Vancouver Design Week 2014

As part of Vancouver Design Week we agreed to create a piece that would sit within the tasting lounge space at Main Street Brewery.

Utilizing vitra Algue from Inform Contract, we created a sculptural tree that hangs, chandelier-like, between the two natural trees within the space.

The video below shows the process.

Temper Pastry Chocolate

Temper Pastry Chocolate is a gourmet chocolate and pastry shop is located in West Vancouver.

The programme requirements for the 1400 square foot store included allocating space for fully functioning chocolate and pastry kitchens while maintaining an inviting open retail & café experience. The clean contemporary design was used to provide a clean and unadorned backdrop for the innovative quality of chef Steven Hodge’s handcrafted products. Custom glass display cases, natural materials and linear lighting were used in order to achieve the bright, clutter free layout of the space. An array of cut-off rolling pins and glass shelves were used to create a unique and functional display for the products. Windows in the wall separating the kitchen and retail spaces add to the open concept, providing a view for customers to experience the process and specialty of the product being created on site.

Subtle accents were used to support the overall design concept: from the pendant lights chosen for their “pastry” aesthetic, to the custom wall covering with embedded light box of original graphics and the custom entry door pull branded with the client’s logo.

Temper garnered an A.R.E. Design Award for Retail Design, recently held in Las vegas.

Photography ©2014 Janis Nicolay.

We’re Building A Neighbourhood: Main Street Brewery.

Our brewery project for Main Street Brewing is starting to take shape. Here’s a little video we put together featuring “We’re Building A Neighbourhood” by our friends Blank Cinema.

View video here:  We’re Building A Neighbourhood.

L A M P: Lighting Architecture Movement Project

Evoke‘s Simon Montgomery was recently selected as a contributing designer for the upcoming LAMP exhibition,
opening this Thursday in the Woodward’s Atrium.

 

Designers were set a challenge to ‘re-imagine their talents in a conceptual exploration’.

 

Simon’s installation will be on display at the Opening Party, as well as Friday and Saturday.

“Given the word Arc as a starting point for this installation I chose to not focus on the shape of the curve itself, but instead to focus on what can happen within the arc”.

For more information, visit L A M P
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L A M P – ‘Lighting Architecture Movement Project’ – is a temporary group installation that showcases light and form through the lens of architectural design.

L A M P was created for professional designers to have an opportunity to re-imagine their talents in conceptual explorations and for the community to connect with architecture and design.

Opening Party: Thursday October 3
Where: Woodward’s Atrium – 111 West Hastings Street, Vancouver.

Tickets: $15.00, offering beer, wine, music & entertainment and is open to all ages.

 

Open to the public by donation:
Friday, October 4 & Saturday, October 5.

 

L A M P has chosen Arts Umbrella as their charitable beneficiary and will donate partial proceeds
to the local not-for-profit arts education centre.

 

White Noise at Dinner By Design

It’s been a busy past week getting ready for last night’s sold out Dinner By Design event.

We were invited to create an installation as part of the GEMonogram Dinner By Design, in partnership with IDSwest and benefitting the Dr. Peter Center.

The open ended brief was to come up with a ‘room’ to accommodate a dinner for ten. We decided to go the conceptual route of an all-white room, hence our “White Noise” concept.

“White Noise” represents a dining experience where all ambient distractions fade away, bringing the diners and meal into focus.

The recent trend of covering every surface with “found” objects in order to “curate” a room has diminished the importance of the diner. “White Noise”  is a reaction to that trend. Objects and table settings have been visually minimalized and conversations “cut up” and reassembled to form abstracted meanings.

Now, more than ever, there is a growing visual distraction in restaurant design where the patron has become secondary to the room concept. Add to this the constant “reportage” of the meal via social media, and the art of dinner conversation is vanishing.

As designers, and restaurant owners, we constantly remind ourselves that no matter how beautiful a room design may be, the dining experience is ultimately about the meal and human interaction. 

Thanks to the event organizers The Social Concierge, and to the amazing guests who joined us at our table.

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Light by ANDLight

Compas chairs by Patrick Norguet supplied by Inform Contract

Table by Norwest Millwork

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Thanks to Janis Nicolay for the photos

Forage at the Listel Hotel

Forage is a new “farm-to-table” restaurant at the Listel Hotel, Vancouver.

