by Nicole Arnett with photos by Michelle Sproule | We had a chance to pop into IDSWest over the weekend. The annual design showcase was packed with inspiration and some pretty flat-out amazing design ideas. Though we couldn’t get our eyes on every cool thing on display, we nevertheless managed to get especially covetous on at least ten occasions:
1. The LA Exchange. A sunny SoCal road trip would be just the ticket as the rain rolls in so this tightly edited collection of designs from south of the border fits the bill just fine. Highlights for us were mid-century modern inspired wire furniture from Bend Goods, a gorgeous watercolour-inspired Burrit Bros x Wolfum rug collaboration, and a stunning ‘jacks’ dining table from Jory Brigham against beautifully marbled wallpaper by Black Crow Studios.
2. The District. Because sometimes you need to actually take a piece home after all of this window shopping! Our pick? Ready to go mini neon signs from Neon MFG, neighbourhood scents from Vancouver Candle Co. (Gastown never smelled this good), and delicate pottery from Haejin Lee.
3. Semi Handmade. If you’ve been scoping home renovation blogs lately, you’ll have seen this company popping up everywhere. The custom cabinet door maker will build to fit your old ikea kitchen frame in beautiful woods and finishes. The same goes for larger wardrobes as well. Custom look, off the rack price. Happy happy.
4. Collage Collage. Vancouver’s own cut and paste mecca was a great highlight to the Modern Kid section of the floor. Hit the new Main Street location for rainy day activity inspiration and see just how much you can do with safety scissors & felt.
5. Spruce Collective. This team of vintage hunters out of Abbotsford have old world charm down to a science with their lovely & eclectic collection of vintage rentals and retail items. Having a nostalgic world travel-themed wedding but don’t feel like buying two dozen vintage globes? This is the place.
6. The Good Mod. This Portland mid-century modern and vintage dealer and design shop made us seriously consider throwing out every stick of furniture we own. But why stop there? Their custom-made conference Ping Pong table complete with copper net would be a glorious amenity for any company. You can’t put a price on morale!
7. Hinterland. Cozy, design-forward, and totally usable. We’ll take two of everything! The Tidal Flux table looks so homespun we could almost imagine attempting to recreate this ourselves (with predictably disastrous results). Best left to the pros. Check them out.
8. Crazy floors are here to stay. At least we hope so … thank you Tacofino Gastown! The Fioranese Cementine tiles from Calgary’s Tierra Sol are fun just to space out to for a few minutes, even if you’re not ready for an MC Escher-inspired kitchen.
9. Montauk Sofa‘s ‘Live Large’ campaign launched with a massive and amazingly comfortable sectional named ALEX, which was hard to miss on its own but made impossible to walk by against a 100 foot x 12 foot wall mounted black and white photo backdrop featuring fashion icon Carmen Dell’Orefice and model Paul Mason. Hot.
10. We found the Sliding Flip Out Table from Live Edge Design (Vancouver Island) in the Prototype section of the show. The sleek wooden bench and table system provides flexible seating options for restaurants and cafes. The unit can easily transform from a series of two person seating stations to a mix of two and four person tables or one long table. Love it.