Bon Vivant I Fall 2014 Issue 01

BON VIVANT JUSTIN TAYLOR’S COCKTAIL PHILOSOPHY: Tell a Story with Each and Every Glass

FALL/WINTER 2014

ExPLOR E ThE CON V ENIENCE Of ThE N E W S U T T O N P L A C E M O b I L E A P P. ANyTIME. ANy WhERE.

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FALL/WINTER 2014 3

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Visit a kiehl’s location near you or online at www.kiehls.ca

Contents Welcome

7 10

Italian Way of Living and Eating at Edmonton’s Corso 32

14

The Importance of Food in Society

Liquids

Never Left Art School Self-described art student, Douglas Coupland’s social commentary touches on everyday things

32

An Uncompromising Standard of Excellence Boulevard Kitchen & Oyster Bar offers a tantalizing culinary experience

36

Revelstoke Mountain Resort A Winter Wonderland

The Exclusive Champagne Offering Vodka Shaken, not Stirred “English Bay”

24

Siphon Coffee Makers

Arts

42 44

26

Letter From the Editor

Cuisine

16 18 20 22 24

Features

A Canadian in Paris Pyrrha Design

22

Travel

46

Private Jets

Aficionado

48

A Love Affair with Romeo y Julieta

32

Transportation

50

Editorial: Loving the Car You Drive

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BON VIVANT BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE SUTTON PLACE HOTELS EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

PUBLISHER

Kayla Joffe

The Sutton Place Hotels

ART DIRECTOR

Sheryll Gomez

GRAPHIC DESIGNERS

Lilian Yuen Carolina Wong

CONTRIBUTORS

Greg Bouchard Boulevard Kitchen & Oyster Bar Jurgen Gothe Allison Hepworth Kayla Joffe Salim Kassam Nico Leenders Niki Maretta Fiona H McFarlane Allison Taylor Justin Taylor Vikram Vij Courtney Lee Yip

CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS

Audi Canada Boulevard Kitchen & Oyster Bar Daniel Costa Douglas Coupland Ian Houghton Revelstoke Mountain Resort Corso 32 Unsplash Vikram Vij City Cigar Pyrrha Design

• Bon Vivant is published by The Sutton Place Hotels 310-1755 West Broadway Vancouver, BC V6J 4S5 Telephone: 604.730.6600 Fax: 604.730.4645 Email: communications@suttonplace.com Website: www.suttonplace.com Facebook: www.facebook.com/suttonplacehotels Twitter: @SuttonPlaceHtl Advertising Inquiries advertising@suttonplace.com Editorial Inquiries editorial@suttonplace.com

Copyright © 2014 The Sutton Place Hotels. No part of this publication may be reprinted without the written consent of the publisher.

For permission and reprint requests, please call 604.730.6600 or email editorial@suttonplace.com. Opinions expressed in Bon Vivant are those of the authors and do not reflect the views of the publisher or advertisers.

Bon Vivant is printed by Rhino Print Solutions in Canada, using the most environmentally friendly print process available.

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42

Welcome

Letter From the Editor Happy autumn and welcome to the inaugural issue of Bon Vivant – a lifestyle magazine curated and designed for guests of The Sutton Place Hotels.

We couldn’t be more excited to have made it to this point. As an enthusiast for all things that go into making a guest’s stay extraordinary, we decided to take that to another level.

Instead of simply focusing on the services available, we thought, “what about allowing our guests to enter a literary world of everything that encompasses The Sutton lifestyle?”

And that’s where Bon Vivant was born.

The literal meaning of Bon Vivant is ‘good living’ with the technical definition being a person who enjoys a sociable and luxurious lifestyle. In reality, there are many interpretations for the French saying. A person with refined taste, especially one who enjoys superb food and drink is someone considered to be living the Bon Vivant lifestyle. One fond of good living is also said to be Bon Vivant.

To me, the idea of living Bon Vivant is more about becoming a specialist in the pleasures of life. Whether that is a wine connoisseur, a fashion photographer or a thrill seeker, relishing in life’s luxurious moments can offer anyone the feeling of Bon Vivant.

In this issue, we wanted to explore the beauty of the cities where our hotels reside: Edmonton, Revelstoke, and Vancouver. From local jewelry and cultural Italian cooking to the winter wonderland that is Revelstoke Mountain Resort and smoking a cigar full of history, we hope you enjoy our very first issue.

In fact, I hope you will love it!

Yours truly, Kayla Joffe Editor-in-Chief

FALL/WINTER 2014 7

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Cuisine

Italian Way of Living and Eating at Edmonton’s Corso 32 The restaurant is about more than just good food

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AUTHOR FIONA H MCFARLANE long, communal table. Excellent sightline to and from the kitchen.

Cherished family photo enlarged and hanging on one of many bright white walls. Modern elements such as glistening globes suspended from the ceiling above the table offset by exposed red brick feature walls. Minimalist white and chrome bar stools and table height chairs. Does this remind you of a family home in the style of mid-century modernism suggestive of Palm Springs?

Mild, buttery tasting olives from Sicily decorate the plate sitting on the communal

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table. Prosciutto from Parma, indulgent mozzarella with delicate slivers of apple slices and tiny greens are also there. Outshining them is the homemade goat ricotta that is whipped and fluffy and is a cloud atop the crostini made from freshly made bakery bread.

Welcome to Daniel Costa’s Corso 32, the first of three eateries opened by Costa since 2010. Bar Bricco, a cichetti (small plates) inspired location that seats only 18 at a long bar opened in early 2014 and a trattoria will be opening late 2014. Both are adjacent to Corso 32 on Jasper Avenue in downtown Edmonton and all three are imbued and inspired by the Italian way of living and eating. Italy runs deep in Costa’s blood.

A stylish, 29-year-old man, Costa is the son of an Italian immigrant father who grew up in a home full of passion where nothing was left unsaid and “most of it was said at the dinner table.” Owning a restaurant means less time for his family, the people he calls his rock, but creating unique restaurants that are a catalyst to lively and interesting experiences, just like those spontaneous moments that happen at family dinner tables, is a constant reminder to Costa of how important family is.

Learning to cook at home in the bosom of family, Costa considers himself lucky to have been immersed in the Italian ideology of food. When Costa was a kid growing up in Devon, Alberta, the Costa family locally sourced its vegetables from a huge garden in their backyard. They also made their own wine and aged cheese and salami in the basement. Everyday aromas around the house included his father’s frittatas and his mother’s long simmering ragus.

Small tasks, like turning the handle on the sausage grinder and getting tomatoes from the garden, were delegated to Costa when he was young, but he soon graduated to cooking in about grade four or five. While his first proud - but equally disappointing cooking moment came a little earlier at eight or nine years of age (perfectly prepared French Toast was seared black when it was left in pan while young Costa went to wake his parents). It was these formative after school hours cooking pasta for his sister that led to Costa’s understanding of what culinary art is all about. In addition to after school pasta cooking, the still young chef

‘‘

Creating unique restaurants that are a catalyst to lively and interesting experiences, just like those spontaneous moments that happen at family dinner tables, is a constant reminder to Costa of how important family is.

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spent the hours between school and dinner watching cooking television shows and reading his mother’s cookbooks.

His father’s home region in Italy also heavily influences Costa’s approach to cooking and eating. Costa senior grew up in Campania and immigrated to Canada in 1968. Immigration did not weaken family ties in the hot-blooded Costa family and the chef has been a regular visitor to his Italian relatives, more numerous than those in Canada, throughout his life. As a child, Costa visited every couple of years. As a restaurateur, he visits once or twice a year.

Campania is a rich farming area more or less where the ankle and foot of the boot known as Italy meet. It includes coastline and rugged mountains and an abundance of locally caught and locally grown ingredients. Like many parts of Italy, the cooking style is simple and most recipes contain fewer than ten ingredients.

The Campania is superbly described by Costa as a series of food related vignettes over the course of a day. A ‘caffe’ and fresh sfogliatelle, a flaky shell shaped cream filled pastry, from La Sfogliatella in the Galleria in Naples is the ideal way to start the day.

A late morning snack consisting of a fresh ball of mozzarella di bufala, a brighter, whiter, squishier and stronger tasting cousin to cow’s milk mozzarella, from Tenuta Vannulo, a regional farm and dairy producer, with local tomatoes, olive oil and a crusty piece of bread comes next. A fitting midday meal is either spaghetti vongole (locally caught clams in white wine sauce) at U’ Zifaro in the coastal town of Scario or spaghetti with colatura di alici (fermented fish sauce) at Al Convento in the fishing town of Cetara. A late afternoon walk to the top of hilly Positano is rewarded with a freshly made, sweet and refreshing granite, flavoured with some of the abundant crop of lemons from Amalfi. Finally, the day is bookended with late night pizza at Da Michele in Naples accompanied by another twist from the lemons of Amalfi, limoncello.

