BCBusiness

bcbusiness.ca June 2016 BCBusiness 29 in North America because of the lack of stores to sell to and subsuppliers to sup- ply components. When he began produc- ing his Bensen line in the 1980s, he had to out†t his Vancouver factory with a metal shop, computer-aided woodcutting and routing, veneer pressing and upholstering. By contrast, his factory in Italy assembles furniture using components from local subsuppliers. As well as at his own store, Inform, he sells through national and U.S. dealers including Design Within Reach and distributes throughout Europe, Japan and Australia. "To put it in perspective, we have maybe 40 or 50 stores in North America we can sell to, and we have 200 in Holland alone." Other B.C. members of the furniture elite: Molo Design (its Softwall room divider is also in MoMA's permanent collection); Martha Sturdy ( jewellery and home furnishings designer to the stars— Brad Pitt and Donna Karan are fans); Christian Woo (whose residential and commercial furniture is sold in Toronto, San Francisco and NYC); Brent Comber (making furniture from reclaimed local wood for residential and commer- cial spaces from Seattle to Tokyo); and Judson Beaumont (whose quirky Straight Line Designs furniture has appeared in international publications including Russian Elle and the Holland Herald). LIGHTING ANDLIGHT a contemporary lighting company that aims to chal- lenge existing standards in lighting and whose designs are sold across canada, the u.s. and australia, andlight was co-founded by caine heintzman, matt davis and lukas peet. peet also designs home accessories for umbra shift. OMER ARBEL based in Vancouver and berlin, omer arbel trained with patkau architects and has designed buildings, interiors and furniture, but he is widely known for his glass pendant bocci lights. his design pieces have been exhibited at the Victoria and albert museum in london. MATTHEW McCORMICK lighting fixtures designed by matthew mccormick illuminate commercial spaces across canada and the u.s., including kit and ace stores, earls (chicago, boston, denver) and toronto's cactus club. MARIAN BANTJES marian bantjes is a designer, typographer, illus- trator and writer who has worked with pentagram, aiga, the Guardian and New York Times. her work is in the cooper hewitt permanent collection. TOM BROWN ART+DESIGN tom brown specializes in designing magazines, books and branding. his global clients include at&t, the u.s. state department, time inc. and Wenner media, publisher of Rolling Stone. DOUGLAS COUPLAND best-known as an artist and writer, douglas coupland has collaborated with roots canada on clothing and accessories sold at colette in paris and designed memorials to terry Fox, canadian Fallen Firefighters and the War of 1812. he has been awarded the order of canada, order of british columbia and legion of honour. RYAN HESHKA influenced by vintage comics and pulp magazines, natural history, graphic design, music, movies and anima- tion, Vancouver-based ryan heshka has done illustra- tions for Wall Street Journal, Vanity Fair, Playboy, Esquire, New York Times and Smart Money. JULIE MORSTAD Julie morstad has illustrated cd and book covers, fabric, wallpaper and animated music videos, but is best known for her illustrations of children's books. This Is Sadie was on huffington post's list of children's books to look out for in 2015 and her illustra- tion of Julia, Child was nominated for a governor general's literary award. BEYOND LIVING Design in B.C. encompasses more than just indoor living and outdoor activity. These 20 designers and businesses are known globally for design excellence GRAPHIC DESIGN

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