WEST COAST DESIGN GOES COMMERCIAL
Companies keen to have ‘local feel’ in their interiors
As Vancouver grows, and multinationals like Amazon, and WeWork set up shop here, there is an increasing demand for office, retail and commercial interiors that reflect local West Coast design, says Craig Pearce, founder of custom furniture and millwork company Union Wood Co., who recently launched a commercial division.
“They want some of the local feel in their space,” he says. “And that helps them attract employees, and retain employees, but it also makes a good impression on their customers when they come in the door.”
Union Wood Co. has built a reputation over the past eight years as a leader in custom furniture and millwork interiors, primarily for residential spaces. But as companies are getting wise to the impact of good interiors in commercial spaces, says Pearce, this side of the business has grown. Union Wood Co. has produced work for the likes of Lululemon and Fluevog shoes (in Canada and the U.S.), along with Metro Vancouver, Rocky Mountaineer, and is currently involved in an interior rebrand of Lynn Valley Mall.
“I think people are now aware that if you want to have a premium brand, and premium company, you need a premium space that looks beautiful, and it needs to be quality as soon as you walk in the door, because… it says something about the company and the brand, and its values,” he says.
Though his company is growing, with 35 to 40 projects on the go at one time, they are sticking to the same design principles they have always adhered to, says Pearce.
“Using reclaimed wood has been a huge thing, and people obviously love that, but we’re not limited to it,” he says.
“There’s lots of good wood that’s sustainably harvested, for furniture construction, and we use a lot of that too. A lot of the reclaimed wood that we use basically it comes from these industrial buildings in the city of Vancouver that have been torn down, barns, and warehouses, where they use these huge timbers to build a place, and often times they basically cut the trees down that were in the way of the building, and they use the material to build the building back up, so it has quite an interesting story to it.”
Another interesting source for Union Wood Co.’s wood, he says, is trees knocked down during “big wind storms” in Vancouver (Stanley Park, Queen Elizabeth Park, and even city trees on the street).
“They can all get milled into furniture,” he says. “So it’s not necessarily been used as a building, or a dock for the last 100 years, it’s been a standing tree up until two months ago, and that’s called windfall, so we use some windfall material as well.”
People’s tastes are changing in both commercial and residential design, says Pearce.
“I think there’s a movement away from the grungy industrial,” he says. “I think it’s a more refined, more modern approach to industrial. Six years ago people wanted these huge, chunky counter tops, people want thinner ones now. Things that have a little less weight to them. We’re using a lot of white. White washing things to make the space a little bit lighter.”
Lululemon saw the importance of using local craftspeople and artists in its newly renovated West 4th location, says Celeste Burgoyne, executive vice-president for retail, Americas, for Lululemon.
A West Coast Adventure mural by Kris Kupskay is on the back and front wall of the renovated store, and the stairwell leading up to the impressive “communal” rooftop patio is illustrated by Paige Bowman.
“Paige Bowman is a local Vancouver artist whose incredible illustration for the stairwell was intended to evoke the feeling of hiking up through the various landscapes one finds living in Vancouver,” says Burgoyne.
“From West 4th and the beaches of Kitsilano, up through the North Shore mountains, which are framed in the windows once you reach the roof.
“The artist shared with our team that the waves coursing through each wall reminds us of the symbiotic life coursing through all these elements, and is a reminder for us to keep breathing and enjoy the view.”