The chef has many warm memories of trips to Italy. As a child, he helped jar tomatoes picked in the hot sun and can still

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remember the decadent smell of them. He watched his nonna (grandmother) make ravioli and caciocavallo, a type of cheese, and fondly remembers being in Florence and eating ricotta and spinach ravioli that was flavoured with just the right amount of nutmeg. Costa also reminisces about drinking his first caffe latte at the age of nine in Rome.

More recent trips have included visits to a Lambrusco wine producer in Reggio

Emilia who produces balsamic vinegar that ages for 30 years in tiny barrels, porcini mushroom hunting with his uncle in the mountains, and eating “perfectly sweet” live shrimp in the coastal town of Cilento, about 100 kilometres south of Naples.

If inspired Italian cooking in a lively, amongst friends atmosphere is on the menu for your next night out in Edmonton, then Corso 32 and its sister restaurants are the perfect choice. •

Join us every Friday & Saturday for fantastic wine tastings.

Located beside The Sutton Place Hotel Vancouver

Cuisine

The Entanglement of Food and Culture

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AUTHOR VIKRAM VIJ ood is what brings people together.

Yes we learn and work together, but food is the reason we sit down and connect with each other on a more intimate level. It is this connection, enjoying great food with great people in a relaxed environment, that I strive to provide each night in our restaurants.

The love and passion for food instilled in me by my family in India made me think about how I could bring more awareness to my heritage, by sharing the culture and cuisine of India to the world.

My personal goal then became to teach everyone around me that Indian food is more than just average ethnic take-out food, and that it can be elevated and explored as a serious cuisine, as French and Italian are today.

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I will never forget arriving in Canada for my first hospitality job at the Banff Springs Hotel in Alberta and sharing my ideas with my coworkers. I was so excited to be in a country that supported cooks and allowed an immigrant like me to fulfill my goals and dreams.

When I finally opened Vij’s in 1994 in Vancouver, I had issues with the venting in the kitchen, which created smells for our very unhappy neighbours upstairs. So my parents would actually bring pots of freshly made curry everyday from Richmond on the bus, to ensure we had enough food for the restaurant. You can imagine the attention this must have caused, but in India, no one would have thought this weird or out of place.

Everyday, when customers came into the restaurant, I gave everything I had to ensure

they loved the food and experience. It was important that people really understood what Indian home cooking and hospitality was. It was hard when we started – people would say, why should we pay more? I told them to try our food and if they didn’t like it, I would buy their meal. It was so satisfying to hear them say how delicious everything was.

We also did things differently; we didn’t serve Butter Chicken and Tikka Masala.

We didn’t want to make generic and massproduced food. We wanted to cook homestyle curries, the way we would make it if you came to visit us in our home. The way we cooked was the way we wanted people to enjoy it because we wanted them to know there is so much more to Indian cuisine.

Our food philosophy is all about going against the grain and to expect the unexpected – it has always been to keep our spices and cooking techniques Indian – from all regions of India – while using meats, seafood, and products that are locally available. In India, every village is sustainable. They grow everything they need in their surrounding area and consume the items bought that day. So it was very important for us to incorporate this into everything we do. We are so lucky here in BC.

‘‘

It is through travelling to different areas, and tasting the food, that you understand more about the people and cultural influences.

We have amazing produce from the Fraser Valley, fresh seafood from the Pacific Ocean, and delicious wine from the Okanagan. I feel very strong about supporting our local producers across Canada, and educating everyone, including our youth, on where our food comes from and why we need to take care of our land and oceans.

On my travels back to India, I like to visit different areas, go to people’s homes, learn how to cook different food, and come back and create dishes based on these experiences.

Our food truck: Vij’s Railway Express located downtown Vancouver daily, showcases different varieties of street food from India and the small towns that have amazing cuisines all along the railway line.

It is through travelling to different areas and tasting the food that you understand more about the people and cultural influences.

On a recent culinary tour to Peru, I had the opportunity to eat guinea pig. To North Americans, this does not sound appetizing as they are more known as household pets than dinner, but in Peru, guinea pigs are a major part of their diet and a high source of protein. Had I not explored a new country and learned about its culture, I wouldn’t have known how delicious guinea pigs are.

I believe that food is what unifies us all.

We come from different cultures and ethnicities, and if you take the time, you will learn that everyone wants to share a part of their heritage. Food is a great way to share this with others, so go out and explore new cuisines you have never tried before either in your own city, or travel to do so. •

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Liquids

The Exclusive Champagne Offering The real story behind France’s bragging rights

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AUTHOR JURGEN GOTHE ow is it that a simple country blend of three different wines— two reds, one white became the world’s most famous—and costly party wines? Effervescent, sparkling wines can be found everywhere in the wineworld but true Champagne comes only from France and that country’s northernmost wine-producing region, 90 miles northeast of Paris or thereabouts Given the fact it is so far to the north, Champagne’s cool weather creates generally difficult growing conditions; the principal grape varieties—red Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier and white Chardonnay require warmer weather for optimum development, but the chalky soil in this region tends to have the perfect acidity and less developed flavours for sparkling wines.

In the Champagne area, the villages and the vineyards they encompass are primarily classified according to the quality of the

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grapes they produce: of the total of 250-plus villages, just over fifteen are designated with Grand cru ratings of 100 per cent. The next level of quality is called Premier cru consists of ratings from 90 to 99 per cent. Most of the better-known Champagne houses buy grapes to supplement their own vineyards to achieve these quality ratings.

most famous marques must be aged three years (or more) before release.

The percentage-rating system helps to set the prices the growers can command.

Some people think it was the 17th century Abbot Dom Perignon who invented sparkling wine, he does get the credit for improving the champagne-making process by preventing corks and bottles from exploding by using thicker glass and tying the corks down with string and developing the art of blending the three different grape varieties. Whether or not he came up with the famous phrase “I’m drinking stars” may just be romantic conjecture that was appended later, but we do know that vintage Champagne, which makes up much of the

Brut generally means the wine is bone-dry.

While extra sec or extra dry only confuses the issue by meaning a little bit sweeter; doux is very sweet (up to five percent sugar and practically unknown in North America today, although it used to be very popular with the Russian czars many decades ago, which may have helped establish its fashionability).

Non-vintage Champagnes make up about 75 percent of total production. They are blends of two or more years and are customarily made in a unique house-style which is maintained by careful cuvee blending.

That’s the how of it. In another issue of Bon Vivant we’ll explore some of the more fanciful notions to do with the Great Bubbly, particularly the Canadian angle. •

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Liquids

Vodka Creating a f ine liquor

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AUTHOR GREG BOUCHARD as vodka first made in Russia or Poland? Well, that depends on whether you ask someone from Russia or Poland. And let’s not even mention the “s” word - that is Sweden. With such a long and foggy history, it’s hard to know with much certainty when or where vodka came into existence. One thing that’s clear is its name invokes special qualities like purity and freshness. The word “vodka” derives from “voda”, the Slavic word for water, which is also related to the Latin “aqua vitae”, or “water of life”. No other spirit has vodka’s beautiful simplicity. It’s no wonder, then, that so many countries take fierce pride in making such a fine liquor.

Like any product that hinges upon simplicity, the difference between high end vodka and its cheap counterpart is massive but not always obvious upon first look. A bad vodka smells and tastes like rubbing alcohol; drinking it is an unpleasant and painful experience best done quickly, as a shot, with nose pinched and chaser at the ready. But a fine vodka goes down like cool water - the sting of its alcohol far enough in the background that other subtle tastes start to emerge.

The only two ingredients in vodka, in theory, are ethanol alcohol and water, but numerous factors in the distillation of the alcohol and origin of the water affect its final taste. The most basic difference between premium and cheap vodka is that

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the former goes through many filtration steps and comes closer to a “pure” brew.

Most vodkas start with rye, wheat, or potatoes, and sometimes sugar beet molasses or even grapes. Rye is generally regarded as the best of the grains, making for a more complex and pungent taste, while potatoes are known for producing a smoother, rounder finish.

The base ingredient is combined with yeast for fermentation and then placed in a distiller, which boils off excess water and unwanted impurities, causing the alcohol to rise to the top. A finer vodka will undergo this process at least three times. The alcohol is then filtered thoroughly and mixed with water to reach the right strength. The simplicity of this process is what makes freshness and purity so crucial. Unlike in a dark liquor with many overlapping tastes, there is no place for hiding mistakes.

Next time you go shopping for vodka, don’t be afraid to ask the kinds of questions normally reserved for scotch or wine. With more premium brands available in North America than ever before, due both to increased importation and a growing artisanal industry, vodka is ripe for savouring.

Try a fine vodka on the rocks, or neat, as Russians and Eastern Europeans do. If straight vodka sounds like too much, try a cocktail recipe with fruit or vermouth to feature the spirit’s fresh taste. •

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Liquids

Shaken, not Stirred Learning lost tricks of the trade

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AUTHOR GREG BOUCHARD

he enjoyment of a good drink is one of the world’s oldest social activities.

When Odysseus set sail, his crew brought only the essentials: food, weapons, and wine. After the invention of gin in the 17th century, Great Britain was overtaken by The Gin Craze as the kingdom enthusiastically embraced the new spirit.

