Galerie CO
5235 St. Laurent Blvd., Montreal
514-277-3131
From sleek, Brazilian-designed ottomans made out of old flip-flops to gorgeous bags and totes crafted from sailcloth, woven paper, tent fabric and seatbelts, the wares at Galerie CO in Montreal's Mile End neighbourhood may be among the most carefully selected in North America.
Among other criteria, they must benefit the environment, support the people who create them and - no small added task - reflect the latest design trends.
"I want to promote good design and create economic opportunities for the people who do it," says founder Sarah Richardson, an Ottawa-born lawyer who spent 15 years as a policy expert advising governments and international organizations on sustainable trade. She opened Galerie CO less than a year ago, having come up with the idea after discovering dozens of talented designers, artists and craftspeople while travelling the world for her work.
"It's a natural extension of my professional life. I've been working in trade policy for years and have seen some incredible stuff," she says. "They inspired me. I wanted to do something practical and help these people market their products."
CO takes its name from the three pillars of sustainable development: ecology, community and economy, three values that Richardson takes very seriously. She picks her wares with criteria she developed helping clients create sustainable economic projects. "I know where each item comes from and the story behind it," she says.
Although many of her products come from style capitals such as London and Milan, a good number of their designers hail from Southern Africa, where Richardson spent much of 2007 crafting trade agreements to promote sustainable trade.
"This South African company does incredible work with women who are HIV-positive," Richardson says, holding up a bright pink fish-motif bowl crafted out of sardine-can labels. Its bowls, pen holders and picture frames are all made from donated recycled food labels, she adds. "The design is gorgeous and they are helping women lead independent lives."
Hot young designer Heath Nash, meanwhile, crafts high-end lampshades out of plastic waste. Named South Africa's creative entrepreneur of the year in 2006, Nash employs local workers to make shapes out of recycled plastic bottles that are then arranged on a wire to form lampshades. The result is functional and exquisite shades that look like bunches of exotic tropical flowers, which on a recent visit to CO were diffusing warm light throughout the gallery.
"I wanted to present unique items - both high-end and more reasonably priced - that Montrealers had perhaps never seen before," Richardson says as she stands against British-based Duffy London's one-metre-square glow canvases of Las Vegas night scenes, cloudy blue skies and pink magnolias.
For many artists, such as furniture designers Bart Bettencourt and Carlos Salgado of the Brooklyn-based design collaborative SCRAPILE, Galerie CO offers a solid entree into the Canadian market. "It's a wonderful opportunity to showcase my work in Canada," says Salgado, who was in town not long ago to take part in a series of shows that Richardson is curating to promote local and international designers.
Founded in 2003, SCRAPILE was created while Salgado and Bettencourt were crafting installations for the Guggenheim Museum. Alarmed by the waste generated by the exhibits, they decided to make furniture from the discarded wood. Now, they collect and repurpose discarded scraps from New York's wider woodworking industry to create their one-of-a-kind pieces, which made their Canadian debut at Galerie CO.
Another debut was British-based designer Richard Liddle's RD4 chair, which is woven by hand out of recycled plastic waste. Liddle developed the chair while he was researching ways to deal with domestic plastic packaging waste. Only 25 of the chairs were made and each is signed by the artist.
"I want people to come into the store and love what they see," Richardson says. "That it's sustainable is a bonus."
