Canada Day is the perfect opportunity to proudly celebrate our Canadian designers!
Awesome talent, avant-gardism, know-how, international reputation, social and environmental responsibility - these are just a few of the reasons to rejoice.
Here are the national treasures whose work is featured on Modern Karibou. Each link will lead you to individual designer profiles or interviews, in case you want to learn more about them.
Holtzundmetal - Interview & Profile
Matthew Kroeker - Interview
Many more new Canadian designers will be featured in upcoming weeks and months. Beautiful and exciting new designs to discover!
Come on guys!
Gus may be based in Toronto-but all products are made in China-its all marketing...
Posted by: sandy | July 14, 2009 at 03:09 PM
Hi Sandy,
You’re correct that most of Gus* Modern’s products are made in China but we were celebrating “Canadian Designers” and they are definitely a Canadian company that employs Canadian designers and whose products have been recognized both here and abroad.
Unfortunately the economic realities of the furniture business often make it impossible for good Canadian designs to be produced in Canada and still be offered at a price that is palatable to a broader consumer base. We were discussing this exact issue with an Ottawa-based designer recently. She was lamenting the fact that she worked very hard for many years trying to build a viable furniture business where her designs were produced in Canada. She finally had to opt for overseas production in order to be able to offer products that would have an appealing price point for consumers.
We would love to sell lots of products that are both Canadian-designed AND Canadian-made but unfortunately there aren’t enough people out there willing to pay the requisite premium for that. Maybe someday we’ll get there… We remain hopeful!
We are always on the lookout for great Canadian designers, so if you would like to make any recommendations we’d love to hear about them.
Posted by: Lise Michaud | July 14, 2009 at 05:11 PM