her team will hand-sew more than 1,500 dresses before the year is done.

Bayona has perfectly captured what it looks like to be a modern bride, but it’s just a part of why she loves heading into work every day. “Running a business is just as creative as designing a dress: you have an idea and you make it, but you can’t keep on adding things to that one dress without it becoming really overwhelming,” she explains. “You have to stop and move on to something else. Whereas with this business, that idea is ever-evolving. And for me that’s super-exciting, knowing I can keep adding to this idea, with all its possibilities.”

Watch this space, as Bayona is already working on her third bridal venture, expected to launch in 2019, which will be a whole new line of curvefocused silhouettes—but it doesn’t stop there.

“I don’t know if I’m going to be able to do it, but I want to start a rooftop bar on top of Truvelle,” she says. “I know it needs to happen.” And if Bayona has anything to do with it, it will.

Brian Van Wyk

Getting Personal Truvelle’s 2018 collection, including the embroidered boho, Alix (left) and the backless chiffon gown with a lace-illusion neckline, called the Julie (inset), was inspired by and named after women on Bayona’s team.

one to watch

Jamie Gentry “Whenever I met people, I would look at their shoes before I even looked at their faces,” says Jamie Gentry. “From a young age, I had an obsession with footwear.”

That fascination turned into a career for the Sooke-based footwear designer, a member of the Kwakwaka’wakw Nation. Inspired by the vibrant hues of nature, Gentry integrates meticulous beadwork with striking art-embossed designs to create gorgeous moccasins with a message: Indigenous fashion is more than just a trend. Each handmade pair—made from sustainably sourced materials like buffalo and moose hide—features bold-yet-spare patterns, complete with unique primary colours to encompass an appreciation of nature.

But for Gentry, moccasin-making is an art as much as it is a craft. “I’ve always loved fashion and using it as a way to express my individuality.”— Sam Nar 1 2 4 s e p t e m b e r 2 0 1 8 / westernliving.ca

WL DESIGNERS OF THE YEAR // jud ge s

JUDGES

JONATHAN ADLER (maker) launched his first ceramics collection in 1994. Now his empire encompasses myriad product lines, each dedicated to bringing style, craft and joy to life.

ALAN ANDERSON (fashion) is creative director of Jewels by Alan Anderson, Canada’s definitive couture fashion jewellery house. His pieces have adorned magazine covers and celebrities around the world—from Dame Elizabeth Taylor to Katy Perry.

DESIGNERS OF THE YEAR 2018

TIM ANTONIUK (industrial) is an associate professor of industrial design at the University of Alberta.

Through his research and practice as co-founder of Hothouse Design Studio in the early ’90s and in his work with international companies such as Droog, he has investigated the production of morphing/shapeshifting materials and products.

MIKAEL AXELSSON (industrial), a designer for Ikea, has studied design in Stockholm, Barcelona and Wellington, and is also a trained mechanical engineer. His work has been exhibited around the world, and in 2017 he received a Good Design award hosted by the Japan Institute for Design Promotion.

BARBARA BARRY (interiors) runs her eponymous design firm from L.A. Her designs are sold in fine stores throughout the world, as well as in Barbara Barry galleries in Bangkok, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Moscow.

MICHELLE BIGGAR (architecture), principal, Office of McFarlane Biggar Architects and Designers, has been practising as an interior designer for 20 years, with international experience in Australia, the U.K. and Canada. Her work embraces an extensive range of project types, ranging from the hands-on crafting of small projects to the project management and design leadership of large-scale, complex multi-user facilities.

CHRISTIAN BLYT (industrial) is an associate professor in industrial design and coordinator of the Innovations in Wood Design program at Emily Carr University of Art and Design.

JAMES CHENG (architecture) is a Canadian architect recognized for his pioneering contributions to West Coast architecture and city building. Cheng has received more than 50 design awards, including the Governor General’s Medal in Architecture and the Order of Canada, which is the country’s highest civilian honour for lifetime achievement and merit of a high degree from the Governor General’s office of Canada.

ANDREA COCHRAN (landscape), FASLA, is founder of San Francisco-based Andrea Cochran Landscape Architecture. Cochran holds a master’s degree in landscape architecture from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design. In 2014, she was awarded the Smithsonian’s Cooper Hewitt National Design Award in Landscape Architecture and was honoured with ASLA’s Design Medal the same year.

BRENT COMBER (maker, furniture) 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.

ROZEMERIE CUEVAS (fashion) is designer and founder of two Canadian brands, Jacqueline Conoir and JAC by Jacqueline Conoir. Over the course of 1 2 6 s e p t e m b e r 2 0 1 8 / westernliving.ca

her 33-year career, both the brands and Cuevas have received numerous design, influential women in business, and business innovator awards in Canada.

KELLY DECK (maker) is one of Western Canada’s most recognized designers of luxury homes. She is the director of her Vancouver-based design firm, Kelly Deck Design.

Her design and home decor ideas have gained an international following through her column in the Globe and Mail, her series on Home and Garden Television, and her ongoing contributions to Western Living and other magazines.

