Indie Interior Designs: The 2015 Interior Design Show West

It’s no secret that cities like Portland, Seattle and Vancouver harbor all kinds of interesting designers, artists and makers. Pull the best homegrown talent from the region, and you’ve got the Interior Design Show West, an indie-spirit event where attendees can find all sorts of cool things to make their homes hipster-worthy. Think abstract art made from piano parts, wallpaper featuring hand-drawn images, powder-coated furniture, handmade tables and chairs using sustainably sourced local wood and, of course, storage containers for vinyl records.

Event at a Glance
Dates: Thursday, September 24 through Sunday, September 27, 2015
Times: Events and exhibits vary by day; see the schedule
Location: The Vancouver Convention Centre, 1055 Canada Place, Vancouver
Tickets: Single-day pass, $15; weekend pass, $25; seniors, $10; children under 12, free
More info: See the 2015 Interior Design Show West website

1. A Piece of Portland

Purchase unique items from Portland, Oregon, designers at the Portland Pop-Up. Producers of household goods and accessories will show and sell handcrafted furniture, decorative accents and even albums featuring local artists.

The record display shown here is the work of Plywerk. Handcrafted in Portland from locally sourced restoration juniper, this seemingly simple crate holds up to 80 records, with multiple configuration options. This piece is part of a larger collection, Vinny, that includes record stands, frames and shelving. As a bonus, customers can choose selected albums from local record label Fluff and Gravy Records to include in their purchase of any Vinny collection piece.


Meet Dylan Lynch and Joe Gibson, founders of Revolution Design House. The duo focuses on made-to-order, handcrafted and sustainable products, including solid walnut wood light fixtures and 100 percent soy wax candles. “A person’s appreciation to the handmade is what inspires me,” Gibson says. “What’s powerful is the pride an owner has when telling a friend the story of their handmade object. Imagine if we could somehow offer that magical emotion to everybody — for everything they owned.”

Seen here is their succulent-planter collection. Each planter is made from sustainably sourced wood and finished with a walnut oil-based topcoat for preservation.


2. Independent Initiatives

What does it mean to be a maker today? Find out at the Maker exhibit. This is a chance for small start-up businesses and independent creatives to showcase and sell their innovative designs for the home, including handmade furniture, custom carpeting and wearable art.

Quite a few makers at this year’s IDS West will highlight their use of sustainable materials. British Columbia native Romney D. Shipway says all the work he plans to show at the event has been created from locally sourced timber. The legs of the table shown here are made of sustainably grown, managed and harvested second-growth Douglas fir from nearby Cortes Island. The table’s smooth concrete surface is meant to showcase the original liquid state of the material, what Shipway calls “concrete’s most attractive and personal quality.” “I like to create simple forms that allow the beauty of the natural material to have the larger voice in combination with complementary materials and colors,” he says.


3. Hollywood Home

While the event focuses mainly on Pacific Northwest designers, The LA Exchange will be a curated exhibit that will introduce attendees to the work of a select, invited group of furniture and home decor designers from the Los Angeles area. Expect to see custom, coastal-inspired wallpaper and funky, functional furniture-art.

Black Crow Studios specializes in custom-made wall murals, wallpaper (shown here) and canvases. Each client’s piece is hand-drawn and painted before being photographed and printed, so no two murals or prints will ever be the same.


Sculptor and designer Gaurav Nanda fuses his passions for functional art and midcentury modern decor. The wire furniture collection seen here is one of Nanda’s latest and will be featured at this year’s IDS West. Nanda uses hot-dip galvanized iron with a powder-coated finish to prevent rust, so each piece can easily transition from indoor to exterior dining — perfect for the L.A. beach life.


4. Brave New Design World

The Bellevue Arts Museum (BAM) will reinstall a previous in-house exhibit, The New Frontier: Young Designer-Makers in the Pacific Northwest, spotlighting designers native to British Columbia, Washington and Oregon. Some of the featured designers include lacoli & McAllister, who turn their modern art into functional home furniture and decor, and Phloem Studio, which focuses on custom-made furniture created from raw, organic materials.

The mirror-like pieces shown here are the work of artist Omer Arbel, who has chosen to use, instead of discard, excess from his sand-casted brass. When the high copper content in the excess brass oxidizes, it produces a coarse and highly textured material, creating the contrast we see here between the smoothly pressed brass center and the black exterior. Arbel hand-polishes the center to accentuate that contrast and enhance the mirror-like quality.


Iacoli & McAllister’s Threaded Large Spica light fixture, shown here, is made from powder-coated steel that’s then hand-wrapped in embroidery thread.


Phloem Studio’s Penninsula chair is carved from domestic hardwood with a leather sling seat.


5. Abstract Art

The Collect exhibit showcases a selection of abstract artworks from both local and international artists and galleries. Pieces include classically inspired acrylic paintings, mixed-media pieces inspired and created by found objects, and bright paintings, such as the piece by Julie Hawkins seen here. The piece takes inspiration from abstract expressionist Mark Rothko and other midcentury “color field painters.” Hawkins says her artwork is meant to envelop the viewer, transporting him or her into a radiant world evoking innocence, movement and pure joy.


Artist Craig Kelpin’s work incorporates found objects, such as piano keys.

For a full list of special exhibits and events, and to purchase tickets, visit the 2015 Interior Design Show West website.

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