Five women who turned their design passion into career success
Janis Nicolay
The eco-design queen
Ami McKay’s interior, furniture and
housewares designs have the kind of
stylish urban esthetic you would expect
to find in a contemporary condo-loft, but
there’s much more to them than meets
the eye. Ami is committed to using
non-toxic and certified-organic materials,
such as natural rubber and dyes, organic
cotton and hemp. And most of us would
buy her products based on looks alone
(they’re gorgeous!). She plays with a
range of bold and neutral colour palettes,
adding in signature nature-inspired
decorative details. Her totally eco
bedding line (100-percent recycled-paper
packaging with 100-percent vegetable
dyes and a carbon-offset program) is an
industry first for Canada—and she has
hit the jackpot in a deal with U.S. retail
giant Bed, Bath & Beyond.
Ami's ethos: “I want my line to be
beautiful, and for people to be healthy
as well as happy when they’re around it.
Every material has been considered, so
the things you don’t see matter
just as much as the things you
do,” says the designer, based in
Surrey, B.C. Ami has spent the
past 11 years as a decorator, sourcing
low-VOC paints and less toxic
stains. While better products are
now easier to find, non-toxic
furniture and bedding like Ami’s
are still in short supply.
Her inspiration: An advocate of
yoga and meditation from an early age,
Ami aspires to create “art that heals.”
She started her custom-furniture line
when she discovered that fire retardants
(used in most furniture) could have
carcinogens that may stunt childhood
development and have been found in the
breast milk of the majority of women in
Canada. As the mother of two children,
she decided to tackle the problem
head-on, making furniture free of
formaldehyde, the dreaded fire retardants
and other potentially harmful
chemicals. So far, her biggest hurdle has
been not sourcing materials, but the cost:
“It takes one year for a tree to produce
enough latex to make a queen-sized
mattress. You can’t rush nature,” she
explains. “It’s expensive, but worth it.”
What's next: “Everybody deserves
a healthy sofa,” she says. For now, she is
starting with her Pure Design line of
bedding, launching this summer. In the
meantime, it’s worth saving up for her
big custom pieces.
The celeb pastry chefs
Alexandria Pellegrino and Jessica Smith
make flamboyant, exquisite, sometimes
macabre—but always beautiful and
delicious—custom-designed cakes at
Cake Opera Co. It’s not unusual for them
to get an ecstatic (sometimes tearful)
call from a bride saying their cake made
her day perfect. Celebrity-wedding style
guru Grace Ormonde adores them, and
the duo were chosen to create Nicole
Richie’s wedding cake. They devised
a white-and-gold, five-tier, Versailles-inspired
architectural masterpiece with
Tiffany-blue accents and black-diamond
patterning, topped by figurines of Nicole
and Joel Madden (tattoos and all) in
period costume. Although their cakes’
exteriors are dramatic, they tend to stick
to simple flavours such as vanilla and
chocolate for the insides. The two keep
upping the creative ante: As an Easter
treat this year, they concocted elaborate
chocolate Fabergé eggs filled with truffles.
Their ethos: As the “sugar artist”
of the duo, Alexandria is responsible for
the design. She started experimenting
with edible art as a student at OCAD
(the Ontario College of Art & Design).
Enamoured of the medium, she enrolled
in the Cordon Bleu pastry program in
Ottawa, where she met Jessica. Both
women graduated at the top of their
class. Alexandria split her time between
Canada and Italy so that she could
see her boyfriend, but she bid Europe
a bittersweet arrivederci when she
couldn’t find anywhere to work. In 2007,
Alexandria returned to Canada full-time
and started Cake Opera Co. in Toronto,
which quickly became too much to
handle on her own, so she called Jessica.
Jessica’s path had taken her to a
position at London’s Michelin-starred
hot spot Yauatcha—think dim sum
and cocktails meet afternoon tea and
macaroons—before she returned to
Toronto as head
pastry chef at
the venerable
(and now defunct)
Truffles. Disenchanted with fine dining,
Jessica joined forces with Alexandria,
bringing her exceptional pastry-making
talents to the partnership.
Their inspiration: “I’m always
looking at other areas, like art history,
architecture and fashion,” says Alexandria.
“Inspiration comes from everywhere!”