GEORGE HARRIS (landscape) is practitioner-in-residence in the Master of Landscape Architecture program at the University of Calgary. He is also president of the Alberta Association of Landscape Architects.

KELTY McKINNON (landscape) brings a diverse background in landscape architecture, public art and environmental studies to PFS Studio, where she is a partner.

She has taught numerous design studios at UBC, and she is a regular critic, lecturer and juror. McKinnon writes on diverse topics associated with landscape architecture for several books and journals, and her work has been shown in London, Vienna, New York, Berlin and Vancouver.

ALESSANDRO MUNGE (interiors) of Studio Munge has been reshaping the preconceived notions of interior design for more than 20 years. With an innovative viewpoint that earned him Contract Magazine’s Designer of the Year award, Munge approaches every project with a deep understanding of practicalities, artistic expression and human connectivity.

TODD SAUNDERS (architecture) is principal of Saunders Architecture. Based in Bergen, he has worked on cultural and residential projects across Norway as well as in England, Denmark, Italy, Sweden and Canada. Most notably known for the iconic architecture of the Fogo Island Inn and studios, Saunders continues to raise the bar for the industry.

RICHARD SIMONS (fashion) is co-owner of Simons, representing the fifth generation to lead and continue the vision of this fashion-focused family company. He began his career in 1989 in the retail fashion business as a buyer for Simons. After working his way up through the ranks, he took over the family business with his brother in 1996 as vice president of merchandising.

JEREMY STURGESS (interiors), principal of Sturgess Architecture, has more than 40 years of experience as an architect in Calgary and has contributed to Canadian architecture at a variety of levels. In 1997, Sturgess was appointed to the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts, and he is a fellow of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada. In 2012 he received the Queen’s Jubilee Medal, and his firm has won three Governor General’s Medals in Architecture.

SIMONE VINGERHOETS (furniture), executive vice president of Ligne Roset, oversees North and South American markets. She previously served as North American CEO of Wilkhahn and as executive vice president for Finnish furniture brand Artek.

MAUREEN WELTON (furniture) joined Article, a directto-consumer furniture brand, in 2015 as creative director and has since expanded its catalogue dramatically.

Over the past three years, the company has grown exponentially and has been recognized as one of Canada’s fastest-growing start-ups. Prior to joining Article, she was the award-winning founding partner and creative director of 18 Karat.

WL DESIGNERS OF THE YEAR // fin a lis t s

FINALISTS

ARCHITECTURE Burgers Architecture, West Vancouver DeJong Design Associates, Calgary FNDA Architecture, North Vancouver Frits de Vries Architects and Associates, Vancouver McLeod Bovell Modern Houses, Vancouver Measured Architecture, Vancouver One Seed Architecture and Interiors, Vancouver Secter Architecture and Design, Winnipeg

DESIGNERS OF THE YEAR 2018

Vallely Architecture, Vancouver ARTHUR ERICKSON MEMORIAL AWARD FOR AN EMERGING ARCHITECT Andrea McLean Studio, Vancouver Arno Matis Architecture, Vancouver Dancing Particles, West Vancouver Gates-Suter Architects, Vancouver One Seed Architecture and Interiors, Vancouver Stark Architecture, Vancouver Studio North, Calgary Vallely Architecture, Vancouver FASHION Andronyk, Saskatoon Clarissa Long, Vancouver Grey by Becki Chan, Vancouver Hannah Newton, Vancouver Jamie Gentry Designs, Sooke, B.C. Parts and Labor, Calgary Poppy Barley, Edmonton Shannon Munro, Victoria Stittgen Fine Jewelry, Vancouver Truvelle, Vancouver Vestige Story, Vancouver Westerly Handmade Shoes, Vancouver 1 2 8 s e p t e m b e r 2 0 1 8 / westernliving.ca

FURNITURE AdrianMartinus Designs, Calgary Autonomous Furniture, Victoria Design-Built, Winnipeg Jay Miron Furniture, Vancouver MSJ Furniture Studio, Vancouver New Format Studio, Vancouver Ryspot Design, Edmonton Studio North, Calgary Willow and Stump, Vancouver INDUSTRIAL Form and Forest Industries, Golden, B.C. Karice Enterprises, Surrey, B.C. Ko Júbilo, Vancouver Pot Incorporated, Vancouver Propellor, Vancouver Shipway Living Design, Vancouver Tantalus Design Inc., North Vancouver Tomnuk Design, Edmonton Willow and Stump, Vancouver

LANDSCAPE BattersbyHowat Architects, Vancouver Donna Brown Landscapes, Sherwood Park, Alberta Donohoe Design, Vancouver Green Elevations, North Vancouver JWT Architecture, Bowen Island, B.C. Klavdi Kukovic, Vancouver Planta Landscape Studio, Calgary Salisbury Landscaping, Edmonton MAKER Benjamin Oswald Ceramics, Edmonton Cathy Terepocki Ceramics, Yarrow, B.C. Kalika Bowlby, Golden, B.C. McLauchlan Made, Vancouver Stefanie Dueck, Vancouver Timothy Dyck, Abbotsford, B.C. Trae Designs, Squamish, B.C.