When James Bond appeared in the 1950s, he punctuated his missions with “Martinis.

Shaken, not stirred.”

But with major shifts in drinking customs over time, it’s hard to know what the cocktails of the past tasted like. Wine in ancient Greece, for example, was far stronger than wine today and always mixed with water, while the earliest gin came from Holland and was a far cry from the smooth, aromatic spirit we know today.

Cocktail bars have seen a resurgence among the hip and well-heeled over the

past half-decade, as adventurous drinkers have demanded more than the average umbrella garnished, overly sweet glass of rum and pineapple juice. From New York to Vancouver, the trendiest and most exciting bars are crafting unique concoctions and squeezing fine flavours out of rare ingredients.

With bartenders reviving the lost art of mixology, it only follows that they’ve started digging up lost recipes from previous ages that appreciated cocktails more than we do. What did Ernest Hemingway drink in 1920s Paris? What did the advertising executives of 1960s Madison Avenue (the real life inspiration for Mad Men) drink after work?

Let these historical cocktails take you back to another era. •

Original James Bond Martini

Holland Gin Martinez

1 dash maraschino liqueur

The first time James Bond ordered a martini, in the 1953 novel Casino Royale, it was quite different from the iconic dry gin martini with olives that he preferred in later books and films.

The original recipe calls for the nowdiscontinued Kina Lillet, which can be emulated with Lillet Blanc and bitters, and a rare combination of vodka and gin.

1 tsp sugar

3 oz gin

The Martinez is the 19th century predecessor to the modern martini.

Recipes for the drink are easy to find, but often overlook one crucial historical fact: they would have called for Jenever, or Holland Gin, since London Dry Gin was not as popular at the time. Jenever is lighter in taste, closer to an infused vodka, giving the authentic Martinez a smoother and sweeter flavour.

Prince of Wales The favourite drink of King Edward VII of Britain - born Albert Edward, Prince of Wales. Historical records say he invented the cocktail himself.

1.5 oz rye 1 oz Champagne 1 piece of fresh pineapple 1 dash bitters

In a mixing glass, stir sugar together with bitters and a bit of water.

Add rye, maraschino liqueur, and pineapple piece. Continue stirring.

Add ice and shake hard, crushing the pineapple. Strain into a cocktail glass and top with Champagne.

1 oz vodka 0.5 oz Lillet Blanc 1 dash bitters Mix ingredients with ice and shake until very cold. Pour into a martini glass and add a lemon peel.

As the bartender in Casino Royale remarked, “Gosh, that’s certainly a drink.”

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1 oz Jenever 2 oz red vermouth 1 tsp maraschino liqueur 1 dash bitters Mix ingredients into a large glass with ice. Stir until chilled. Strain into a highball glass and garnish with a lemon peel.

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Liquids

‘‘English Bay’’ AUTHOR & PHOTOGRAPHY BOULEVARD KITCHEN & OYSTER BAR For renowned mixologist Justin Taylor, who serves as Bar Manager at the justopened Boulevard Kitchen & Oyster Bar, nothing beats the true spirit of a cocktail.

After a long walk on the seawall, relax with this ‘sunset in a glass.’ It begins light and

TOOLS Boston shaker Jigger Hawthorne strainer Fine mesh strainer GLASSWARE Coupe INGREDIENTS 1.5 oz gin 1.oz cucumber juice 1 oz lemon juice 0.75 oz honey syrup 0.25 oz Campari 3 dashes Bitters METHOD Chilled coupe glass Add ingredients to shaker minus Campari Add ice and shake for 15 seconds Double strain to coupe glass Drizzle Campari to layer at bottom of glass GARNISH Cucumber ribbon

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refreshing, full of bright botanicals from the gin, and ends with a slightly bitter blast at the end from the Campari. This cocktail will leave you satisfied and relaxed, and ready to go out and do it all over again. •

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Liquids

Siphon Coffee Makers The newly-revived method AUTHOR GREG BOUCHARD PHOTOGRAPHY UNSPLASH

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o many, regular coffee sounds as luxurious as a beat up pick-up truck - good for getting the job done and little else. Decades of mundane diner brew have turned gourmand coffee drinkers to espresso drinks like lattes and cappuccinos, but the recent return of siphon coffee makers has revived the centuries-old science of perfecting the basic cup of Joe. Now they’re even becoming more widely available for the home market.

Go to a trendy coffee shop in San Francisco or Seattle and you’ll see one: two glass globes, one above the other, with a tube between them and a metal lever holding them together. If it looks like a contraption from a high-tech chemical lab, then that’s not far off. Siphon coffee makers are expensive, with commercial models costing up to $20,000, and they are intricately designed to produce the perfect cup of coffee. They represent the peak of innovation, but from another era - when brewing practices were very different from today.

‘‘

When properly used, the vacuum was so effective it left the beans dry in the end.

Coffee was first cultivated in the Middle East and Africa in the 15th century and made its way to Europe in the 17th century, when coffee houses became wildly popular and competed with pubs as the main place for socializing. London society in the 18th century was divided according to coffee house - merchants and sailors frequented Lloyd’s Coffee House (the predecessor to Lloyd’s of London), while scientists like Isaac Newton and Hans Sloane could be found in Don Saltero’s Coffee House in Chelsea, London and gamblers bet away their money at White’s in St. James’s Street.

The coffee they served was most frequently made by immersing beans in a pot of water and boiling until they reached the desired strength.

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Across the 18th century, inventors became more and more interested in improving on this crude brewing method. They agreed that boiling coffee was best avoided since it destroyed the beans’ natural oils and aromas and produced a flat and bitter tasting product. One solution was the French “biggin”, or predecessor to modern filter coffee, in which water was poured over ground beans on a cloth filter, making coffee drip out below. This, unfortunately, retained the unwanted taste of the filter.

When the siphon coffee maker was invented in Berlin in 1840, it fixed these problems by using the latest scientific innovations of the time. The way it worked - and still works today - was by producing a vacuum between two glass globes and forcing water through coffee beans. The beans were

placed in the top globe while the bottom one was filled with water. Then the bottom globe was heated, causing the water to expand and turn into steam, pushing it up to the top globe with the beans. The bottom globe was then cooled, causing the air inside to contract, and creating a vacuum that pulled the brewed coffee out of the top globe. When properly used, the vacuum was so effective it left the beans dry in the end.

Siphon coffee makers were too complex and expensive for widespread use at the time, but they became popular during the 1920s and 30s, perhaps reaching their peak when Gerhard Marcks made a beautifully designed Bauhaus interpretation of the device in 1925. They began falling out of favour in the 1950s, giving way to the percolators and drip coffee makers we know today and fell out of production by the 1970s.

What could have been a lost art is alive again today as more coffee shops use siphons, and more coffee aficionados demand the devices’ clean, smooth, even, aromatic brew. Home models start at around $100, and while that puts it well above the average drip machine, it’s worth it for the perfect cup of coffee every morning. •

Feature

Never Left Art School Self-described art student, Douglas Coupland’s social commentary touches on everyday things

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AUTHOR FIONA H MCFARLANE ancouver 1984: Michael Harcourt, later the Premier of British Columbia, is Mayor of the city by the sea. Woodward’s, a Western Canada shopping destination from the late 1800s until the early 1990s, is leading the charge to more permissive shopping hours and is the first major department store in the city to open its doors on previously inviolable Sundays. The now iconic whale sculpture, called the Chief of the Undersea World, is unveiled by its creator, Haida artist Bill Reid, at the entrance of the Vancouver Aquarium in Stanley Park. A young, female Vancouverite named Lori Fung wins gold in Los Angeles in the first appearance of rhythmic gymnastics at an Olympic Games.

Local resident and international singing star Bryan Adams releases the single Run to You from the album Reckless and wins four Juno Awards (Canada’s version of the Grammys). American pop-star Michael Jackson and his brothers as well as Pope John Paul II make their first appearances in the city to much hype and adoring crowds. The area of Vancouver bounded

by Stanley Park and Davie, Burrard and Robson Streets, known as the West End, is the site of a ‘Shame the Johns’ campaign that results in street level prostitution moving out of that neighbourhood and into several blue-collar neighbourhoods east and south of downtown. Auspiciously missing is Big Brother and the dystopian society foreshadowed by British writer George Orwell in Nineteen Eight-Four.

LEFT: Douglas Coupland Brilliant Information Overload Pop Head, 2010 acrylic and epoxy on pigment print Collection of Lucia Haugen Lundin

It was also the year that nearly 23 year-old local boy, Douglas Coupland, graduated from the Granville Island based Emily Carr College of Art. The art school, now the Emily Carr University of Art and Design, had relocated to Granville Island from

downtown just four years earlier and had already graduated notable Canadian and international artists such as Jack Shadbolt (painter, represented Canada at the 1956 Vienna Biennale), Arnold Belkin (murals at the University Autónoma Metropolitana in the Iztapalapa borough of Mexico City), Molly Bobak (first female Canadian artist to be sent overseas to document Canada’s war effort), Michael Snow (Flight Stop in Toronto’s downtown Eaton’s Centre Mall) and Ronald Thom (architect, Peterbourgh’s Trent University and Toronto’s Prince Hotel).

