When Ikea just won’t cut it, enter Eagle Harbour home decor maven Tisah Tucknott-Cohen who can add a touch of culture to your living space.
Tucknott-Cohen’s desire, through her online decor store Drifter, is to be able to preserve the past and offer multicultural integration into people’s homes.
The unique collection is influenced by Tucknott-Cohen’s travels and her family’s combined Japanese and South African heritage.
Art and home decor have always been a big passion for Tucknott-Cohen, but she couldn’t dedicate a lot of time to it until recently.
A former art therapist – Tucknott-Cohen helped kids with autism and people with dementia – she found herself losing time at home with her young son Kai. So Tucknott-Cohen decided to start a home-based business selling eclectic home decor last spring.
“I’ve always been crazy about home decor and realized there was a niche in the market where I could be an online store and offer products for a more reasonable price,” explains Tucknott-Cohen. “There’s a lot of traditional cultural pieces that are very artistic in and of itself.”
Philippine hand-carved wood demon masks, vintage Japanese haori (kimonos), hand-woven Tonga Binga baskets and handmade terracotta bowls which sell for $2.99 each are among Tucknott-Cohen’s cultural wares.
She also sources bogolanfini or “mud cloth,” a handmade Malian cotton fabric traditionally dyed with fermented mud. Each mud cloth is hand-painted and no two patterns are alike.
While they have a long tradition of being used by West African warriors and hunters to camouflage themselves, these days mud cloth textiles are found worldwide in home decor, including tablecloths, blankets and custom-made pillows.
Most of Tucknott-Cohen’s clients are young moms looking to redo their nurseries and thereby Moroccan ottomans, baskets and hand-sewn, soft baby blankets have been her bestsellers. The baskets are an artful receptacle for storing kids’ toys.
Tucknott-Cohen was fortunate enough to travel extensively as a child – her parents worked as a captain and stewardess for Cathay Pacific – and has always been inspired by the culture she experienced in other countries.
Later on, when Tucknott-Cohen met her South-African born husband, they paid homage to his homeland through native decor.
Collecting has taken over her life and her Eagle Harbour home, says Tucknott-Cohen with a laugh.
While many Drifter items are thoughtfully displayed throughout her home, she also has a stock room to store the items she sells.
Tucknott-Cohen says she is able to offer customers a piece of imported culture at a reasonable price and help them avoid expensive shipping costs, thanks to low overhead.
Each conversation piece in the Drifter collection is carefully curated, steeped in tradition and tells a story, explains Tucknott-Cohen.
The Japanese haoris hold special meaning for Tucknott-Cohen. Her grandmother, who recently passed away, would spend $10,000 on one kimono and left behind a breathtaking collection of the silk garments.
Tucknott-Cohen and her husband recently bought an Airstream trailer which they are renovating to showcase Drifter decor at pop-up markets around the Lower Mainland.
Drifter will be featured at the Fall For Local Spring Market on Saturday, April 29 at the Pipe Shop Venue at the Shipyards.
More information is available at drifterthebrand.com.