Zoë Pawlak, Vancouver

ROBERT LEDINGHAM MEMORIAL AWARD FOR AN EMERGING INTERIOR DESIGNER

INTERIORS

Andrea McLean Studio, Vancouver

Adam Becker Design, Vancouver

Andrea Rodman Interiors, Vancouver

Amanda Hamilton Interior Design, Calgary

Candace Wolfe Design, Edmonton

Andrea McLean Studio, Vancouver

Geralynne Mitschke Design, Vancouver

Andrea Rodman Interiors, West Vancouver

Jacqui Loucks Interior Concepts, Calgary

Geralynne Mitschke Design, Vancouver

Melissa Ennis Design, Edmonton

HB Design, North Vancouver

Purity Designs, Langley, B.C.

Hodgson Design Associates, Vancouver

Rochelle Cote Interior Design, Calgary

Measured Architecture, Vancouver

Rudy Winston Design, Vancouver

Pure Design, Vancouver

Studio Block, Vancouver

Purity Designs, Langley, B.C.

Studio Roslyn, Vancouver westernliving.ca / s e p t e m b e r

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Casual Italian

Eva Katalin Kondoros

The key to uncovering the soul of a place is through its food. And we’re not talking about the five-star, whitelinen spots where eating dinner costs the same as a small Fiat. We mean the rough-and-ready street-food joints that the locals patronize. Guy Saddy took his family up and down the boot, eschewing the tourist traps and instead teaching his kids about the real la dolce vita through the back alley eateries.

See the story and some great inspired recipes starting on page 142.

The Alley Not Taken The secret to great Italian food is getting off the beaten path, pronto!

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

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WLFOOD // bites

BITES

What we’re eating and drinking.

The “Wick,” a Tofino institution of oceanfront respite served up with fine tide-to-table dining, is sharing all its guestfavourite recipes in one ultimate tome. The Wickaninnish Cookbook: Rustic Elegance on Nature’s Edge features more than 100 new and long-standing recipes from its revered kitchen, with everything from the famous Wick granola to chef Rod Butters’s shellfish-rich potlatch to this recipe: chef Justin Labossiere’s fragrant Thai green curry mussels. There are breakfast recipes, chocolate platters, breads and every seafood under the sun, or under the sea, rather— each a cherished piece of this inn’s history and West Coast cuisine.

Coconut Green Curry Mussels The mussels that grow in the waters off Vancouver Island are sweet and plump—a perfect match for chef Labossiere’s fragrant Thai green curry sauce. The sauce itself could easily be made a day ahead of time, making it a snap to pull this dish together for a quick supper or lunch. Just be sure to offer plenty of bread to soak up every delicious drop of the sauce.

4 cups high-fat coconut milk ½ yellow onion, sliced 2 cloves garlic, sliced 1 stalk lemongrass, sliced 2-inch piece galangal, peeled and sliced 2-inch piece ginger, peeled and sliced 3 lime leaves, sliced into thin strips 3 tbsp Thai green curry paste 1 bunch cilantro, chopped 1 bunch green onions, cut in 2-inch pieces Lime juice to taste Fish sauce to taste Sambal oelek or sriracha sauce (optional)

Mussels 1 cup chicken stock 5 lbs Salt Spring Island or Gallo mussels

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1. Skim 4 tbsp pure coconut fat from top of

5. The curry base can be prepared a day ahead

2. Stir in green curry paste, making sure to

6. To make the mussels, bring the curry base and chicken stock to a simmer in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add mussels, cover and cook for 7 to 10 minutes or until they have all opened.

Discard any that don’t.

coconut milk and add to a medium-sized pot. Over medium heat, bring coconut fat to a simmer, then stir in yellow onions, garlic, lemongrass, galangal, ginger and lime leaves.

Mix well. Continue to cook vegetables in coconut fat until onions are soft and translucent and fat starts to separate.

completely coat vegetable mixture. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes or until mixture begins to stick to bottom of pot. Reduce heat if necessary.

3. Add remaining coconut milk, stirring well,

and bring to a gentle simmer. Cook uncovered for 30 minutes or until curry starts to thicken.

4. Stir in half the cilantro and half the green onions. Simmer for 5 more minutes, season to taste with lime juice and fish sauce, then remove from heat and strain into a container.

to this point. It should be slightly salty, tangy and spicy; if you like more heat, add some sambal oelek or sriracha sauce.

7. Divide mussels and curry between four to six bowls—or just one big one that everyone can share—and garnish with remaining cilantro and green onions. Serve with warm or grilled bread.

Serves 4 to 6.

ExcErptEd from The Wick aninnish cookbook: RusTic elegance on naTuRe’s edge by JoannE SaSvari. copyright © 2018 Wick aninniSh inn. photography © makito inomata. publiShEd by appEtitE by random houSE®, a diviSion of pEnguin random houSE canada limitEd. rEproducEd by arrangEmEnt With thE publiShEr. all rightS rESErvEd.