Until the dawn of the 21st century, Coupland’s art practice, cultivated during those years on Granville Island, took a back seat to international design work and more importantly writing – publication and public relations related to his writing which includes novels, short story collections and screen adaptations. Publication in 1991 of his first novel, Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture, resulted in the artist being called the spokesperson for his generation while Life after God, published in 1994, was proclaimed a bellwether text of spirituality for his and younger generations.

Since returning to a traditional art practice, Coupland’s multi-disciplinary multi-media/cross-media works have been anything but traditional. Materials used in the pieces have ranged from paint on canvas to birds nests to a pizza box as have the sizes of his works. Whether written words in the form of a novel, written words as part of the artist’s Slogans for the 21st Century series, or a near life size Digital Whale, a noteworthy apposition to Chief of the Undersea World, the artistic oeuvre that Coupland has created is most importantly social commentary.

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ABOVE: Douglas Coupland Luggage Tag Sunset No. 3 acrylic on canvas Collection of David Dime and Elisa Nuyten

SUPERNOVA/CANADIAN SUBURBIA Many of Coupland’s pieces touch on the distinctiveness of Canadian culture and involve engagement with place and cultural identity. Coupland, whose sense of self is informed by his upbringing in West Vancouver, a bedroom community partially developed by the Guinness family of Irish beer fame who owned a significant part of West Vancouver and financed the building of the iconic Lions Gate Bridge which is the community’s only connection to the City of Vancouver, delivers a distinctive interpretation on Canadian suburbia in the sculpture Supernova.

Installed at the Shops of Don Mills, the piece is a 10-metre high column with a digital clock banner at approximately the column’s mid-point which proclaims the time for shoppers strolling through the mall’s outdoor spaces. More importantly, it has a set of white houses, similar to architectural maquettes, jutting out from the top of the column at odd angles and at atypical perspectives. These mock-ups

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of the houses typical of the Don Mills community include cut-outs and grey paint squares and rectangles that give the impression of carports, windows, doors and the architect’s plan is visible on the underside. All radiate outwards and similar to the spokes of a wheel, the houses are extended from the solid center column by much slimmer metal rods.

Supernova interprets the principles at the core of the Don Mills community and turns them literally upside down. Don Mills, a 1950s planned community approximately a 30-45 minute drive by car, depending on traffic, from Toronto’s business/financial district. The Don Mills community design, a first in Canada, was based on five planning principles: RIGHT: Douglas Coupland Thomson Campfire, 2013 acrylic on canvas Collection of the Vancouver Art Gallery Purchased with the Jean MacMillan Southham Art Acquisition Endowment Fund Photo: Trevor Mills, Vancouver Art Gallery

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ABOVE: Douglas Coupland Still Life with Twitter, 2012 pigment print on watercolour paper

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Courtesy of the Artist and Daniel Faria Gallery

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The neighbourhood principle: the area was broken down into smaller components that radiated from the central shopping area and each component has a school, church, and park.

Separation of pedestrian and vehicle traffic: walkers could stroll through parks to schools and the central shopping area while cars have to meander through winding roads, cul-de-sacs, and t-intersections.

Modernist architecture and modern aesthetic: building materials, paint colours, and architectural design was uniform, based on the Bauhaus principles and was controlled by the developer.

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Creation of green spaces: a system of parks would connect the community to the surrounding ravines.

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Integration of industry into the community: the expectation was that the residents of Don Mills would live and work in local industries thus rejecting the role of the bedroom community.

Coupland has said about the piece: “To rectify the invisibility of the thousands of Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation houses in Don Mills, I made Supernova, a piece in which a cosmic explosion occurs and houses are sent out into the universe to colonize outer space. It’s a poetic and

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The nature of Coupland’s art practice and his of-the-moment interpretations of the present day world are such that physical interaction with the art practice in its space is necessary.

quite lovely haiku of a moment in Canadian history. These houses gave rise to a period of unparalleled optimism and represented a moment in which radical new ways of using art and design promised a better future. I wanted to make [this period] concrete for visitors to Don Mills to see for themselves.”

CROWDSOURCING Thirty years after the literal and figurative international adventure began for Coupland, years that saw the Emily Carr art school graduate become most recognizable for Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture, it returns triumphantly to its hometown roots.

The artist’s work has been featured in solo and group shows in such diverse locations as Canada’s High Commission in London, England, JFK Airport Terminal 5 in New York, U.S.A.; the Centre for Contemporary Arts in Prague, Czeck Republic; the Canadian Centre for Architecture in Montreal, Quebec; and at the Vancouver Art Gallery in a unique survey exhibition entitled Douglas Coupland: everywhere is anywhere is anything is everything.

The exhibition included existing pieces, as well as numerous new ones including a large scale piece exterior to the gallery, several of which have been crowdsourced.

First coined in 2006, crowdsourcing is a term most often used in relation to the Internet, but its convenience does extend beyond it.

Sometimes involving a call out for funds, otherwise known as crowdfunding, it also demonstrates that an audience exists for what is being produced or sought to be produced, such as in the case of the 2014 release of the movie Veronica Mars based on a TV show of the same name. At its most simple, it is a person or persons conducting an open call for information, intelligence, input, and solutions in a manner that there becomes no defined network of people who will be providing the information, intelligence, input, and solutions. At its culmination, everyone and anyone has become collaborators and crowdworkers.

According to Vancouver Art Gallery’s Chief Curator, Daina Augaitis, some of the new pieces of art demonstrated Coupland’s interest in Lego as a material for artistic interpretation and have at their foundation elements that have been crowdsourced.

“He [Coupland] is interested in the notion of Lego as a material to create art works out of and equally in working with people who are either novices or experts in Lego to actually build some of the components.

The Lego Nights we had at the Art Gallery, around Fuse and Family Fuse and so on, there were components built where people had an hour and half to create, to respond to a word, and to build something in response to the word. The words were adjectives or adverbs that [Coupland] had written on a piece of paper and when you came in you got your piece of paper and your Lego colours and went at it building something that might reflect that word.”

This lack of control over elements of Coupland’s art practice reflects the experiment that is crowdsourcing and may or may not lead to new inspiration and inventiveness.

Critics believe crowdsourcing weakens the quality of the finished product because it is susceptible to malevolent actors, may not be truly representative of the population at large and, when financial incentives exist, it encourages quantity over quality. In the case of the exhibition at the Vancouver Art Gallery, it mostly reflected the growing ubiquity of the practice.

Douglas Coupland: everywhere is anywhere is anything is everything is described as the first major survey exhibit of the artist’s work.

It demonstrated what Coupland is often examining: how everyday things, including the growing omnipresence of technology, images, and information, interplay with the process of modern-day life and affect our understanding of the narrow and broad definitions of the world around us.

It contained numerous sections highlighting the artist’s assessments of the world around him: Secret Handshake: delineation of what makes Canada different including pop culture and historical references; Growing Up Utopian: the West Coast in the second half of the 20th century including postWorld War II optimism, modern design, and West Coast Modern architecture; Words Into Objects: a dialogue between textual and visual/Coupland as the writer and Coupland as the artist; The Pop Explosion: pop culture and pop art references where every day banal becomes interesting; The 21st Century Condition: the impact of the World Trade Centre bombings on the history and what it means now; and The Brain which provides insight into the artist’s views on collecting and the subconscious mind in a more social existence.

UNDERSTANDING IS IN THE SEEING AND EXPERIENCING The nature of Coupland’s art practice and his of-the-moment interpretations of the present day world are such that physical interaction with the art practice in its space is necessary.

Flipping through a catalogue of works is not sufficient in the case of Coupland’s vast and sprawling oeuvre. This is particularly true of his new pieces because several paintings, amongst the many medias employed by the artist, use of-the-moment technologies, such as smartphones, to elucidate additional interpretations and artistic statements.

It is this interplay between the pervasive presence of technology and the power of dialects in all forms of media that makes Douglas Coupland’s latest exhibit: everywhere is anywhere is anything is everything a way to understand the circumstances and context of the 21st century and perhaps comprehend their place in it. •

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Feature

An Uncompromising Standard of Excellence Boulevard Kitchen & Oyster Bar offers a tantalizing culinary experience

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AUTHOR & PHOTOGRAPHY BOULEVARD KITCHEN & OYSTER BAR

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n exciting new addition to Vancouver ’s ever-expanding restaurant roadmap, Boulevard Kitchen & Oyster Bar – located at The Sutton Place Hotel Vancouver – provides a distinctive showcase for the celebrated culinary vision of Executive Chef Alex Chen and redefines the fine art of dining with subtle, unexpected, and playful approaches to cuisine, service, and style.

Chen’s seafood-focused menu is grounded in classical technique and training, while artfully infusing casual West Coast flair and creative hints of his international influences. Boulevard’s close proximity to the Pacific Ocean, Okanagan wine country, and nearby farms, fisheries, and ranches aligns with Chen’s culinary principle of using the best, locally sourced, farm-fresh ingredients.

