Designers of the Year 2020: Introducing Our First Panel of Judges

We’re just about five weeks’ out from deadline day for our 2020 Designers of the Year. Our Maker category was created a few years ago for those designers who didn’t quite fit in our other categories, but were still seeing a big impact on our local design scene: the ceramicists, artisans and textile artists who contribute to the soft elements of our home. 

And judging this year’s Maker entries is this top-tier trio.

Jonathan Adler

Potter, designer, and author Jonathan Adler launched his brand in 1993 after leaving his job to pursue his first love: pottery.

Today his offerings span furniture, lighting, accessories, and more, plus iconic interior design projects, and retail locations worldwide€”all dedicated to bringing Modern American Glamour to your life.

Janaki Larsen

Ceramicist Janaki Larsen grew up in the prairies of Alberta and the coast of British Columbia. The daughter of artists, she attended Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design, where she began studying ceramics. Each of her pieces is hand thrown and hand glazed, each very expressive and no two are alike. Each item carries its own raw identity with a quiet and monochromatic aesthetic that feels as if it it has survived from another time and place. Being visually insatiable, she is strongly influenced by nature and light. Janaki is also the mastermind and co-owner of two beloved Vancouver landmarks: Le Marche St. George and 7E7| Atelier St. George.

Brent Comber

Brent Comber Originals is an art and design studio in North Vancouver that creates sculpted objects, functional pieces and designed environments. Brent initially began working with wood as a garden designer in the early 1990s, creating pieces to complement his Pacific Rim-inspired gardens. Using solid pieces of wood, Brent found a new take on design that truly integrated with the landscape.

Materials are sustainably sourced from the surrounding area, and milled at his oceanfront workshop and gallery. Through the exploration of materials, wood, stone, glass resources are taken in their purest form and transformed into objects of recognition yet the fundamental elements remain. Brent takes care to ensure that every piece retains its story, its relationship with the greater system, and that this story remains visible throughout his body of work.

Wanna show these all-star judges your stuff? Enter our 2020 Designers of the Year now! Deadline April 1, 2020.