Makito Inomata

Curry Base

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LUXE FLOWER WALL & BACKDROP RENTALS HANDMADE PAPER FLOWERS DECOR & EVENT RENTALS

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2018-08-02 11:07 AM

W W W . M O D A . C A

WLFOOD // bites O p en i n g s

i n t h e k i tc h en

Brekkie Café

Back in Black These stainless steel kitchen tools by Japanese architect Hagino Mitsunobu further the design world’s embrace of matte black finishes and display beautifully with classic wooden utensils. thefjordstore.com

125–20 Westpark Link sW, CaLgary

Who Owner Jeremy Banning, executive chef Jordan Walsh Why we’re excited This poppy retro space is a fun departure for interior designer Amanda Hamilton. And there’s a fried egg and pork belly sandwich (with pineapple salsa and cashew pesto on sourdough), plus chocolatecovered thick-cut double-smoked bacon on the menu. brekkie.ca

The Farmer’s Daughter 101–2360 BeaCon aVe., siDney, B.C.

Centro Ristorante 1037 Denman st., VanCouVer

Who Angela Maida (formerly owner of Pronto, Prontino) Why we’re excited The tears we shed for Cambie Street’s Pronto and Prontino were real, but Maida has channelled all the predecessors’ pasta, cocktail and wine magic into a roomier, ’70s-inspired hangout in the West End. centroristorante.ca

e v en t s

Calgary Food Fest

Who Jessica Sommers, Tom Dai (both formerly of Artisan Wine Shop in downtown Victoria) Why we’re excited A fromagerie, bistro and wine bar in one (where there are $15 cheese flights, people).

Plus, we’re suckers for a good backstory: the owner couple fell in love while working at a wine shop, and their new place similarly celebrates great pairings. thefarmersdaughter.co

11400 27 st. se, CaLgary septemBer 8

You know the culinary offerings are top notch when the politicians show up (MLA Ric McIver and Mayor Naheed Nenshi have RSVP’d yes)— 21 food trucks might have something to do with that, including Soul Kitchen BBQ, Atlas Ice Cream and Lil’ Truck on the Prairie. Live bands, prize draws and bouncy castles keep the whole family entertained. teamupcalgary.ca

Great Canadian Beer Festival royaL athLetiC park, 1014 CaLeDonia aVe., ViCtoria septemBer 7 anD 8

Whoa! White Pinot Noir?

You’re not tripping: this bottle from pinot champion Spearhead is indeed a white wine made from the famed red grape (Tinhorn Creek made a similar experimental batch last year, too). But let’s calm down for a second. A large portion of most Champagne is also made from pinot, so this white wine/red grape thing is not without precedent.

To accomplish this, you need to use a very light press of whole clusters of grapes, letting the clear juice run off and avoiding contact with the grape skins—that would impart the colour. And the result is a treat: some ripe peach and crisp nectarine that’s all vibrancy and zip. And at $24, it’s a rarity without a rarefied price.

1 3 6 s e p t e m b e r 2 0 1 8 / westernliving.ca

Neal McLennan's Wine Pick

This is a pretty major lineup of some of Western Canada’s best brewers, including several big and small Island breweries: Category 12, Phillips, Hoyne and Merridale Cidery—among many others. Always a fitting end to the summer. gcbf.com

Beer and a Curry FaCuLty BreWing, VanCouVer septemBer 9

Two U.K. expats bring the popular beer-andcurry Sunday tradition to the West Coast with these new special dinner pop-ups at local craft breweries. Guests get bottomless veg or meat curry (and roti) to go with a pint for $35, and we can’t think of a better way to prepare for Mondays. instagram.com/beerandacurry.

GCBF: Matt Schmitz

O k a n ag a n W i n e s c h O O l l e s s O n # 2 1:

We have lots of great stories Waiting to be danced.

We have lots of great stories Waiting to be danced.

Plan your getaWay. visit gohaWaii.com #lethaWaiihaPPen Plan your getaWay. visit gohaWaii.com

WLTRAVEL // the check-in

by Neal McleNNaN

The Check-in

DESIGN DESTINATION

Marrakech has been enticing adventurous wanderers for decades with its combination of easy access and exotic surroundings. But the past few years have seen its already iconic style explode as fashion designers, architects and other creatives mine the city’s rich traditions for inspiration. Here are the must-visit spots for the traveller looking to bring back a slice of Moroccan chic for their own castle.

palace pasha The city is cheek to jowl with high-end properties: there’s a Fairmont, a Four Seasons and even the kingowned Royal Mansour. But even in this rarefied air, the classic 1 La Mamounia stands alone. The original luxe lodging, it had its pick of locations back in 1923, and its unheard-of 20 acres directly adjacent to the medina provide instant access as well as a calming respite after a day (or an hour) of haggling. And the refresh by famed French designer Jacques Garcia only underscores the site as a design lover’s dream locale. “It is one of the most beautiful places in the world,” declared Winston Churchill when he described La Mamounia to Franklin Roosevelt in 1943.

1

3 maze runner Once you’re inside the medina, we wish you luck. There’s nothing quite like its mix of residences, small hotels (riads), restaurants and shops, shops, shops. Part of the fun is getting lost in the endlessly winding alleys and coming across a vendor who calls to you—likely literally and repeatedly.

