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Alumni: Palette Industries

The furniture made by Calgary’s Palette Industries is not for the timid.

Ian Campana (’05 BDes), Samuel Ho (’04 BDes) and Nathan Tremblay (’08 BDes) founded the design company in 2005, offering a bold twist on industrial design.

Their custom-made pieces reflect a history, a culture or just a great story. The trio strives to cultivate products that reflect each of their perspectives while working from principles that encourage creativity along with form and function.

When producing custom orders, Palette often uses the opportunity to embed a narrative into their designs. “For instance, a dining room table for a family, we want it to be unique to that family. It’s creating an heirloom that the family will cherish and theoretically pass down from generation to generation,” says Campana.

Thoughtful and bold pieces, such as the limited release of the Dharma Lounge (pictured below), sent a wave of excitement through design communities and had fans erupt in chatter on multiple blogs. It is hard not to stare and discuss the piece, which is bright orange and has the words “stand, forget, breathe, acknowledge & observe” carved as its seat and backrest.

“It’s really interesting how it kind of exploded,” says Campana. “It wasn’t the furniture design aspect that garnered the attention, it was the typography.”

Campana, Ho and Tremblay have not only maintained a friendship that began during their days at the Faculty of Arts, but they have successfully transitioned their love of creation into a blossoming career.

Palette Industries is busy working on their newest batch of creations, which they plan to debut at the January 2012 Interior Design Show in Toronto, Ontario.

Tobo

Dharma Lounge

Related Links:
Department of Art & Design