One of the best things about attending design shows like IDS Vancouver, on through Sunday at the Vancouver Convention Centre West , is the opportunity to see leading home design from across North America — and beyond.
L.A. husband-and-wife design duo Ted Vadakan and Angie Myung, the founders of Poketo, a lifestyle design brand that has four retail stores across L.A. and is considered a hub for the city’s art and design community, are bringing an iteration of their store to IDS in pop-up form.
“We started it in 2003 and the whole ethos behind Poketo is art and design for everyday,” Vadakan says.
Making art and design accessible to everyone is what drives them, he says, and their Poketo stores have everything from their own branded stationery to housewares, apparel and gift items.
“We’re bringing a taste of this to IDS with some of our most popular items, like project planners, agendas and beautifully designed stationery and accessories. Poketo is eclectic and accessible. It’s definitely more of a lifestyle rather than an object,” he says.
Vadakan and Myung also run creative workshops from their retail locations, ranging from business and Instagram marketing to weaving classes, along with in-store pop ups featuring other brands. Some of the designers, artists and makers they’ve formed relationships with over the years are featured in their new book Creative Spaces, by Chronicle Books.
“It’s a mixture of old friends and new friends. I think so much of the book and what we do for the community is sort of the camaraderie,” Vadakan says.
Included in the book are four Vancouver creatives, including lighting and industrial designer Lukas Peet , ceramicist Lindsey Hampton , architects Stephanie Forsythe and Todd MacAllen, of Molo design , and fashion entrepreneur Adele Tetangco .
“With Lindsey, we’ve done quite a number of exclusive collaborations; projects that she would make for Poketo that have sold out. She’s been a long time colleague of ours. Molo, we’ve known their work for so many years, but doing the book was one of the first opportunities to meet them,” Vadakan says.
Vancouver-based fashion entrepreneur Adele Tetangco co-founded fashion marketplace Garmentory, a platform for independent emerging designers seven years ago, and is now chief merchant and marketing officer for New York company Brand Assembly , where she has launched a new show, Reassembled .
“We launched it in New York and are doing it in L.A. as well. The concept of the store is we discover and curate brands that we find basically on Instagram. Hard-to-find brands, and bring them to people in real life. We’re doing the discovery for you,” she says.
The New York show included a lot of brands that had never shown in the U.S., from places like Barcelona and Mexico City, Tetangco says.
“We’re just really nurturing those independent brands, highlighting them and giving them an opportunity to show amongst like-minded artists,” she says.
Vadakan says he and his wife were really excited to be coming back to Vancouver and take part in IDS because the city holds a special place for them.
“One of our first dates was Vancouver. We went up there early on and spent a weekend and fell in love with it,” he says.
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