What's next: Alexandria has been
asked to judge the new Canadian TV
show Cake Walk: Wedding Cake Edition,
a competition premiering on Slice
network this fall. Their next dream gig?
Madonna’s daughter Lourdes’ sweet 16,
of course! And maybe a pastry-making
session with a foodie-world heavyweight
like Gordon Ramsay.
The hip hobbyist
Montreal-based entrepreneur Julia
Vallelunga is all about reinvention.
And while boho jeweller and European
lobbyist are two professions that don’t
often appear on the same resumé, her
eclectic designs are informed by her
passion for global causes. She recycles
vintage beads, tassels and chains into
modern pieces reminiscent of exotic
locales and ’70s bohemian chic for her
coveted, colour-infused line of jewellery,
La Raffinerie. Made from batches of
second-hand finds from warehouses that
sell in bulk, Julia’s jewellery is stunning
and one-of-a-kind: her covetable Rose
earrings are made from vintage gold and
feathers, and her Fia necklace is wrapped
in purple silk with antique beads.
Julia's ethos: Before her foray into
the style world, the peripatetic 30-year-old
spent a few years in Paris and Belgium,
lobbying for renewable-energy industries.
Once she returned to Montreal, where
she had grown up, Julia worked in
business as a consultant and delved into
jewellery to express her creative side.
Demand for her vintage-inspired pieces
quickly rose, igniting Julia’s entrepreneurial
spirit. She left her day job to
focus on creating and expanding her line,
which has been picked up by stores across
North America, including fashion-world
darling Yumi Kim’s N.Y.C. boutique.
Her inspiration: “My pieces reflect
my travels,” says Julia. “I love the colours
of India; I love tribal style.” In a recent
collection, which is named after African
cities, vivid jewel-toned silk-wrapped
necklaces mingle with asymmetrical
chains studded with semi-precious stones.
What's next: “I never saw myself
as an entrepreneur,” she laughs, but
clearly creativity and business have
found a stylish synergy in Julia. Hip
retailer Anthropologie has just picked
up her Nomad line, and she is creating
designs from materials that can be easily
replicated for larger stores. They’ll
still have that insouciant vintage vibe,
though—at least if that’s what Julia is
feeling style-wise.
The lifestyle guru
Cobi Ladner is a six-foot-tall redhead
who bears a striking resemblance to
Geena Davis. Instead of toning down
her vivid colouring and height, she opts
for bold—bright Chinese silk jackets are
her everyday look. It’s this gutsy attitude
that has helped her create Cobistyle,
a vibrant-colour-infused furniture and
housewares line. What’s more, she’s
taken it from idea to market across
Canada in two years, a feat almost
unheard of for someone who has never
trained as a designer. Cobi creates
everything from plush jewel-toned faux-vintage
chairs and settees to brightly
patterned cushions, delightfully printed
chopsticks and Chinese lanterns. “I want
to see my designs in regular homes,
where people are looking for a happy
backdrop to everyday life. If my line
makes people smile when they walk in
the door after a busy day, I’ll be happy.”
Cobi's ethos: Cobi held the coveted
position of editor-in-chief at Canadian
House & Home for 15 years, where
she gained insider knowledge about
manufacturers and retailers and, most
important, developed a keen sense
of what homeowners really want.
She was thrilled when the minimalist
conservatism that dominated home
design in the ’90s began to shift to a
more decorative esthetic. “I worried
that by the time my business was ready,
the rise of vintage-inspired design
might be over,” she says. Luckily for
her, happy shades and pretty touches
continue to be the rage.
Her inspiration: Cobi is infatuated
with the blue-and-white porcelain
manufactured in China in the 1900s
for the export market. “It’s very classical,
and I love the mix of East meeting
West....And then there’s vibrant silk,
natural rattan, chunky jewellery—I love
it all,” she says. “Friends would see
something in my house and ask me
where I found it. I’d have to send them
to Chinatown or vintage stores, but
they’d rarely come back with anything.
Unless you’re a designer with an
experienced eye, it’s hard to make picks.”
With her new line, Cobi makes that
stylist-chosen look easier to get.
What's next: “Gosh, I have so
many plans—bedding, rugs, tableware,
bags, stationery....My list is very long.”
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