art OF THE HOME
POLYGON’S BRADLEY HOUSE WELL-CURATED INSIDE AND OUT
At Bradley House, Polygon’s newest development in Coquitlam’s Windsor Gate community, the art of design takes on a curatorial flair.
Polygon’s in-house team of designers, including Zusette Cruz, Sofié Laforest and Jade Kwok, prove that a strategic approach to artwork can define every space.
Visitors to Bradley House’s three display homes will notice the twodimensional artwork hanging in living rooms, for starters.
The team chose bright and large pieces of art, an approach that has as much to do with the relationship between the artwork as it does the way the pieces correspond with the rest of the design.
“When putting a room together it is so important to ‘marry’ art and your room’s furnishings,” says Polygon’s senior designer Celia Dawson, who worked with the trio.
In many ways, the furnishings in the space take a back seat, if you will, to the feelings and mood the art conveys to the visitors in the suite, she continues.
“My analogy is that each artwork ‘speaks’ to the other and it is important that the furnishings do not interrupt the conversation but listen to the art and add quietly to the conversation.”
Still, the design trio’s sense of artistry goes far beyond the canvas and frame. This is clear in many of the carpets in the suites — every one of them unassuming, and some with colourful, striated patterns. It’s not hard to find carpet design to fit every esthetic, Kwok says.
“There are some fantastic carpet designers today. They are truly art pieces on their own. And, just like art, carpets bring life and a personal expression to a room.”
The designers bring a sculptural beauty to a dining room with a pendant that takes on the look of sculptural, rigid branches.
“We like to include dramatic lighting to create different focal points within the room,” Kwok says. “Again, lighting today is truly sculptural art.”
She says the group had fun in one bedroom, where art turns to pop culture, in a spotted dark print wall covering and a retro-inspired chair adorned with a fabulous face-print pillow.
The wall is layered behind a white headboard made of horizontal slats, an installation that continues at the top of the wall near the ceiling. This widening effect is similar to one in a dining room. Though it’s much more whimsical, it still marries well with the more conservative design in the rest of the suite.
“Playful design is always fun, but one just has to be careful not to ‘overload” or it will get busy and confusing,” Kwok says.