Walking around the immense IDS West Interior Design Show floor can easily fill several hours. I find that after having attended six IDS West shows to date, each one is a personal experience, as our eyes are drawn to different pieces around the room.
[Art by Stefanie Dueck]
As a designer, this is one of my favourite events to gather inspiration from and this year was no exception. I found three companies whose products caught my attention.
This may be By Nature Design’s first time at IDS West, however I’ve gotten to know owner Fred Collay’s vertical planters through visits to his Parker Street studio. The company is now focused on living moss walls and gardens, bringing nature closer to us through vertical design.
Fred’s team’s even brought fellow designer/studio neighbour Judson Beaumont into the picture, in order to create a chair that comes to life with moss. Living Wall systems have been used in Europe for years, now making a splash on this side of the pond. They’re planted in natural soil, are low maintenance, and use less water than traditional potted plants.
California-based Native Trails has been in the home furnishings business for close to two decades. On visits to both Mexico and Morocco, owner/founder Naomi Neilson Howard became inspired by the craftsmanship behind artisan work there. This gorgeous copper bathtub takes a solid week to produce with 500,000 hammer strikes to bring to the piece the unique surface that is seen in each of the 80-100 tubs sold throughout North America each year.
At $15,000 a piece, the Aurora tub is a showpiece all its own. Using copper is also useful: it warms the unit to the touch as heat transfers throughout the copper. Bath water will stay warmer for a longer time through this smart naturally-heated system. The recycled copper is repurposed to create this tub and other fixtures and accessories sold through the company. Native Trails products can be found (and ordered) in Vancouver at B.A. Robinson, Emco, and Wolseley Canada showrooms.
Kirk Loveland, Jason Miller, and Yoyo Wu are fourth-year Emily Carr industrial design students who applied to have their Isosceles stool series included in IDSWest’s Future Masters/Young Designers West showcase this year. Future Masters is a platform for design students and recent grads to present their work.
One stool contains a woven rush seat, while the other contains both cast aluminum and mountain climbing rope. The latter caught my attention while at the show’s opening night on Thursday.
The legs are made by hand on a belt sander, and the holes in the seat mimic the seat’s shape. The clean lines of the stool’s legs together with the organic seat shape form a unique, smart design that made me look twice.
The three young students were lucky to be accepted as only 20 students are admitted yearly to Young Designers West, now in its fourth edition (hosted by Artsy Dartsy, Vancouver’s art and design guide).
If there’s enough public interest, the trio will get to work in order to produce these two stools for purchase.
IDS West 2013 runs through Sunday, September 22. Visit the website for detailed information.