But for those on a mission for fashion and decor, here are a few good starting points. 2 Chabi Chic offers ultra-contemporary ceramics (tricky to find)—just be prepared to pay (quite) a bit more than for traditional Moroccan ware—and the store can be trusted to ship your purchases home. 3 Karim Bouriad has a similarly modern take on traditional Moroccan dresses and caftans. Expect beautiful embroidery and colours that will kick-start your dark wardrobe. Artisan El Koutoubia makes for a great introduction to the charms of the traditional silver and brass lamps and serving vessels that are everywhere in the medina.

2

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WLTRAVEL // the check-in

5

4

small luxuries While ambling through the market, make sure you stop at one of the riads, or courtyard houses, for a bite or even just to look around. In the past few decades, dozens of them have been turned into stylish boutique hotels that allow the visitor to find a quasi-oasis of calm within the medina. One of our faves for lunch is 4 El Fenn, where owner Vanessa Branson (she’s Sir Richard’s sister) cultivates an aura of art, film and culture, making it a great spot for a leisurely patio lunch while you recharge your batteries. A little less expensive, but high on design, is 5 Riad Goloboy, whose eight rooms each channel a different local aesthetic. And while there’s no food for non-residents, it’s worth checking out if you want to live chicly on a budget.

hip joint While you’re in YSL’s old ’hood, stop by 7 33 Rue Majorelle, a gallery/ concept store that’s equal parts Muji, Céline and Gagosian. It’s a mecca for stylish Moroccan goods— from lamps to fedoras to embroidered tunics—in a beautiful and carefully curated two-storey locale.

The quality is very high compared with that of the souks—but so is the price, so grab a coffee and some chocolate fondant next door at 16 Kawa while you contemplate your purchases.

6

hot couture Yves St. Laurent and his partner, Pierre Bergé, perhaps did more than any other foreign residents to help raise the city’s design profile when they purchased a home here in 1966, and their abode on the Jardin Majorelle has been recently transformed into the splendid 6 YSL Museum. For one part of your visit, you can stroll the expansive gardens and tour the house that so inspired the designer, and for the other you can explore the brand-new building that’s an ode to YSL’s genius, from his early Piet Mondrian-inspired dresses all the way to his last collection in 2002.

1 4 0 s e p t e m b e r 2 0 1 8 / westernliving.ca

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Atika is a store dedicated to Tod’s “inspired” loafers, and there are hundreds of colours and styles.

Expect to pay $70, but the workmanship is very good. While you’re there, stroll the modern and hip Gueliz neighbourhood, where the beautiful people of Marrakech shop, eat and party (they don’t spend a lot of time in the tourist-choked medina).

Hit the exquisite 8 Yahya for ultrahigh-end home decor, where mirrors and sconces crafted in traditional brass designs are statement pieces (there’s also a smaller outpost in La Mamounia).

El Fenn: Kasia Gatkowska

new town

Stand Alone A trip down the back alleys of Italy can yield unexpected and welcome surprises for the intrepid traveller.

1 4 2 s e p t e m b e r 2 0 1 8 / westernliving.ca

Gutter Credit

WLFOOD & TRAVEL // eataly

Cibo di Strada A family takes on Italy one back alley at a time and discovers the joys of eating like a local in the food capital of the world.

by guy saddy // recipe photographs by clinton hussey // recipe food styling by lawren moneta

Terry J Alcorn

On

our second week in Italy, I ate raw pork. This was unintentional. We were in Lido di Camaiore, one of several western coastal towns located near the top of the boot. The setting was gorgeous, with sweeping white-sand beaches set against stunning green mountains. But it was compromised by some of the worst urban planning we’d seen—dozens of private bagnos, or beach resorts, pocked the area and blocked oceanfront access. The formaggio factor alone— these were hardly high-end developments—wiped out much of the charm. If the Santa Monica Pier and Coney Island had a child, they’d name it Lido di Camaiore.

We had come to the Italian Riviera after spending 10 days in the Tuscan countryside. There, we ate pici, or hand-rolled pasta, bistecca fiorentina and the succulent “Red Chicken” from Certaldo. We ate…well. But by the time we left, our bellies swollen with gluten, we wanted something different. We got it, with a twist, at La Madia, a small food shop in Lido di Camaiore.

At La Madia, all the food looked solid. I opted for a charcuterie plate. It emerged minutes later, a spectacular cornucopian pile of salami and cheeses. In that pile was

a small mound of what appeared to be very fatty chopped steak. Tentatively, I smeared some on a piece of bread.

Rich and complex, it was one of the most profoundly elegant tastes I’ve ever experienced.

This was salsiccia cruda, and to call it raw pork does it a double injustice. First, because it’s sublime. And second, because it’s actually “fresh salami,” meaning that it’s cured. (A bit. Somewhat.) But it confirmed for us what we had come to believe: that cibo di strada, or street food, could be every bit as impressive as Italy’s iconic dishes.

This was not our first encounter with salsiccia, although we failed to recognize it at the time. In Florence, we’d stopped by Il Santino, a small enoteca in the Santo Spirito neighbourhood. Sitting on two wobbly metal stools, over a glass or two of Tuscan red, we watched as the lone employee churned out a variety of plates armed with only a prosciutto slicer and a countertop broiler oven. It all looked superb, but one dish stood out.

