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Omer Arbel on Fire

You know those beachy copper-tube and blown-glass pendant lights filled with succulents and cacti you were admiring the other day as you bit into your Wagyu steak taco at Tacofino Commissary in Hastings Sunrise? And that grove of abstract stainless s

You know those beachy copper-tube and blown-glass pendant lights filled with succulents and cacti you were admiring the other day as you bit into your Wagyu steak taco at Tacofino Commissary in Hastings Sunrise? And that grove of abstract stainless steel trees with layered glass “leaves” decorating the valet area of the Fairmont Pacific Rim hotel? Oh, and the edgy undulating medals the world couldn’t help but notice when they were handed out to elite athletes at Vancouver’s 2010 Olympics? Those were all Omer’s. 

Omer Arbel 1

If you haven’t heard his name, you’ve surely seen the creations in and around Vancouver, of the designer and creative director of design and manufacturing firm Bocci. Indeed, the architecture, furniture, lighting and sculptures of the 40-year-old, Jerusalem-born, Vancouver-bred designer, who splits his time between Vancouver and Berlin, have been woven into the city’s culturescape. In other words, Vancouver’s ephemeral West Coast esthetic has become an inspiration for Omer Arbel, and Omer Arbel has become part of Vancouver’s design consciousness.

Omer Arbel 2

Omer, named one of Vancouver’s Power 50 in 2015, and winner of many Red Dot and iF design awards (even Gwyneth Paltrow named one of Bocci’s installations as one of her top picks from the 2016 London Design Festival), started out studying architecture and has had much success in that sphere. He is revered for the design of a residential home on an acreage in Langley, dubbed project 23.2 (all of Omer’s works are numbered chronologically), where he was challenged with ideating a geometrically triangular building using untampered reclaimed Douglas Fir beams from a series of burned-down warehouses. 

Brilliant architecture aside, it’s lighting that has brought him to international acclaim, in particular design number 14. Launched in 2005 from Omer’s Kitsilano workshop on West 1st, the multilayered pendant is made using a technique of glass blowing, ceramics, and metal-sand casting, resulting in a rich halo of light, and is still one of the company’s top sellers.  

Omer Arbel 3

When it comes to his philosophy on sustainability, Omer’s focus is on the value given to the objects he creates. “In pre-industrialized western societies, an average individual owned less than 100 objects throughout his or her entire lifetime. These items were, by implication, meaningful—almost magical contributors to the process of everyday life. We hope to create objects that come to be integrated into people’s lives in a meaningful way, objects that become cultural artifacts.”
So where can one view these artifacts? Omer’s work is on display and for sale in Vancouver at Inform and Livingspace, but you’ll have to take a trip to London to see the pieces he is most proud of. “Recently I gravitate towards our current exhibition at the Barbican in London. Something about it seems a departure from previous trajectories.”

A few countries away, in a reconfigured courthouse in Berlin, is where Omer has chosen to create Bocci’s headquarters. Here, many of his important pieces are available for public consumption in an expansive light-drenched showroom called 79. Why Berlin and Vancouver? “I like the tension between the two realities. Berlin is culturally heterogeneous, has a complex history and is a European cultural centre in many different ways. Vancouver has a different energy, less culture, more optimistic, more indeterminate, and is close to magnificent nature. It’s a good balance.” 

Also, Berlin is where the future is, design-wise. These days Omer is “interested in moving beyond craft and into the science of materials,” and is currently working on establishing himself on the European design scene. “We have three new projects in 2017 with Bocci which [debuted] during Milan Design Week [in April]. In May we [refreshed] 79 in Berlin, introducing all the new pieces.”

Yes, things are looking bright. 

Bocci, 500-1706 West 1st Avenue, Vancouver. 604-639-5185. bocci.ca

Bocci 79, Kantstraße 79, 10627 Berlin, Germany. 49 1512 4060005 bocci.ca/79

Milan Design Week, salonemilano.it/en