From early morning to late at night, the 290-seat restaurant offers guests a variety of culinary experiences: from the stylish dining room, seated oyster bar and craftcocktail and champagne bar to the vintagestyle lounge, private dining room, and expansive wrap-around patio.

COCKTAIL PROGRAM Justin Taylor’s cocktail philosophy is an inspired recipe blending equal parts simplicity and high-quality, local ingredients. With a focus on craft spirits and bitters sourced from B.C. and Canada and house-made syrups and infusions, Taylor and his team combine a wide variety of styles, spirits, flavours and flair to underscore their unique emphasis on telling a story in each and every glass.

From the signature house classic Boulevardier (cinnamon and vanilla infused Canadian whisky, oak-aged Campari and Amaro, stirred and served over ice) to the Boulevard Bellini (white peach purée, peach liqueur, B.C. sparkling wine and peach bitters, built and stirred in an elegant coupe glass and garnished with violet ice) and the Boulevard Caesar (Canadian vodka, all

natural clam and tomato juice, house spices, grated horseradish and a lemon pepper and smoked salt rim, built over ice), Taylor’s cocktail menu offers up fresh and unique takes on classic favourites as well as an array of signature seasonal house selections.

With an emphasis on establishing a comprehensive pre-batched and bottled cocktail program featuring standards like the Manhattan and Negroni, Taylor and his bartending team are committed to curating a truly unique beverage program that will redefine cocktail culture in Vancouver, and set a new standard for spirit of service and hospitality behind the bar.

WINE PROGRAM Boulevard’s noteworthy and wide-ranging list of wines available by the glass and bottle reflects Wine Director Lisa Haley’s passion

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for showcasing the best natural, biodynamic, organic and sustainable labels produced in both British Columbia and abroad.

has sustainably grown and supplied the best herbs, greens and specialty product to B.C.’s top restaurants and hotels since 1979.

The Boulevard wine list also features a focus on Champagne and sparkling wine that perfectly complement the seafoodfocused menu designed by the Executive Chef. Much like Chen’s dishes, all of Haley’s hand-picked selections are unadulterated, true reflections of their provenance.

North Arm Farm: A 60-acre, family run and working organic farm in Pemberton, North Arm Farm produces a full selection of seasonal vegetables as well as strawberries, raspberries and blueberries and sources a wide range of fruit from the Okanagan.

North Arm practices organic methodology and grows its crops following standards adopted by the Pacific Agriculture Certification Society, which is a member of the Certified Organic Association of B.C.

Boulevard boasts an extensive list of wines sourced both locally and internationally, and with three accredited sommeliers on the front-of-house management team (Haley, Restaurant Director Steve Edwards and Maître d’ Brian Hopkins), the knowledge and experience to help each guest get the very best out of every glass.

LOCAL SUPPLIERS Boulevard’s close proximity to the Pacific Ocean, Okanagan wine country and nearby farms, fisheries and ranches aligns perfectly with Chen’s principles: to use the best locally sourced, farm fresh ingredients. To that end, Boulevard is proud to source a number of its products from the following local suppliers, among others.

Barnston Island Herbs: A 100% local family business with farms located in Surrey, Barnston Island Herbs

Cherry Lane Farm: A family owned and operated farm that has been located in Richmond since the early 1950s, Cherry Lane grows some of the largest varieties of tree fruit such as Italian plums, heritage apples and cherries, white and red wine grapes, black mulberries and Bosc and Anjou pears, as well as an array of vegetable crops all produced without the use of synthetic chemicals or genetically modified seeds.

Pacific Provider Salmon: Owned and operated by a North Vancouver fishing family, the Pacific Provider is a 43foot fishing boat that travels through the waters around the Queen Charlotte Islands in search of the best catch and using only the

most sustainable fishing methods. Pacific Provider is Ocean Wise certified and trolls with barbless hooks and line designed specifically for Coho salmon, eliminating the risk of endangering other fish, birds and marine mammals and of damaging the ocean floor.

Sawmill Bay Shellfish Company: An Ocean Wise certified, family-run farm located in the pristine, glacier-fed waters off Read Island, B.C., Sawmill Bay produces oysters, clams, mussels and scallops that are delivered within 24 hours of harvesting.

Sawmill Bay is also in a remote location away from human habitation, which helps provide a clean and pollution-free environment for its harvests.

Mikuni Wild Harvest: Mikuni Wild Harvest, the exclusive supplier of Boulevard’s wasabi, provides an abundance of richly flavoured foods found exclusively in the wild. Since 2001, Mikuni has focused on developing a boutique line of sustainable wild foods for restaurants and gourmet retail outlets.

If you haven’t yet visited the 290-seat, European-styled bistro and contemporary bespoke style restaurant, make sure to put Boulevard Kitchen & Oyster Bar on your Must-Eat-At list. •

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Feature

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Revelstoke Mountain Resort A Winter Wonderland AUTHOR NICO LEENDERS PHOTOGRAPHY IAN HOUGHTON & REVELSTOKE MOUNTAIN RESORT

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n the winter of 1970-71, Mount Copeland (elevation 2,319 metres), just outside Revelstoke, saw 80 feet of snow fall from the sky – setting a Canadian record. That same season, the town of Revelstoke at just 480 metres above sea level received 25 and a half feet of the fluffy white stuff. It is no wonder that every winter, deep powder snow enthusiasts flock to Revelstoke from around the globe to get their fill of Cold Smoke – a fittingly evocative colloquial term for the lightest fluffiest powder snow.

This snow is so desirable, heli-skiing and, a decade later, cat skiing were conceived a short distance from Revelstoke to ease the access to it. Today, there are fewer than 50 recognized heli-ski operations in the world, almost half of those are in British Columbia, and four of them reside in

Revelstoke – earning the town the title as the World Capital of Heli-Skiing.

Of these four, Selkirk Tangiers HeliSkiing was the first to call Revelstoke home and has been around for over 35 years; being one of the pioneers of the sport, they hold a tenure exceeding half a million acres. That is over 2,000 square kilometres, containing arguably the best skiing to be found on the planet. This area, accessed exclusively by Selkirk Tangiers, sees between 40 to 60 feet of snowfall annually, thus guaranteeing the dream of fresh, untracked snow to all their guests. At the worst of times, that means travelling to the far reaches of their tenure, which isn’t such a bad thing.

Let’s be honest, half the fun is getting to fly in a helicopter!

Revelstoke’s history with skiing not only predates heli-skiing, it predates skiing. The local ski club is over 110 years old. If you were to show somebody of that era a pair of skis, they would tell you they were called “Norwegian Snow Shoes”. This moniker was fitting given it was the Scandinavian immigrants who introduced the sports of Nordic Skiing, Alpine Skiing, and Ski Jumping to Revelstoke. Ski jumping became particularly popular and Revelstoke Mountain, now a National Park, hosted an annual ski jumping competition that brought the world’s best to this once remote mountain town. A number of Revelstoke natives would count themselves among the world’s elite and it was not uncommon for 3,000 people to attend these events. In fact, for a long time, many would not recognize a world record in ski jumping unless it was made in Revelstoke. Sadly, over time, the

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popularity of the sport waned and the last competitions were held there in the 1970s.

The beginning of Revelstoke…

In 1811, David Thompson mapped the Columbia for westward expansion. People travelling west down the treacherous river during the 1830s rested at the “big eddy”.

During the Big Bend Gold Rush of the mid 1860s, the river and its streams yielded mineral wealth to some for a short time.

The “eddy” became known as “Second Crossing” during the construction of the railroad in the 1880s. Surveyor A. S. Farwell applied for a provincial land grant and surveyed a town site at the spot where it was obvious the railway would cross the Columbia. He named his town site Farwell.

The Canadian Pacific Railway, assuming the land would be under their control through the Railway Belts Act, would not deal with Farwell for the sale of the land and established their town site east of Farwell’s grant. A court battle ensued between Farwell and the Dominion government, and in the meantime, both the provincial and federal governments were issuing titles for the same land. In 1886, the CPR petitioned the Post Office Department to change the name of the town site from Farwell to Revelstoke.

They wished to honour their benefactor, Edward Baring, Lord Revelstoke, whose banking institution had saved the CPR from bankruptcy. The land dispute was settled after several years and Revelstoke was incorporated as a city on March 1, 1899.

LOGGING The first lumber was produced for miners in 1866, by a saw mill brought by a pack train over the mountains from Shuswap Lake to the mining town of French Creek on the Columbia River. In the 1880s, the railroad trestles built over the steep canyons and gullies of the Columbia Mountains demanded huge amounts of timber. By 1906, 13 mills were in operation to supply the booming railroad center that Revelstoke had become.

MINING The gold frenzy spreading from California reached the banks and tributaries of the Columbia River in 1864. The steamship

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Today, there are fewer than 50 recognized heli-ski operations in the world, almost half of those are in British Columbia, and four of them reside in Revelstoke – earning the town the title as the World Capital of Heli-Skiing.

