24 BCBUSINESS AUGUST 2014 PAUL JOSEPH
A Touch of
Hollywood
W
hen Lesa Kirk's o ces
burned down, she had to
move fast. It was July 2012
and the founder and prin-
cipal of Kirk Talent Agen-
cies was in Los Angeles when she
got the phone call from a friend who
was outside the building, at Second
Avenue and Quebec Street, watching
ames shoot out the windows.
Within hours Kirk was on a plane,
emailing every realtor she knew.
After viewing a few disappointing
sites the following day, Kirk was
walking the neighbourhood around
her burned-out former o ces when
she stepped into a café for a break.
Realizing the building was perfect,
she made a few inquiries and found
out the owner was on site. Before
the day was out she had concluded a
lease on her current o ces at Third
Avenue and Columbia Street.
With the help of her designer
friend Shannon Powell, Kirk went
to work re tting the site. Powell
brought a West Coast sensibility
to the project, with lots of natural
wood, a double-sided replace
and plenty of local art. Kirk also
introduced some Hollywood to the
mix, taking Powell on a Los Angeles
shopping trip that resulted in a trio
of theatre seats, now reupholstered
and gracing the reception area, and
a number of '50s-vintage Eames
chairs reminiscent of the iconic
director's chair.
■
Lesa Kirk's talent agency
brings a taste of Los
Angeles to VanCity
by David Jordan
O F F I C E S P A C E
The Agent Will See You Now
Kirk and Powell sourced vintage Hollywood theatre seats
from L.A., and had them re nished for the lobby. "We like
the idea of the actors waiting to see their agents on real
theatre seats," says Powell. Above the seats is Summer
Afternoon, a painting by West Coast artist David Burns.
Open Information
"Making the move, I thought [an open
concept] would be a way better way
of sharing information—instead of
everything being so segmented and
instead of repeating a lot of the same
information over and over again,"
says Kirk. "It's way better because
everybody is working collaboratively."
Privacy, Please
Because the agents share an open
of ce space, a breakout room was
essential for privacy, as it's needed.
The reclaimed wood bench at the
boardroom table—along with a
smaller version in the sitting area—
was one of the few items salvaged
from the re at the past of ce. "They
burned about this much," says Kirk,
holding out her ngers to indicate
about three inches of charred wood.
Both were led down and re nished.
