Photography by Conrad Brown
For its brick-and-mortar flagship, Vancouver-based online luggage retailer Monos wanted to build a boutique that evokes, as the project brief states, “voyaging through distant landscapes while providing a minimal and versatile backdrop for showcasing the products.” The monochromatic materials palette of brick and plaster suggests the weathered, sun-bleached, whitewashed walls of Santorini and Mykonos while the 14-ft.-high vaulted ceiling evokes an early medieval chapel. However, the wall niches (with integrated lighting) here incorporate merchandise instead of reliquaries. At the bottom of one niche, a recessed rectangle presenting a partially sunken carry-on spinner suitcase emphasizes the thickness and solidity of the archaic-looking interior. The journey ends at the towering rear wall of corbelled brickwork. Its hit-and-miss pattern of alternating recessed and protruding blocks creates palpable depth and texture.
As appeared in the July/August 2025 Best of Canada Awards issue of Canadian Interiors magazine.
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