S.S. Forty-Nine began operation in 1865, bringing miners and supplies from Washington to LaPorte, about 70 kilometres up the river from the “eddy” which had been the resting point for settlers travelling south. The short lived rush for gold created settlements all along the Columbia with French Creek City reaching a population of 4,000. After the railway was completed and “the eddy” had become Revelstoke, mining flourished again. More modern methods such as hydraulic mining were used and the smelter operated in Revelstoke in 1891. It later slid into the river in 1898 due to erosion.

REVELSTOKE In 1871, British Columbia joined Confederation under the condition that a railroad be constructed within 10 years to connect BC to the rest of Canada. A route was finally found by major A.B. Rogers through the Selkirk Mountains. Unknown obstacles lay ahead. There were not enough

men available for the heavy and dangerous work and so thousands of workers from China were brought in to complete the railway on time.

By 1885, the CPR was running out of money. A loan from a bank in England headed by Lord Revelstoke was necessary for completion. On November 7, 1885, the last spike was driven at Craigellachie.

It began as a typical frontier town with simple frame hotels, general stores, brothels, and saloons. When the Canadian Pacific Railway established its station and yards outside of Farwell’s land, they began encouraging businesses to build in that area, known as “Upper Town”. The dispute between the provincial and dominion governments over ownership of land in this area made it impossible for people to get clear title to their properties until 1897.

That same year, the Imperial Bank became the first to establish a branch, and from that

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time, Revelstoke expanded rapidly. The move of the CPR divisional headquarters from Donald to Revelstoke created a boom in both housing and business with many of the CPR employees choosing to live in Upper Town, close to the station and yards.

With the town site dispute settled and Revelstoke booming, the time was right for incorporation on March 1, 1899. The CPR had a fleet of paddle wheelers taking freight south on the Columbia. Private boats such as the S.S. Revelstoke made trips north and south of town carrying supplies, mail, livestock, fresh produce, and people.

In 1898, Revelstoke was one of the first communities in British Columbia to become electrified. The first simple log crib dam on the Illecillewaet evolved into a cement dam which was eventually augmented by a diesel powered station. A new dam at Cranberry Creek, Walter Hardman Dam, supplied electric power to the city until 1972, when Revelstoke citizens voted to sell their power plant to BC Hydro.

SLIDING, GLIDING & SOARING Revelstoke’s ski saga has its roots in the early 1890s, when Scandinavian immigrants such as the Nelsen and Gunnarsen families first introduced the sport to the area. Originally calling skis “Norwegian snowshoes”, the townspeople eagerly embraced the activity and began organizing almost at once.

They officially formed the Revelstoke Ski Club in 1914 to hold annual ski jumping, cross country racing, downhill racing and skijoring tournaments.

Blessed with the “Big Hill” — the largest, natural ski jump in North America — Revelstoke was the site of many Canadian and World Records. Between 1916 and 1975, local, provincial, national, and international events took place there and competitors and spectators flocked to the town from around the world. Revelstoke regulars included Nels Nelsen, World Champion in the 1920s; Bob Lymburne, World Champion in the 1930s; Anna Gunnarsen, matriarch of skiing in Revelstoke; and Isabel Coursier,

the first “glider girl.” Not only did Coursier jump unassisted, she also dared to jump with the men.

Mount Revelstoke skiers were also instrumental in creating downhill and slalom runs and watched with satisfaction as enthusiasts forced these pursuits to evolve. Steep runs were cut on site and locals took to the hills with the aid of an electrically lit slope for night skiing. There was even a ski run in the centre of town.

Tournament competition slowed down during the Second World War, but a new breed of recreational skiers filled the gap.

Townspeople and visitors would readily climb 4,000 feet to ski on Mount Revelstoke’s summit. Devotees would take the train to Rogers Pass to ski in the valleys and on the glaciers of Glacier National Park.

Winter Carnivals continued and in 1950, Revelstoke started hosting the Tournament of Champions, an international jumping event. But the building of the TransCanada Highway and a decline of interest in jumping began to draw skiers to Mount Mackenzie to the south. The upstart hill’s appeal was clear. It held the potential for a 6,000-foot run from the top and with no boundary restrictions, it offered plenty of space. After 1975, ski jumping events had virtually ceased at Revelstoke.

But the explosion in heli-skiing, cat skiing, Nordic skiing, and backcountry skiing in Revelstoke in recent decades proves that other forms of the sport have prevailed.

Neighbouring Mount Mackenzie is now a world-class downhill resort as well.

Revelstoke Mountain Resort now boasts North America’s greatest vertical at 1,713 metres (5,620 ft.). The resort also offers 3,121 acres of fall line skiing, high alpine bowls, renowned gladed terrain and endless groomers, as well as family fun in the Turtle Creek Tube Park and Beginner Area; featuring day and night skiing in the centre of the Village. Revelstoke Mountain Resort is the only resort world-wide to offer lift, cat, heli, and backcountry skiing from one village base. •

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MOUNTAIN WISDOM

LIVE VICARIOUSLY THROUGH YOURSELF.

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Arts

Gallant’s move from her native Montreal to Paris in the 1950s raised many an eyebrow amongst the literary elite, with Canadian publishers refusing to pick up her work prior to the 1970s.

A Canadian in Paris A Glimpse into the legacy of Mavis Gallant

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AUTHOR NIKI MARETTA idely considered Canada’s cultural epicenter, Montreal has historically spawned some of the nation’s most renowned artists and literary icons. On February 18th, 2014, Canada lost one of its most brilliant—and, unfalteringly controversial—authors, the grand pioneer of contemporary short story writing, Mavis Gallant at the age of 91.

She is legendary for being a fearless critic of the human condition, with a distinguishably sharp writing style that stemmed from her journalistic and theatre backgrounds.

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Gallant’s work often tackled characters at the brink of conflict and change with a humour and humility that became her trademark. She took her characters on complex and ruthless emotional journeys and set them effortlessly against the stunning, pristine backdrop of her adopted city of Paris.

Yes, indeed despite her status as an internationally beloved weaver of words, a powerful female voice in a male dominated niche, Gallant’s work suffered limited distribution and recognition in Canada, largely due to her expedite status.

Gallant’s move to Paris, however, is perhaps better seen as another bind that ties Canada’s culturally and creatively rich landscape to its roots in Europe’s most romanticized cities. In the last 50 years, Canada has grown on an international scale from a mere ally to the mighty Great Britain and the titanic United States, to a word-class nation brimming with opportunity of prosperity and freedom for its citizens. Back in the 1950s, however, such opportunity for a woman was still limited, and Gallant’s move to Europe was in part due to her desire to pursue her writing as a full-time career, rather than a frivolous hobby.

Still, Gallant never surrendered her Canadian citizenship and remained a fierce voice on a national front through regular contributions to local media and as a commentator on the CBC. Her legacy lives on in her mammoth body of work, with 14 short story collections (her most famous and pivotal, the aptly titled Paris Stories), two novels, and a play under belt, as well as the unique distinction of being one of the few Canadian authors regularly contributing work to The New Yorker.

Her passing leaves behind a renewed spark of interest in her work and a lasting legacy of a Canadian woman living in Paris, cementing her words as a true voice of two nations. •

Live well. Live long.

“Everything I want in a spa I can find at Vida.”

Chatelaine Magazine 2012

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Arts

Pyrrha Design Making jewelry more than just ‘pretty things’

AUTHOR FIONA H MCFARLANE PHOTOGRAPHY PYRRHA DESIGN

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itting alone by the open curtained window with only natural light to illuminate her desk, the young duchess writes, in ornate calligraphy script, to her beloved. The letter contains the mundane day-today details of the duchess’ reality as well as the intrigues of the ever-busy court life that she is a part of. The letter completed, the duchess gently folds the corners in several times and gently drips the melted beeswax and resin mixture onto the overlapping corners. Grasping an intricately carved wood handled matrix, with the design carved below the surface and in reverse, the duchess gently and firmly presses into the quickly cooling wax mixture. Once completely cooled, the sealed love letter can be sent to her beloved who will break the wax seal in order to read the letter’s contents.

The era of emails and texts means most people are unfamiliar with the use of seals and wax to close envelopes for delivery by hand or post office. Danielle Wilmore and Wade Papin, the visionaries of Pyrrha Designs, aren’t like most people. They are intimately familiar with wax seals, the product of the practice of dripping wax onto paper and pressing a decorative seal into the wax. In fact, Pyrrha Design’s successful jewelry is based on a collection of fragile wax seals, which began with a chance find at a Vancouver estate sale.

Acutely aware of the fragility of the 19th century seals they bought at the estate sale, which appeared to have been more

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or less forgotten at the bottom of a drawer, the designing duo have relished giving renewed life to the unique designs they found that day and those discovered at subsequent estate sales and markets.

“We like to think that many of these [wax seals] would have ceased to exist years down the road but now we’ve given them permanence,” explained the jewelry making duo.