“What’s that?” I asked, pointing to an open-faced sandwich that had just come out of the broiler.

“Crostone salsiccia,” she said. “Do you want one?”

Splitting open a large dinner sausage—fresh salami, westernliving.ca / s e p t e m b e r

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Locals Only Most Italians don’t hang out in Michelin-starred restaurants. They grab and go, but whether it’s a tripe sandwich, a deepfried pizza or a cone of simple fritto misto (right), they still manage to eat very well.

1 4 4 s e p t e m b e r 2 0 1 8 / westernliving.ca

actually—our host squeezed the contents onto a large chunk of bread and then placed it under the broiler. After a few minutes, she topped it with several thick slices of pecorino and re-grilled it until the cheese had melted.

Finally, shaved truffles were sprinkled on top. I took a bite.

“How do you like it?” she asked.

I searched for something clever to say in Italian. I failed miserably, but managed to cobble together some gibberish that included both dios and cristo.

Florence was chock full of discoveries, from small takeaway tosteria specializing in rustic toasted sandwiches to the three All’antico Vinaio locations on Via dei Neri, where five euros gets you a massive panini stuffed with Gorgonzola, truffled honey and lardo toscano—a wonderfully unctuous cold meat made from, as you might have guessed, lard.

On the same block there was a queue forming outside Club de Gusto, a small room specializing in lampredotto— a tripe sandwich. We were debating whether to order one when a middle-aged man standing next to us interjected.

“It is a specialty of Firenze,” he said. “You must eat it.” We ordered one to share and watched as a generous helping of meat, boiled an unappetizing grey, was scooped out of a cauldron and heaped onto a crusty bun, then topped with two sauces, one red and the other vivid green. It wasn’t much to look at.

My son took the first bite. “Dad, it’s amazing,” he said.

I’d eaten tripe only once before and remembered it as chewy, tough and bland. This version was tender, full of flavour, and the interplay between the sauces—the salty salsa verde, made from parsley, garlic and anchovies, balanced the red sauce’s kick—took the whole thing up several notches. This was tripe? No. It was a revelation.

As was much about Florence’s street food, which, no matter how downscale, still maintained a sense of sophistication. But if Florence, as its name suggests, is a stately society matron, Naples, on the southwest coast, is Italy’s wayward teenage daughter, complete with tongue piercings. Even the graffiti mirrors the differences: in Florence, it’s constrained and tasteful, as if orchestrated by Banksy.

The tagging in Naples is much more in your face, unapologetically bold.

This difference extends to food culture. Naples, of course, is known as the mecca of pizza. Rightly so: you can’t throw a rum-soaked baba, a classic bell-shaped Neapolitan dessert, without hitting a serious pizzeria. But there is much more to Napoli—a chaotic, sharp-edged city of approximately three million, where back streets no wider than a pedestrian skybridge are shared by people, motorcycles and cars—than marinara and Margherita.

This is confirmed by walking this bustling, working

Food stand: Michelle Heimerman; fritto misto: SvetlanaSF; charcuterie: Foxys Forest Manufacture; sign and sandwich: Michelle Heimerman; fried pizza: zkruger

WLFOOD & TRAVEL // eataly

Lampredotto, the classic Florentine tripe sandwich.

The deep-fried goodness of pizza fritta.

WLFOOD & TRAVEL // eataly

1 4 6 s e p t e m b e r 2 0 1 8 / westernliving.ca

»

recipe by Daniel Costa, chef/owner, corso 32, edmonton “I have always loved exploring street food throughout all the regions of Italy. One of my fondest memories was being at a festival near my family’s hometown in Vallo di Diano, Campania, where I tried a plate of shaved pig’s head served with coarse sea salt and an Amalfi lemon half. It was perfect. I can never resist a lampredotto panino in Florence or olive ascolane in Ascoli; street food will always be such a major part of Italian culture and cuisine. You can find many different variations of this Polpette di Pane (fried bread, finocchiona and pecorino dumplings) throughout southern Italy. Try substituting anchovies for salumi or leave the meat out completely—either way, it will be delicious!”

POLPETTE DI PANE 1¾ cups high-quality bread 200 g finocchiona or any other type of Italian salumi, thinly sliced and cut into strips ¾ cup pecorino fresco (or other soft melting cheese, such as fontina), cut into small cubes 2 eggs 1 cup fresh cow’s-milk ricotta 1 cup grated pecorino romano Handful Italian parsley, stems removed and roughly chopped Whole milk Zest of 1 lemon Sunflower oil, for deep frying Lemon wedges, for serving Remove crust from bread and save for another use.

Rip crustless bread into large dice-sized pieces.

Place bread in a large bowl and add enough milk to just cover. Allow bread to become fully saturated with milk (approximately 5 minutes). Lightly squeeze most of the milk out of the bread. (The bread should still have a little absorbed milk remaining.) Discard or reuse milk as you like.

In a separate mixing bowl, add eggs, ricotta, pecorino, parsley and lemon zest. Using a whisk, mix until combined. Add bread to the ricotta mixture.

Using your hands, mix together until just combined.

