Natural Wonders: The Art of West Coast Design

Beau

Stanmore suit jacket ($240), Stanmore vest ($72), Stanmore brown trouser ($120), classic-fit chambray square plaid shirt ($85), circle motif silk tie and pocket square ($49), all by Haight & Ashbury, haight​andashbury​.ca, with special thanks to Lloyd’s of Gastown, lloydsofgastown​.com; John Fluevog Executor lace-ups ($339), fluevog.com; St. Moritz Lugano rose gold and brown leather watch ($995), st-moritz.com

Aimee

Jason Matlo wrap dress ($580) and belt ($145), jasonmatlo​.com; Bronsino Munich satchel ($450), bronsino.com; Le Pepe riding boots ($495) from Holt Renfrew, holt​renfrew​.com

Set piece 

Brent Comber 38- by-38-by-12-inch Shattered bench ($4,303), brentcomber.com

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Aimee

Obakki brown trouser with ankle slit ($350), obakki.com; Dace Seamus silk/cotton blouse in cobalt ($160), dace.ca; Manolo Blahnik ankle shoe ($1,075) from Holt Renfrew, holtrenfrew.com

Set piece

Martha Sturdy oversized resin square container ($1,700), marthasturdy.com

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Beau

Etro suit ($1,598), etro​.com; Dolce & Gabbana dress shirt ($375), dolcegabbana.com; Canali floral print linen handkerchief ($75) from Harry Rosen, harryrosen.com; Lapis inlay 18-karat yellow gold cufflinks ($1,850), costencatbalue.com

Set piece

Brent Comber 20-by-16-inch alder round ($1,236)

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Beau

Obakki distressed hooded leather jacket ($880) and moss green tweed trouser ($280), bakki.com; slim-fit turquoise Haight & Ashbury panel shirt ($85) from Lloyd’s of Gastown, lloydsofgastown​.com; John Fluevog Brandenburg Gateway Angels brogues ($289), fluevog.com

Aimee

Nicole Bridger hemp jersey Integrity top ($152), nicolebridger.com; Obakki pleat-front silk skirt ($429), obakki.com; John Fluevog Sumatra lace-up pump ($275), fluevog.com; Elsa Corsi floral chandelier earrings with opaque crystal inset ($150), elsacorsi.com

Set piece

Martha Sturdy steel 77-inch standing sculpture #67 ($6,200), marthasturdy.com

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Aimee

Jason Matlo white jersey gown ($1,000), jasonmatlo.com; Claudia Accessories braided crystal chain necklace ($550) from Jeweliette, jeweliette​.com

Set piece

Martha Sturdy resin flat platter ($600), marthasturdy.com

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Beau

Haight & Ashbury Covent Garden Stone suit jacket ($270), vest ($72) and pants ($135) from Lloyd’s of Gastown, lloydsofgastown​.com; Dolce & Gabbana dress shirt ($375), Ted Baker lapis tie ($95) and Altie pocket square from Harry Rosen, harryrosen​.com 

Aimee

Dace Aferdite blouse ($180) and pleated-front pants ($160), dace.ca; Lily+Jae Victory vest ($158), lilyandjae.com; John Fluevog Look Osprey ($265), fluevog.com 

Set piece

Christian Woo white ash stools ($900 each), christianwoo.com, special thanks to Provide, providehome.com

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Hair

Tania Becker (Moods Hair Salon for Nobasura); Makeup: Jon Hennessey (for Nobasura using Giorgio Armani); Models: Aimee (Liz Bell agency), Beau (Richard’s Model Mgmt)

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Behind the scenes

Brent Comber

principal designer,
Brent Comber Originals Inc.
Pieces featured: Shattered bench and Alder
round

A fourth-generation Vancouverite, Brent Comber developed his woodworking skills “through his hands” as a landscaper and, later on, while renovating his first home. Comber uses logging waste, recycled finds and sustainable suppliers to source what he calls “historically significant wood.” The resulting works can be seen locally at Obakki’s flagship Vancouver store, Gastown’s Salt Tasting Room and in the Douglas fir Parsons-style communal table in the lobby of Whistler’s Adara Hotel; or, for the seasoned traveller, in the dining room of New York City’s Dos Caminos restaurant, the lobby of the Arlington, Virginia, offices of the Nature Conservancy or soon in any JW Marriott hotel.
While thoroughly modern in shape – and at times even deconstructionist (as in his Shattered series) – Comber’s pieces evince a rustic quality, where the natural beauty of the wood is always at the forefront. His Alder series (which consists of stripped alder branches bundled together and sawed to create “a section of densely packed forest”) highlights his love of juxtaposition, with organic materials moulded into geometric shapes. “My work, especially my art-driven pieces, is all about trying to connect one’s senses to authentic material,” he says of his personal design ethos. “I think the best way [to do that] still is by using indigenous material and let it tell its own story.”