Evoke was hired to design a space that would reflect the client-driven mandate for a sustainable restaurant to compliment both the hotel green agenda & chef Chris Whittaker’s locally driven menu.

All materials were selected for their sustainable quality, whether it be a local source, recycled or easily renewable.

Feature wall utilising wool felt from Filzfelt.

Locally sourced alder for ceiling and wall slats.

Cardboard pendant lights from Gray Pants.

LED bar pendants from jGoodDesign.

Dining chairs and bar stools from Andreau World.

Photography by Janis Nicolay: All images © 2013 Copyright Janis Nicolay Photography.

Heirloom Restaurant

Heirloom Vegetarian Restaurant opened late last year and is an all encompassing project for which we were responsible for the interior design, identity branding and custom art work.

Heirloom is located in the Douglas Lodge building (built in 1907) at West 12th and Granville Street. Once dark and introverted, the room has now taken on a light and airy feel through the use of bleached fir, white Vitra Hal Chairs by Jasper Morrison and white-washed brick walls. Repurposed old cabinetry serve as the back bar storage/display, while custom art work brings an element of humour to the room.

For more images visit our web Portfolio.

Photography by Janis Nicolay: All images © 2013 Copyright Janis Nicolay Photography.

The Union Bar

Our latest project, The Union, opens tonight at 219 Union Street, Vancouver.

We got a sneak taste of what’s in store the other night with some food and cocktail tasting (photos below). Chef, Lisa Henderson has created a Southeast Asian inspired menu, while barman Arthur Wynne uses the regions ingredients, sourced from neighbouring Chinatown, to infuse his cocktails.

More photos to follow. In the meantime, here’s a brief description of the design.

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The Union is a 2,100 sq.ft. modern yet eclectic space utilizing dark woods, reclaimed barn board, exposed concrete walls and floors, large-scale pendants, custom wood tables and benches, and neighbourhood imagery, creating a contemporary and inclusive room. The space is organized around the bar and kitchen.

Upon entering the space, the 14 seat bar (with emeco Lancaster bar stools) is prominently highlighted by four backlit cabinets featuring detail images of texture and colour of the grittier aspects of the Chinatown/Strathcona neighbourhood (Photography by Janis Nicolay). Chalkboards above present the bar’s offering, which focuses on fresh, locally sourced ingredients, also prominently displayed.

The 70 seat dining area is comprised of three long wood communal tables and benches. A long banquette at the back of the room separates the diners from the service spaces. Above the communal tables hang nine Jielde Augustin large pendant lamps, chosen for their simple and industrial aesthetic.

Adjacent the bar, the open kitchen is wrapped in reclaimed barn board panels. The installation was inspired the Union Street locale.

The lyrics to “Crosstown Traffic” not only reference the young Jimi Hendrix who ventured up to Vancouver to spend his summer holidays, but also the Georgia Street viaduct which was constructed in the early 1970’s as part of an extensive freeway system which was to flow traffic from the suburbs “crosstown” to Vancouver. Hendrix would spend his summer holidays with his grandmother, Nora Hendrix, who worked at Vie’s Chicken Shack (next door to The Union, where the Jimi Hendrix Shrine now stands) The lyrics have been broken apart and reassembled to represent the fracturing of the neighbourhood caused by the viaduct, which went directly through the predominantly black community of Hogan’s Alley (Park Lane).

There is a common design language used throughout The Union with Evoke being responsible for: interior design, custom-designed furniture, feature wall installations, menus and all branding (including name development, logo identity, collateral graphics, signage).

The Union Bar: 219 Union Street, Vancouver. www.TheUnionBar.ca | Twitter: @TheUnionBar

Working For The Union.

Our latest restaurant project, The Union Bar, is moving into the final stages as the installation takes shape wrapping around the kitchen wall and equipment starts moving in.

Stencilling for wall installation.

The install.

Site discussions.

The Union Bar is located at 219 Union Street, Vancouver (at Main & Union on the edge of Chinatown).

Follow updates on twitter @evokeid and @theunionbar.

See also: Scout Magazine – Habit & Cascade Folks To Open New Southeast Asian Restaurant “The Union”.

Heavy Metal.

Interior/exterior metal work is now installed in preparation for the October unveiling of our design for new Yaletown restaurant, Chinois.