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Omer Abel is one of Canada's most inventive industrial designers. At Bocci, his Vancouver-based studio, the professionally trained architect – who co-created the undulating medals for the 2010 Winter Olympics – re-imagines age-old materials and methods of production to author startlingly contemporary lighting, decor and furniture.

Glass chandeliers, for example, that are hand-blown in such a way as to look like alien birthing sacks (in the best way possible).

His 19 – so-called because it's the 19th item produced by the studio – is a mirror-like objet d'art that hangs on the wall. It's crafted by pouring molten brass into a sand mould. The metal has a high copper content so that any overspill from the cast oxidizes instantly on contact with the air (though anything within the mould retains its sheen). The result is an ethereal black nimbus that highlights and encircles a pure, polished reflection.

From $4,100; bocci.ca.

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