Martha Sturdy

owner/designer,
Martha Sturdy Inc.
Pieces featured: oversized resin square, standing sculpture, and resin flat platter

The grande dame of West Coast design made an international name for herself in the 1970s and ’80s as a jewelry designer, with miniature sculptural pieces that regularly graced the pages of fashion magazines such as Vogue, Elle, Harper’s Bazaar and Flare. Citing boredom and the need to create something new, Sturdy altered course in the 1990s and began experimenting with different media. Again, she found great success: Sturdy’s resin objects – including platters, trays and napkin rings – became sought-after collectors items, with both Donna Karan and Calvin Klein carrying her work in their respective flagship New York stores.

But Sturdy was not content to just make “stuff,” as she calls her objects and housewares. And so, in 2000, she closed her retail boutique in Vancouver’s South Granville neighbourhood to focus more on her art – specifically resin, steel wall art and statuary. Last year she unveiled her largest work to date: an 8½-metre high, 4½-tonne red steel sculpture installed in Vancouver General Hospital’s Wellness Garden. A companion piece is to be erected at the front of the hospital this fall.
As to why B.C. has become such a design hot spot, Sturdy credits our “advanced level of creativity. If you go to Toronto and look at their furniture or their art, they are regurgitating what’s ‘in’ in New York,” she says. In B.C., “we have the freedom to be at the forefront and not be followers.”

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Christian Woo

founder and designer,
Christian Woo Design + Build
Piece featured: white ash stools

Born in Spain, Christian Woo inherited his love of woodworking from his Vancouver grandfather, himself a master craftsman. A series of jobs out of high school working in landscape architecture, construction and cabinetmaking helped Woo hone his talents and led him to eventually start his own design business in 2006. Woo’s reverence for his chosen material of wood imbues his coolly modern designs with unexpected human warmth – whether it’s in a panelled room, a floating staircase or a simple squared bar stool. Most of his early commissions have been residential, though Woo has recently been branching out into commercial design (the minimalist interior of Vancouver boutique Jonathan + Olivia being his most high-profile work to date) and has released a small limited-edited furniture collection available at Provide in Vancouver’s Crosstown neighbourhood.

“I’ve always been attracted to Scandinavian design and the early work of [architect] Richard Henriquez’s West Coast modernism,” says Woo. “The master Danish woodworker Tage Frid once said that it’s very easy to make a piece of wood look worse than when you found it, and I think it’s our duty as woodworkers to be stewards for our material.”

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Elsa Corsi

designer,
Elsa Corsi Jewellery
Piece featured: floral
chandelier earrings with opaque crystal inset

Vancouver-based jewelry designer Elsa Corsi jumped into the fashion world with both feet while at a trade show with her jewelry-retailer mother in 1999. It was there that a buyer from Kitson, a Los Angeles trend-setting boutique popular with celebrities, spotted a series of mesh belts and anklets Corsi had created on a whim and picked up the collection on the spot. These days Corsi’s glamorous, glittering costume pieces can be found in several local boutiques, including Jeweliette and Vetrina Moda, and have become popular accessories for Vancouver media stars stepping out onto the red carpet (including ET Canada’s Erin Cebula and CTV weather babe Tamara Taggart at the Juno Awards, actress Kristin Kreuk at the Geminis and Etalk’s Elaine Lui at the Academy Awards).

Treana Peake

creative director,
Obakki
Pieces featured: brown trouser with ankle slit, tweed trouser, hooded leather jacket and pleat-front silk skirt

Wife of Ryan Peake, lead guitarist for Canadian rock band Nickelback, Treana Peake launched the Obakki label in 2005 as a way of promoting the talents and creativity of local designers. As the label grew, Peake restructured, streamlining the design process, establishing a flagship store in Vancouver’s Gastown neighbourhood (featuring the designs of artist Brent Comber) and purchasing a Vancouver manufacturing studio where all Obakki garments are made. Obakki is available at boutiques across Canada and the U.S. as well as in China and Kuwait City.

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Jason Matlo

designer,
Jason Matlo Designs
Pieces featured: wrap dress and belt and white jersey gown

Vancouver-based Jason Matlo is perhaps the West Coast’s most unsung fashion designer, with the vast majority of his sales coming from Eastern Canada and the U.S. He’s known as much for his sense of proportion and a slick and slinky silhouette as he is for his impeccable construction (a style considered by many to be reminiscent of Dolce & Gabbana). He, like Elsa Corsi, has also become a red-carpet darling in recent years, thanks to the appearance of his evening gowns on celebrities such as Corner Gas star Gabrielle Miller, singer Hilary Duff and daytime soap queen Susan Lucci. His latest venture is his Babe line of colourful, price-conscious “occasional” dresses for teens and young adults.

Jude Feller

creator,
Lily+Jae
Piece featured: Victory vest

A former costumer for film and television, Feller decided to abandon that career in 2006 in order to create what she
couldn’t otherwise find: casual yet fashionable Canadian clothes that she herself would want to wear. Over the course of the past three years, her Lily+Jae clothing label has grown exponentially, with retailers now carrying her line in stores across Canada, in 11 U.S. states and in Japan.