Skip to main content

His well-known tongue-in-cheek outdoor designs are reflected in his living space

Claude Cormier in the kitchen of his Montreal home on Nov. 10, 2017.

Claude Cormier likes a challenge. The landscape architect is well known for his playful-verging-on-tongue-in-cheek designs, such as 18 Shades of Gay, the kilometre-long installation of 180,000 coloured plastic balls suspended above Montreal's Sainte-Catherine Street East in the Village, or the recently renovated Berczy Park in Toronto, featuring a classically styled Victorian fountain with canine statues spouting elegant arcs of water, alongside a drinking trough for the neighbourhood's actual dogs.

"They are engaging and they sometimes challenge what people expect a public space can be," Cormier says of his landscapes. And though his goal is "trying to bring people together in space, simply," he admits "the challenge is to get over all the hurdles in the process, one after the other, one day at a time. That's my job."

Tavolo Con Ruote low table with glass top by Gae Aulenti for Fontana Arte, $3,177.37 at 1stdibs ( 1stdibs.com).

Mongolian Lamb pillow cover – Rosette, $239 at West Elm ( westelm.ca).

In northeast Montreal, on Rue des Carrières, in the renovated building that houses his office, Claude Cormier + Associés, and his home, Cormier switched roles, charging artist and architect Jacques Bilodeau with the vision and design of his domestic space. "There was no other choice, Jacques would be the architect," Cormier says. "And Jacques is certainly a conceptualist. He's very challenging. I gave him carte blanche and we started working together." And fittingly, "he made a house that was making reference to a landscape."

Amulette JellyFish pendant light, $450 at Pepin Shop (thepepinshop.com).

In his art and architecture, Bilodeau uses inclined and moveable planes to activate the body, necessitating heightened awareness in space. In the Cormier residence, this idea is realized through a hydraulic system that opens and closes the kitchen on a whim ("Sometimes it's nice to be confined and feel like you're in a smaller space," Cormier says). Walnut covers most of the surfaces, which can be floor, roof, platform or table, sometimes all of the above at once. "When you start manipulating planes, then your body seems to engage differently in the space," he says. "Jacques taught me that; the notion that being unstable makes you much more aware of your own self. I love my house."

When it comes to furnishings, Cormier's playfulness pushes (not unpleasantly) against Bilodeau's tougher, machined aesthetic. Though the stainless steel couch was designed by Bilodeau sans cushions, Cormier insisted on a somewhat softer finish, opting for dyed-pink sheepskin after much consideration. "It took me a year to decide what to do on top of it. It's playful, once again, and unexpected. It always puts a smile on people's faces," he says.

It took Cormier a year to decide on the dyed-pink sheepskin cushions for his stainless-steel couch.

The large photograph, of actor James Gandolfini's 1970s Cadillac, is by Swiss-born, New York-based artist Henry Leutwyler. Cormier felt the energy of the piece complemented Bilodeau's space, and felt some kinship with Leutwyler, who'd been rejected by one of Switzerland's best photography schools, "like I was at the Université de Montréal," he says with a laugh (in November, Cormier received a medal from the school in recognition of an exceptional career). "It spoke to me," he says.

A cast moose antler lamp by Bilodeau.

A ‘concrete muffin’ stool by Periphere.

This stuffed puppy-bunny hybrid was a $1 Salvation Army find.

The electrical wire, macramé-style hanging lamp is by South Korean artist Kwangho Lee, and the "concrete muffin" stool is by brother-sister duo Periphere, both purchased at the now defunct gallery store Commissaires on Boulevard Saint-Laurent in Montréal, or as Cormier calls it, "the most amazing store in Canada." A cast moose antler lamp is also by Bilodeau, acquired more than 20 years ago, which Cormier thinks a premonition to the Canadiana-themed designs made popular in recent years by Toronto-based studio Castor and their brethren.

And some objects are pure pleasure. A stuffed, hybrid puppy-bunny was found at the Salvation Army for one dollar. Cormier counts it as part of his art collection. A fur vase that sits in the south-facing window is, essentially, unusable. "You can't put anything in it," Cormier says. "But that's the purpose of it – having no purpose," he says. Sometimes beauty is enough.

Visit tgam.ca/newsletters to sign up for the Globe Style e-newsletter, your weekly digital guide to the players and trends influencing fashion, design and entertaining, plus shopping tips and inspiration for living well. And follow Globe Style on Instagram @globestyle.