Smart-Car Style

Sleek, handsome, and high-tech are the best words to describe the new furniture and automotive collaboration between Danish home furnishings brand BoConcept and German micro-car company smart. BoConcept (1275 West 6th Avenue) has created the smartville collection of furniture and accessories (in stores across Canada on April 1) to coincide with the launch of the smart fortwo BoConcept Signature Style car this spring. The smartville collection fuses design elements from BoConcept and smart, and includes sofas, chairs, tables, and accessories such as clocks and candle holders. The smartville armchair (from $2,695), for example, takes its design inspiration from smart-car seats. Its scooped back and plush headrest provide optimal comfort, while its brushed-steel base offers swivel and tilt functions. Meanwhile, the smartville sofa (with sections starting at $1,055) is completely modular and can be easily configured to fit any space. The boxy sectionals are available in grey fabric or brown leather, and both colours are finished with the same neon yellow stitching found in the new smart fortwo car.

From China With Love

For the past 10 years, Peking Lounge (83 East Pender Street) has been bringing the centuries-old style of Chinese furniture and home accessories to Vancouver customers. To celebrate a decade in business in historic Chinatown, owners Michael Bennett and Daniel Poulin have sourced several fresh pieces that reflect the rapid modernization of a country grounded in traditional arts and culture. New to the Peking Lounge show room are a collection of striking, white vases ($50 to $250). Inspired by the blue-and-white porcelain vases of the Ming and Song dynasties, these reproductions are stripped of the classic blue designs but conform to the traditional silhouettes. The vases are created in Jingdezhen, a town in Jiangxi province renowned for its pottery, and measure up to two feet. In addition, a stainless-steel interpretation of a classic Ming-era wedding cabinet ($8,800) fuses the old with the new. The shiny multi-use cabinet—which measures 45 inches wide, 16 inches deep, and 92 inches tall—looks completely modern, yet its design inspiration is age-old. Manufactured by a company in Beijing, the collection of stainless-steel furniture reproductions, which includes side tables and more, is available by special order.

Fresh Sheets

While the official start of spring may be a few weeks away, you can celebrate the fresh colours of the season with new, locally made bed sheets. Vancouver-based bedding store bed (2907 West Broadway) has added 14 colourful prints to its impressive catalogue of arty duvet covers. All of the sheets are made from 100-percent preshrunk cotton and are dyed and sewn in Vancouver. Printed duvet covers ($225) and feature a print on one side and a complementary solid colour on the other. For a crisp, nature-inspired bedroom look, we like the Zippy print, with its green-and-white clover leaf design, or the Leafy, with its smattering of light blue and green vines. If you’re on the lookout for something a bit more unusual, check out the Mod’s black-and-white geometric design.

New Home For In House

Vancouver Renaissance woman Heather Ross is a painter, a photographer, and a forager of eye-catching vintage treasures. Pay a visit to her recently relocated South Granville gallery and boutique, Heather Ross [in house] (2170 Fir Street), and all three of her passions are on display. At the centre of the room, a large wood table presents a mix of antique and modern treasures: sets of unusual goblets, aqua-hued glass vases, old-fashioned bottles, candles, and plants. On nearby shelves, milky-white ceramic plates, teacups, and creamers are neatly stacked among pieces of driftwood and other ocean-floor finds. Ross’s own paintings, which are clearly inspired by nature, hang on the walls, and her framed photographs provide calming backgrounds to her unique product displays.