The Talisman collection, a line of necklaces whose pendants are full of sentimental symbolism and meaning, has garnered mass amounts of attention. Elle UK called Wilmore and Papin “Jewelry Designers to Know” in August 2012 and their designs have been seen on a number of celebrities including Katie Holmes in a Bobbi Brown advertisement, Jennifer Morrison on Once Upon A Time, Jennifer Lawrence, Emma Thompson, Jeremy Renner, and Michael C. Hall amongst others.

Wilmore’s interest in wax seals dates back to a gift she received when she was a teenager. The gift was a letter sealing kit and for a time, she pressed her initial into the wax to seal love letters to her teenage crushes. Her romance with Papin seems almost to have been destined since he also had a teenage interest in a now nearly forgotten art. As a young teenager, Papin was enamoured with calligraphy and his penmanship continues to reveal the hard work he put into learning and practicing.

as May God Bless You and Keep You - that cocoons the castle that adorns the piece.

The castle, a building fortified against attack with towers and thick walls and often surrounded by a moat, symbolizes safety. Together with a garnet, a stone that is said to protect and inspire inner strength, the piece captures the fundamental spirit of the important work of WAVAW. Providing a variety of services to women in crisis, WAVAW’s overall goal is to eliminate all forms of violence against women. Their services include a 24 hour, toll-free crisis telephone line, and a variety of counselling and victim related services. Based in Vancouver, WAVAW strives to serve and represent women from all backgrounds and experiences and provides all women who have experienced any degree of sexualized violence with a safe place to regain their inner strength in a safe environment.

This combined love of items with history, and a desire to have their jewelry become heirlooms handed down through the generations, imbues the Talisman collection, including several pieces whose sales benefit charity.

A WALK DOWN A NON-DESCRIPT ALLEYWAY IN EAST LONDON The design duo behind Pyrrha Designs have enjoyed searching out wax seals that can be used in their creative endeavours.

Important to both of them is that their pieces resonate on a very personal level with the wearer, so they have invested considerable time learning about heraldry and understanding the symbolism of the animals, sayings, and symbols on the wax seals found in Prague, Berlin, Paris, and London. An outdoor market, off the beaten path in East London, was where the foundation for two very special Talismans were purchased. The Independence Talisman and Safe From Harm Talisman necklaces both benefit women focused Canadian charities. A portion ($25) of the sale of the Independence Talisman is donated to Dress for Success while a similar portion of the sale of the Safe From Harm Talisman is given to Women Against Violence Against Women (WAVAW). In designing these particular pieces, Wilmore and Papin took what they learnt and, in a very organic way, worked to convey the charity’s essence through the two pieces.

THE TALISMANS AND THEIR BENEFICIARIES

STRONG AND POWERFUL LASTING LEGACY

A thistle, sun, and crown adorn the Independence Talisman. The thistle, most recognized as the floral emblem of Scotland, represents independence and sits on the right of an open shield design that sits in the middle of the piece. The sun above the thistle symbolizes vitality and both are under the umbrella of a crown signifying accomplishment. A citrine, a stone that promotes optimism and improves clarity of mind and memory, sits underneath the shield. These sentiments – independence, accomplishment, and optimism – are at the heart of Dress for Success’ goals.

Celebrating the power of women and supporting and empowering women’s organizations is not a stretch for Pyrrha Design. In Greek mythology, Pyrrha and her husband Deucalion repopulated the Earth after Zeus flooded everything but Mount Parnassus. Being forewarned of the deluge by Prometheus, Pyrrha, and Deucalion escaped death by building an ark. As the only survivors and after an oracle of Themis provided advice, Pyrrha and Deucalion soon set about re-populating the earth in a most unexpected way.

Pyrrha, according to myth, threw stones representing the bones of Gaia, the mother of all living things, over her shoulder. As the stones were thrown, they lost their hardness, gained mass, and started to change form until they became women.

Dress for Success is a charity that works to promote the economic independence of marginalized women. Best known for providing professional attire to women who don’t own such clothes, so they can attend job interviews, Dress for Success also provides a network to the women as their careers get up and running since employment retention is one part of the puzzle to economic independence. Women are referred to Dress for Success from a variety of places including homeless shelters, domestic violence shelters, and immigration services. There are 10 chapters in Canada including Vancouver and Central Alberta.

A key feature of the Safe From Harm Talisman is the Latin inscription - translated

Just like Pyrrha’s legacy to all women, Wilmore and Papin want to leave a legacy for their daughter as well as to the art of jewelry making. Pyrrha Design is proud to make all of its jewelry in their Vancouver studio where sustainability and environmentally friendly techniques are paramount. In addition to using the delicate timeworn and sometimes broken wax seals, Pyrrha Design uses 100% reclaimed metal for all of their castings. It is this attention to the art and craftsmanship of jewelry that make Pyrrha Design’s goal of creating heirloom pieces a reality. •

FALL/WINTER 2014 45

Travel

Private Jets The perfect place to transport and entertain

AUTHOR GREG BOUCHARD Remember watching The Jetsons as a child and fantasizing about a future without cars, where everyone flew wherever they pleased? Or Back to the Future, Part II, when they travelled to the year 2015 (yes, 2015) and got around without ever touching the ground? We might not have our own hovercrafts yet, but private jets are an ever more attainable way of soaring from place to place.

Let’s face it: commercial air travel isn’t very convenient anymore. Flying is still the fastest way from point A to point B, but after travelling to and from the airport, checking in, and going through security, sometimes it takes more time than driving. Then, there are all the added headaches. How much liquid do they allow on board again? Was there a baggage weight limit? Will the seats have enough leg room? Body scan, anyone?

All of these annoyances quickly turn into serious liabilities when there’s a business deal on the line, meeting to attend, or can’tmiss dinner reservation in another city.

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With recent advances and changes in the private airplane industry, what used to be a toy of the super wealthy is now, in many cases, a legitimately practical way of getting around. Falling prices mean you also don’t have to be Donald Trump or Mick Jagger to fly in one anymore. With more options available for chartering flights, private jets are becoming the new first-class travel instead of a rare luxury. They’re still not cheap, but for those who are willing to spend extra money on convenience and comfort, the options are better than ever.

As for the super wealthy? Don’t worry, there are still plenty of goodies for you, too.

Private jets come in many shapes and sizes.

On the smaller end of the spectrum are “light” or “very light” models, which seat 4-8 passengers and cruise at about 660-800 km/h (450-550 mph) - a little slower than the average jumbo jet. Since airplanes take a long time to make, buyers often have to place an order two or more years in

‘‘

You can do things like show up 10 minutes before your flight without problems, walk on to the plane without having your bag searched, and keep your laptop open during takeoff and landing. Seat belts are also optional. clients in business class, especially when considering the opportunity cost of time lost flying commercial. It’s also a welcome convenience when taking the family on vacation. Imagine flying straight from your home to a small regional airport near your destination - right on Catalina Island or Martha’s Vineyard - and doing it without buying separate tickets for everyone or waiting in the airport.

advance, which means that buying used jets is common and often preferred. A midsized jet that would sell new for $20 million might sell for $10 million or less used - and this is without the wait.

If buying seems like an unnecessary expense and hassle, there is a rapidly growing market for charters and individual seat purchases, and the options are far greater than many travellers realize.

Numerous charter companies exist in every major city across North America and they offer a wide variety of aircrafts, services, and customized destinations. On average, the cost of chartering a jet holding eight people for a trip from New York to Los Angeles costs around $20,000, and $10-15,000 from New York to Chicago. The prices can get quite a bit lower - $3,000 or less - when taking a smaller plane between closer destinations.

That’s not very much when compared to the price of flying eight employees and

Going even cheaper, there are also seat share systems for those who are willing to sacrifice a bit of privacy and control over departure and arrival times. Startup companies like BlackJet, Jumpjet, and JetSuite have expanded from offering full charters to individual seats. Their intention is to provide viable alternative to firstclass travel, offering far greater comfort at slightly higher prices. Sometimes, the JetSuite website has last-minute seat deals for as little as $499. These are often for “empty legs”, according to former private jet pilot Matthew Berson. “They will almost always charge the renter for a full round trip to get the plane back to its base, which means there’s often an empty leg in one direction. The jet owner sells these seats, and they are typically quite discounted because they’ve already made their money and the flight would be empty anyway.”

Lest this all start to sound too pedestrian, remember that shared, chartered, and owned private jets alike operate in a world where standard security rules don’t apply and often operate out of smaller, less busy airports than commercial airlines.

This means you can do things like show up 10 minutes before your flight without problems, walk on to the plane without having your bag searched, and keep your

laptop open during takeoff and landing.

Seat belts are also optional.

Luxury options for the super wealthy are better than ever, too. The fastest private jet in the world, the Gulfstream G650, recently broke the around-the-world-speed record for a non-supersonic plane, making it faster than all commercial jetliners and private planes alike. There’s also the option of buying a full-sized jumbo jet and modifying the inside into a flying mansion. At this point, there’s virtually no luxury that can’t be had in the air, whether it’s fully-stocked bars, steam rooms, or concert halls.

