By Daniel Drolet, Ottawa Citizen
Phillip Van Leeuwen-Boomkamp walks around his newly renovated Ottawa store with a purposeful stride, explaining the difference between contemporary and modern design.
The difference can seem subtle, particularly to anyone who favours antiques or traditional designs.
But it's a critical distinction, since contemporary design (the term "ultra modern" makes Mr. Van Leeuwen-Boomkamp cringe) is where it's at for anyone looking for furniture and accessories on the cutting edge.
The genre occupies a relatively small but distinct niche in the furniture market, appealing largely to urbanites who want their furniture to be edgy, beautiful, even sculptural --all in addition to being useful.
Shauna Levy is the founder and director of Toronto's Interior Design Show, an annual showcase for the best of Canadian and international design (interiordesignshow. com).
Contemporary design, says Ms. Levy, can be simply defined as "a fresh take on something." That something could be using new materials to create a table or a chair, or putting a piece of furniture together in a different way.
French designer Philippe Starck, for example, achieved international recognition with his Louis Ghost chair. The chair is the same shape as the classic 18th-century chairs at Versailles in the time of Louis XVI. But it's made of clear plastic, which gives it its edge.
"It's a shape we all know," says Mr. Van Leeuwen-Boomkamp. "But the shape is applied to new materials."
On the other hand, modern design, he says, began early in the 20th century. The term is associated with names like Le Corbusier and Mies van der Rohe and others who rejected the ornate look of earlier eras and worked to simplify design. Modern design also incorporated new technological processes, and materials such as plastic, as the century progressed.
Some of the modern designs are now classics. Think, for example, of the tulip chair created by Finnish designer Eero Saarinen, whose sleek curves scream space age.
In other words, contemporary is generally of the moment, while modern may have been around for a while.
Naturally, what's of the moment is always evolving.
Ms. Levy says there are several hot trends in contemporary design right now, many of which she saw first-hand at the Milan Furniture Fair this spring.
One is recycling and repurposing.
Ms. Levy says many contemporary designers are building on environmentally friendly concepts by coming up with fresh takes for standard items.
Toronto's Castor Design (castordesign. ca) has created lamps using burnt-out fluorescents lights. The burnt-out fluorescents have been turned into the lampshade. They're banded together in a circle, and the lamp is lit from within by an incandescent bulb.
Ms. Levy also talks about a wall at Toronto's trendy Nyood restaurant that looks like birchbark, but the pattern is created with staples from a staple gun.
Another trend, she says, is mixed media: Using a mix of elements in a design (wood with concrete, say) to warm up pieces and make them more livable. This grew out of concern that contemporary design was too cold.
Also taking off, Ms. Levy says, is the concept of design as art. This kind of furniture is beautifully crafted so you can show it off.
"There are designers who create these one-off pieces and sell them for tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands, of dollars," she says.
New, too, are designs incorporating LED lights and handcrafted items are a big inspiration.
Colours are changing. Mr. Van Leeuwen-Boomkamp notes that in woods, walnut is coming on strong, edging out the dark espresso and wenge that have held the upper hand for several years. Also of-the-moment, he says, are touches of lacquer in furniture.
"Contemporary furniture is not just about shapes; it's also about technology," Mr. Van Leeuwen-Boomkamp adds.
He shows me an Italian-made dining-room table, the Calligaris Odyssey. A traditional table opens up in the middle when you want to add a leaf. On this table, two extensions swivel out from underneath in what can be described as a corkscrew motion. (See the store's website at artoffurniture. ca). Another Calligaris model has two tempered glass extensions that can be put into place by a single person, thanks to an updated mechanism.
These new easy-to-operate mechanisms, he says, are a new take on an old idea.
Ms. Levy says she's always amazed at how inventive designers can get.
"At the Milan Furniture Fair, you think, 'How many more sofas am I going to look at?' But then you see something that's completely original."
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