Add finocchiona and cubed cheese; mix well. Let rest for 15 minutes or up to 24 hours in the fridge.

To make the polpette, form mixture into balls approximately 1½ inches in size. Heat oil in a medium-sized pot to 350°F. Fry polpette in batches (avoid crowding the pot) until golden brown. Remove polpette using a spider or slotted spoon. Serve immediately with a lemon wedge.

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

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WLFOOD & TRAVEL // eataly

class city. Leaving our second-floor suite overlooking Galleria Umberto, an ornate late 19th-century shopping arcade, there are the standard early morning lineups at Sfogliatella Mary, a small shop specializing in sfogliatelle, a flaky, ricotta-filled pastry dusted with icing sugar. Turning north on Via Toledo, a broad avenue ostensibly meant for cars but usually jammed with people, we pass the busy Passione di Sofi, a classic friggatoria serving up fritto misto, a deep-fried medley of squid, anchovies and potato croquettes, jammed into a cuoppo, or paper cone—patrons dig in with long wooden skewers. On Via San Biagio dei Librai, an alley-narrow street full of shops and restaurants, is Taralleria Napoletana. It sells one thing only: tarallo, a sweet or savoury pretzel that comes in a mind-numbing array of flavours.

At Tandem Steak, a cozy wood-panelled spot close to the Universita metro stop (the playfully colourful subway station was designed by Canadian designer Karim Rashid), tradition is on the menu. The spot is best known as a scarpetteria—they serve pasta sauces, but without pasta. We order a bowl each. Within minutes they arrive, with a large basket of bread.

Hearty and filling, the ragù (meat sauce) easily stands on its own.

But pasta, although apparently overkill, is actually the delivery system for sauce; at a scarpetteria, bread performs a similar function. Mimicking the family seated next to us, as we get to the bottom of our bowls we start tearing bread into smaller chunks and scooping ragù with it, making scarpetta—the “little shoe.” At the end of our meals, our bowls 1 4 8 s e p t e m b e r 2 0 1 8 / westernliving.ca

look as if they were freshly washed.

After four days in Naples, we’d consumed buckets of saturated fat, but shaving a decade or so off our life expectancy seemed a small price to pay. There was, however, one place left that we had to try: Antica Pizza Fritta da Zia Esterina Sorbillo, a name so pompous it ought to come with monogrammed cufflinks. On other days, we’d lingered outside before moving on, but pizza fritta—deep fried pizza—seemed so indulgently over the top that even our family’s most diehard glutton had elected to take a pass. Today, though, curiosity gets the better of me.

At lunch the lineup is long, even though it’s raining—a testament, surely. Jostling to see, we watch as the filling is placed atop rolledout dough and then folded into a calzone-like shape before being immersed in boiling oil. Soon it emerges: a misshapen golden blob that looks vaguely like John Merrick’s head.

Standing on the street, we take a bite. Oh, my.

Doves flew. Verdi blared. Mona Lisa snorted. It was incredible: Escoffier meets Boyardee, the El Dorado of cibo di strada, a mash-up of all that was great and greasy condensed into a meal requiring two hands, an iron gut and a flagrant disregard for medical consequence. It was possibly the worst food choice I’ve ever made, and one of the finest meals I’ve ever eaten.

As Caesar himself would never put it: veni, vidi, mangia. We came, we saw, we ate. We survived.

Leonardi

Stand and Deliver No tablecloths or crystal or even waiters.

Just great food.

WLFOOD & TRAVEL // eataly

»

recipe by adam Pegg, chef/owner, La Quercia, VancouVer “There is a dish in Emilia near Modena called borlenghi that’s not done anywhere else. As in, it’s not even known or heard of outside that region. And it’s maybe the best ‘fast food’ I’ve ever had. The only way to describe borlenghi (the plural, which is key, because no one has ever eaten just one) is a cross between a crepe and a dosa.

Thinner and more delicate than either, it makes more mess than the flakiest pastry. The traditional filling is ground prosciutto fat and parmigiano-reggiano (with a little fresh rosemary thrown in). It is made in two ways. One is to pour the batter very thinly in a hot copper pan (similar to making crepes), and the other method (my preferred, for its paper-like thinness) is to spray the hot pan with the batter, using a water bottle or mist gun. As it crisps up, it’s flipped over, and before it’s finished cooking, the prosciutto/parmigiano mixture is lightly spread on top. It’s folded three or four times and eaten like this.”

BORLENGHI B AT T E R

6½ to 7½ cups water 1½ cups “00” flour 1 egg 4 tbsp mild olive oil FILLING

200 g lardo 100 g pancetta 1 clove garlic 1 sprig rosemary With a whisk or hand blender, mix all batter ingredients until smooth and leave to rest in fridge for a few hours. The batter should be quite runny/loose. Loose enough to spray from a water spray bottle.

To make a traditional filling, grind all filling ingredients together into a paste.

Put batter in a spray bottle. Set a thick-bottomed copper or cast iron pan on medium heat. Once pan is hot, spray batter mixture to cover pan. When batter is slightly browned, flip and continue cooking until crispy. Quickly spread the filling very thinly overtop. Fold the borlengho in half, then again in half, and again.