If that’s not enough, a handful of aerospace corporations are racing to complete the holy grail of private jets: one that can fly faster than the speed of sound. The most developed is the Aerion SBJ (supersonic business jet), which would cruise at Mach 1.6 - about 2,000 km/h or 1,200 mph and could travel from North America to Europe and back in a single business day.

The company has successfully tested the plane’s technology with NASA and expects its SBJ to hit the consumer market in 2021 for a price tag of $80 million. They have already received 50 official purchase offers, each with a $250,000 deposit.

Without getting carried away in flights of fancy (literally), it’s safe to say that private jets offer more benefits than ever before.

Whether it’s for a practical purpose, like taking the family on vacation, making a meeting on-time, or for pure luxury and comfort, jets are an ever more viable travel option. Next time you’re waiting in an endless line at airport security, just remember: you can get there faster. •

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Aficionado

A Love Affair with Romeo y Julieta AUTHOR KAYLA JOFFE PHOTOGRAPHY CITY CIGAR

I

t is a worldwide phenomenon that draws many fans and is traced back to the exceptional quality of Cuban tobacco. The enjoyment of a “Habano” is something quite special, embodying that feeling of pure harmony in the shape of a cigar.

With over 130 years of heritage, Romeo y Julieta, named after Shakespeare’s literary masterpiece, is one of the world’s most iconic cigar brands. Created in Cuba in 1875, Romeo y Julieta cigars became incredibly famous in the 20th century; even Winston Churchill, after visiting Havana in 1946, became an avowed fan and, in return, one of the brand’s sizes was named in his honour. After the Cuban embargo, production of Romeo y Julieta cigars moved to the Dominican Republic, where the medium-bodied cigars are more popular than ever and sought after for their flavour, construction, and consistency.

ROMEO Y JULIETA 1875 The 1875 cigar’s beautiful Indonesian shade grown wrapper surrounds a classic Dominican binder and a blend of Dominican long fillers that burn with a characteristic white ash, providing a smooth, mellow taste

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with medium body. It’s a premium cigar with a storybook ending.

ROMEO Y JULIETA 1875 RESERVE MADURO The Romeo y Julieta Reserve Maduro features a blackened Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper, a tasty Nicaraguan binder, and a bold blend of Nicaraguan, Peruvian, and Dominican long fillers, creating a deep, fuller-bodied smoke with a lovely aroma and taste. Enjoy these flavourful cigars that appeal to both your taste buds and sense of smell.

ROMEO Y JULIETA ANIVERSARIO Crafted in celebration of the Romeo y Julieta line’s 130-year-old heritage, the Aniversario is a bolder addition to the legendary line. With its rich sun-grown Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper, Connecticut Broadleaf binder, and Peruvian, Dominican, and Nicaraguan fillers, this cigar offers up a spicy, robust, and memorable smoke.

ROMEO Y JULIETA RESERVA REAL Since its introduction in 1875, Romeo y Julieta has remained one of the choicest cigars crafted, and one of the most often requested brands by connoisseurs. The Reserva Real blend is a carefully balanced

recipe of Dominican leaf spiced with Nicaraguan ligeros, finished with a handselected blonde Connecticut Shade seed wrapper, grown in the valleys of Ecuador.

Slightly sweet in flavour, it is an expertly crafted handmade smoke with a woodsy flavour and a tender aroma that will arouse the desires of even the most demanding cigar connoisseur.

ROMEO Y JULIETA RESERVA REAL MADURO The love affair with Romeo y Julieta Reserva Real continues with this rich, fullflavoured maduro. Featuring a deep, dark San Andres Morrón wrapper, a Nicaraguan binder and hearty blend of Honduran and Nicaraguan filler tobaccos, the cigar makes for an impressive and wonderful smoke that will satisfy cigar connoisseurs time and time again.

ROMEO Y JULIETA HABANA RESERVE Unlike any other Romeo you’ve experienced before. Handmade in Honduras at La Flor de Copán factory, these full-bodied beauties will captivate your senses with the distinguished smoothness of a Romeo intermingled with the rich, hearty flavours of the finest, hand-selected Honduran and

Nicaraguan filler tobaccos. Attractive deepbrown, silky wrapper leaves top off the cigars, resulting in a more seasoned version of an old favourite.

ROMEO Y JULIETA VINTAGE A premium blond Ecuadorian Connecticut Shade wrapper and a Mexican binder contain a smooth blend of Dominican long fillers, resulting in a mild- to mediumbodied smoke. The discerning smoker will never tire of this superlative cigar that is “truly a cigar for special occasions.”

ROMEO BY ROMEO Y JULIETA For generations, Romeo y Julieta has been revered for its consistently excellent, milder cigars. Now Romeo by Romeo y Julieta is adding a twist to the well-known story.

Romeo is a bold and robust cigar unlike any Romeo y Julieta to come before it.

Made with the rarest and finest tobaccos carefully selected and delicately aged, Romeo cigars are meticulously crafted by a special team of the most accomplished artisans at the famed Tabacalera de García factory. The Select Dark Ecuadorian Habano wrapper is handpicked for its dark, rich colour, and robust taste. The slightly sweet Dominican

Olor binder works harmoniously with the bold wrapper and the unique filler blend of Dominican Piloto and Olor tobaccos completes this wonderfully complex full-bodied cigar that culminates in an unforgettable smoking experience.

RYJ BY ROMEO Y JULIETA There is a thousand-year-old land where magic exists. A land where multiple microclimates and diverse soil types yield some of the finest, most cherished tobacco varieties in the world. A land where the RyJ by Romeo y Julieta is born.

Since 1875, Romeo y Julieta Cigars have been sparking love affairs with cigar smokers around the world. The popularity of the brand exploded through the 20th century and it soon became the cigar brand favoured by the rich and powerful. Today, the success of Romeo y Julieta Cigars continues. Attention to detail and a healthy respect for its Cuban heritage have created a legacy of extraordinary flavour, construction, and consistency for the brand. While most lines tend toward mild or medium in body, the Romeo y Julieta Cigars, break the mold with their full-bodied, silky smooth smoking experience. •

FALL/WINTER 2014 49

Transportation

Editorial: Loving the Car You Drive AUTHOR SALIM KASSAM PHOTOGRAPHY AUDI CANADA

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elcome to the inaugural edition of Bon Vivant. When we were discussing this publication at our head office in Vancouver, Kayla Joffe was particularly effervescent in her allocation of duties. “You are the car guy, so you can take care of this segment!” In truth, I may have volunteered.

I am unabashedly a car enthusiast.

Cars have been a passion of mine since I was a boy. I can clearly remember the first time a hotel guest tossed me the keys to his Acura NSX and asked me if I could have it washed and the tank filled for him. As a 16 year old with a learners permit, Christmas had come early.

Growing up driving Mercedes Benz S classes, and recently a BMW 7-series, I’ve never spent a lot of time with Audis. I’ve always respected them, just never dedicated time to them.

Audi has done an amazing job making their cars feel planted and sturdy but still tossable.

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Let me tangent this to an experience I once had with an Audi Allroad I drove to Revelstoke Mountain Resort. This was Audi’s 2.7 twin turbo powerplant, and to make a long story short, mine died on the side of the road. The root of the problem may or may not have been the APR chip and magnaflow exhaust I installed, and after a governing body got involved and told me to “sell that thing and get something practical like an SUV”, the Audi went away.

The A8, however, is a completely different story, possibly because I have not tried to modify it. The power delivery is ample and linear making you feel regal when you drive it. Plant your foot on the gas pedal and a bit of hooliganism can be extracted.

The new all-wheel drive system seems to let you “play just enough to get the pretty girl at the party’s attention, without getting you thrown out of the country club for forgetting to wear your court whites.”

Technology is becoming more and more important in cars, and Audi delivers in strong suit. The new infotainment center is logical and conducive especially if you have owned an Audi, or for that matter, a Volkswagen Automotive Group product

recently. What I am not sure about is the keypad with the drawing pad attached.

It is interesting, I am just not sure about its longevity.

The A8L is a great car. We use it all-year round at The Sutton Place Hotel Vancouver as the hotel’s guest limousine. The all-wheel drive system means we always deliver our guests to the airport or to an appointment irrespective of the weather, and when they arrive at their destination, they arrive refreshed and comfortable. When you step in or out of the vehicle, you can always be sure of the German good looks, sure footedness, and even practicality. This car will carry four in style and all of their luggage, anywhere they need to go.

We recently drove some guests from Vancouver to the Sutton Place Hotel in Revelstoke for a week of private skiing with our sister company Selkirk Tangiers Heli Skiing. They were bankers from overseas that visit us yearly, and one was so impressed he bought an A8.... well actually an S8. (He made the mistake of asking what I would buy.) I explained that there is no such thing as too much horsepower, especially when it is delivered in a velvet glove. •

StAying At the Sutton PlAce hotel eDmonton or VAncouVer? tAke ADVAntAge oF our excluSiVe Sutton ShoPPer ProgrAm oFFering 10-35% oFF SelecteD retAilerS. www.suttonplace.com

Ask the Front Desk for more information.

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