Organic Gardening News

Wandering through cobbled lanes in Italian villages, getting lost in Istanbul and exploring the history of England’s manor houses are just a few of the travel experiences B.C.-based interior designers have merged with their own talents and insights to impact their creative decisions back home.

Two award-winning B.C. interior designers, Ami McKay founder of Pure Design , a business that includes a full-service interior design studio, retail shoppe and construction management firm; and Jim Toy, principal of False Creek Design Group and architecture firm Ratio , share their experiences and how encounters with different cultures, climates and colour palettes influence their work and perspectives.

Toy says travel has two major impacts on his work.

“It’s habit breaking. We’re so used to thinking a certain way and when you go to a setting that isn’t in your normal day to day experience, it will invigorate and force you to pause and rethink convention,” he says.

Secondly, the more one travels the more the topic of design becomes borderless, he adds.

“For me, it’s really about spotting universal needs. When you talk about shelter or belonging, community belonging and esthetics or beauty, it’s global. So, it’s everywhere in different iterations, but those basic human needs are pretty firmly entrenched everywhere. And once that’s in your field of thought, then the things that you spot will influence you in subtle ways as opposed to direct duplication in terms of design,” says Toy.

Travel has always been at the heart of McKay’s creative process . She says drawing inspiration from cultures, materials and lifestyles she encounters firsthand shapes her esthetic and approach to interior design and ensures she stays ahead of trends rather than follow them.

McKay recently returned from leading a design tour in the south of Italy.

“Every time I go to Italy — or anywhere in the world — I get so inspired and I bring it back,” she says adding she is always looking for unique work created by local artisans.

“I get so excited when I see somebody making something with love, seeing them put their energy and their life force into whatever it is that they’re creating. It’s pretty hard not to get excited about it,” says McKay.

During the tour, in addition to visiting many small villages in Apulia (Puglia), she explored Ostuni, the hilltop town known as ‘the White City,’ where all the buildings in the historic town centre are whitewashed.

In the Basilicata region, the group spent unforgettable days inside the ancient cave dwellings of the Sassi di Matera, one of the world’s oldest continuously occupied settlements and a UNESCO World Heritage site. McKay says the experience was a living reminder of how history and modern design can coexist in the most unexpected ways.

Travel always sharpens the senses and during this Italian journey McKay found inspiration everywhere and noted early indicators of emerging trends. In couture and homes, she spotted monochrome tones in rich layered shades of almond, oat, stone and tobacco while cashmere upholstery, Italian-made bouclé sofas, raw silk drapery and matte lime-plaster walls grabbed her attention.

“Local Italian designers are honouring place by reinventing history. Apulian stone carved into fluid sculptural tables, Sardinian textiles stretched as architectural panels and Venetian glass recast in bold, brutalist forms,” she recalls, also noting metals with depth — like pewter and smoked nickel — are seen in fashion (as accessories) and in homes paired with stone, parchment, walnut and chalky plaster.

While Spain and South America top his list of favourite destinations Toy has travelled extensively and oftentimes translates experiences into his work.

A visit to the Greek isles demonstrated just how much elements like climate, light and patterns influence design.

“Travelling to the Greek islands, you immediately see how the sun can render things so brilliantly light. And you start to think, ‘Well, how can I translate that into something in a West Coast context?’”

Getting lost in Istanbul and not being able to communicate in the local language started him thinking about design and how people move through spaces. That experience in the unfamiliar environment in Turkey’s largest city influenced his design of a wayfinding system for a large corporate office.

As part of his research for the interior design of Gryphon House , a luxury five-storey mixed-use development in Kerrisdale, Toy visited several neighbourhoods in London.

“The whole idea of a manor house was to be the beacon in a community. That was something that was subliminally captured in the design of the building and certainly it hearkened back to a time where there was a lot more elegance to interiors and I think that’s been captured in the interiors of Gryphon House,” he says.

Toy also recalls that a winery in B.C’s North Thompson Valley was influenced by visits to wine regions in Australia.

“When I realized the design of the winery was coinciding with [an already planned] trip to Australia I immediately changed the itinerary to include some of the major wine regions, particularly in South Australia,” he says. “It took me outside of the realm of design to encompass landscape and agriculture and what those two aspects could do to the winery building itself, not to mention the interior because we were inspired by the fact that the winery in B.C. was a former cattle ranch.”

Toy says he started seeing what sort of influences in Australia — related to ranching — also applied to a winery. “That turned into sheltering overhangs on the building, embracing the landscape so that the windows were oriented to everything around so that it became not an insular thing, but quite literally an object in the landscape,” he says.

Reflecting on her Italian adventure McKay says it reinforced that Europe, and Italy especially, remains a constant visual inspiration source for her and her interior-design direction .

“What always stands out for me is the deep commitment to timeless materiality, handcrafted details, and a slower, more deliberate rhythm of living, and that ethos is exactly what I’m excited to continue channelling into my designs and hopefully we will be able to add to our very own renovation in Italy,” says McKay, who hopes to one day buy a home in the country.

In addition to sourcing for her shoppe in North Vancouver where she curates finds from around the globe, unsurprisingly, Italian design has also found its way into her home.

“I already have limewashed walls, Italian plaster, an over grouted stone fireplace and layers of artisan-made decor throughout my home, so what’s next will probably be a carved limestone sink, definitely something that feels storied and grounded. I love pieces that carry a sense of place and time,” she says “I’m always scouring antique markets and shops on every trip, bringing home treasures along the way. I will always appreciate the Italian way of letting materials age beautifully.”

• Gryphon House design a modern interpretation of an English manor house
• Why every room needs a statement piece — and how to choose yours