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

Hey Somm, what’s a great local Italian wine ? »

Evan Watson, Bar ClEmEntinE, Edmonton

“Drinking a well-made wine from the frappato grape is one of the simple pleasures in life that every person deserves. Native to the island of Sicily, it is often blended with its brawnier, more tannic counterpart, Nero d’Avola—typically found in the wines of Cerasuolo di Vittoria. When bottled alone, and from fantastic producers like Arianna Occhipinti or COS (and it is not a coincidence that there is a familial relation between the two), it is the vinous equivalent of carefree sunbathing. Bright cherry and strawberry flavours swirl around a light-bodied frame, often with dried flowers and a saline mineral twang. This is pleasure wine. Look it in the eye and tell it wine isn’t cool—it will respond accordingly.”

»

shanE taylor, CinCin, VancouVEr “The perfect accompaniment to Italian street food for me is lambrusco. It’s native to Emilia-Romagna, where prosciutto di Parma and parmesan also hail from. It is the perfect foil for salty, spicy and cheesy goodness, with dryish, ripe red fruit and lots of bubbles to keep your palate cleansed and ready for the next bite. It is more of a drinker than a thinker and very quaffable. Definitely one of the most ‘pairable’ wines out there. A good one to buy from your local is the Medici Ermete ‘Concerto’ Lambrusco Salamino 2015. Single-vineyard and vintage for $20— what a steal!”

Sicilia Frappato Arianna Occhipinti II Frappato, $50

Medici Ermete “Concerto” Lambrusco Reggiano, $20

»

matthEW landry, staBlE housE Bistro, VancouVEr “In the far northwest corner of Italy, as the Piemontese influence gradually gives way to Alpine France, there exists a most wonderful wine region called the Valle d’Aosta. To picture it, imagine if Whistler wasn’t one big strip mall. After a day on the slopes, stretch out in front of the fire and indulge in a slightly chilled bottle of the local table wine, Torrette. It drinks like Beaujolais, with restrained alcohol, pure red fruits and little tannic bite. Pair with lardo, cheese fondue and bearskin rugs.”

Valle d’Aosta Charrère Les Crêtes Torrette, $32

»

Christina hartigan, Botanist, VancouVEr “As an island, it’s no surprise that Sardinia has cuisine that’s heavily influenced by the sea and that its local wines are made to pair well with seafood.

Argiolas Costamolino Vermentino di Sardegna is a medium-bodied white wine with notes of sweet herbs and citrus. It can stand up to richer seafood dishes, but its bright acidity will keep your palate fresh when digging into a platter of fritto misto.”

Argiolas Costamolino Vermentino di Sardegna, $19

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

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WLFOOD & TRAVEL // eataly

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recipe by Shawn Soole, Head bartender, pagliacci’s and principal consultant, sHawn soole consulting, Victoria “This recipe combines two of my favourite things—Cynar with soda and white port with tonic—into one drink. The Lem Marrakech bitters brighten the flavours and unify all three ingredients into a cocktail that is perfect for a summer’s day on the patio.”

COMBINATO 1 oz Cynar 1½ oz Taylor Fladgate white port Dash of Lem Marrakech Top with Sparkmouth cucumber and mint tonic

Gutter Credit

Build drink in above order over ice in a highball glass. Garnish with a mint sprig, a twist of lemon and a cucumber slice.

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

CONTEMPORARY DINNERWARE

BACCARAT CRYSTAL

GEORG JENSEN

CHRISTOFLE FLATWARE

Designed to dine

1501 W 6TH @ GRANVILLE ST.

ATKINSONS.CA

604.736.3378

WL // trade secrets

designed By

Gillian Segal

The Look

MODERN FARMHOUSE Layer texture and colour for a contemporary look that’s warm and welcoming.

Ema Peter

How do you imbue modern architecture with farmhouse style? You find a beautiful middle ground—or at least that’s what designer Gillian Segal did when she mixed rustic details with modern finishes in this renovated Vancouver Special. Man-made quartz counters and marble subway tiles add the character and luxury of natural stone, while the grain of the hardwood floor brings the texture and keeps things down to earth. Cooler tones (blue-grey cabinets and glossy white surfaces) play off warm accents like the brass faucet, gold light fixture and bronze table legs for a glam-but-unfussy mix. “The best way to get a contemporary look that feels warm is by layering texture and not sticking to one colour or metal type,” says Segal. “Don’t be scared to mix it up—it helps contribute to a more eclectic, lived-in look.”

1 5 4 s e p t e m b e r 2 0 1 8 / westernliving.ca

JOURNEY THE WORLD.

ARRIVE TRANSFORMED. Copenhagen Heighten the senses in this cozy reimagining of the Modern Movement. Discover the breadth of our entire collection of bathroom products at dxv.com

© AS America, Inc. 2017

DXV presents the DXV Modulus™ Collection.

This DXV bathroom was designed by Michele Alfano.

CLASSIC

GOLDEN ERA

MODERN

CONTEMPOR ARY

Inform Interiors | 50 & 97 Water St | Vancouver BC | informinteriors.com