Designers of the Year 2022: Announcing Our Furniture Design Judges

Just under two weeks left to get your entries into Western Living‘s 2022 Designers of the Year awards!

There are 9 categories€”from architecture and interiors to industrial design, landscape, maker, and of course, furniture design. Read all about where you best fit here.

Put your work in front of world-renowned judges€”including these three on our just-announced Interior Design judging panel. Get to know them below, and get your entry ready: the deadline for DOTY 2022 is April 1. 

Jo Annah Kornak, Holly Hunt

As Holly Hunt’s SVP/Executive Creative Director, Jo Annah Kornak is the creative thought-leader and strategist responsible for executing a consistent brand image and activating the overall creative vision of the Holly Hunt brand. She leads creative direction and curation for the brands in house furniture, textile, wallcovering, accessories and art collections, marketing strategy, and vision for all Holly Hunt showrooms across the country and abroad. Her extensive experience and collaborations with global designers, artisans, and makers have given Jo Annah an eye and instinct that makes Holly Hunt what it is today.

After supporting founder Holly Hunt as her €œright hand€ for 16 years, Jo Annah assumed creative leadership shortly thereafter and continues to propel Holly Hunt forward. Jo Annah has established her credentials for driving inspirational and innovative conversations for all those who experience Holly Hunt .

David Keeler, Provide

David is Alberta born, but always had a desire to move beyond his familiar ground. He has lived in Montreal, New York (where he attended Parsons School of Design) and San Francisco and these experiences have greatly enriched his education in the world of design. With is late partner Robert Keeler, he opened Provide in 2007, an essential source of thoughtfully curated home accessories designed by master artisans from around the world: textile artists from Spain, leatherworkers from Italy, ceramicists from L.A., ironworkers from Japan and more. This spring he will be launching a second location, Provide Design Gallery, which will present a carefully selected collection of furniture, lighting and art in a gallery-like space.

Brent Comber, Brent Comber Originals

Brent Comber is an artist and designer creating 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, he found a new take on design that truly integrated with the landscape. It is his interpretation of the natural world that drives Brent to create pieces that reflect the stories that surround him.

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 at 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.

Brent is the fourth generation of his family to be raised in the Pacific Northwest. Ranging from residential to commercial installations, his aesthetic interpretation of the West Coast has been recognized both locally and globally, showing as far as Paris, London, Japan, Bora Bora and beyond. Brent continues to explore themes unique to the Pacific Northwest that connect people to this unparalleled setting and the history of dynamism of the landscape.