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Winnipeg Free Press

Kananaskis G7 put spotlight on Manitoba art, architecture

At the 51st G7 summit in June, when world leaders from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, the European Union and the United States met to discuss global economic and geopolitical issues, they did so in a space designed by Prairie architects and artists. Winnipeg firm 1×1 Architecture was commissioned to design the renovation of the Pomeroy Mountain Lodge at Kananaskis, Alta., for the summit. The team was engaged by Public Services and Procurement Canada to transform the lodge's existing 13,500-square-foot conference centre into a welcoming space that would help foster positive conversations between political leaders. GOVERNMENT OF CANADA A wood backdrop from 1x1 Architecture and an Indigo Arrows drum stool by Destiny Seymour were centre stage when Prime Minister Mark Carney met with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni at the G7 Summit in Kananaskis, Alta. last month. GOVERNMENT OF CANADA A wood backdrop from 1x1 Architecture and an Indigo Arrows drum stool by Destiny Seymour were centre stage when Prime Minister Mark Carney met with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni at the G7 Summit in Kananaskis, Alta. last month. The brief was to create a 'retreat-style' summit with a focus on intimate settings. Principal architect Travis Cooke, interior designer Ashley Jull and architectural intern Evan Schellenberg took on lead roles in the project. The trio was also tasked with creating four bilateral rooms used for smaller meetings. Winnipeggers Destiny Seymour, founder and owner of Indigenous-led design and textile studio Indigo Arrows, and designer Thom Fougere, who is now based in Montreal, were commissioned by the firm to create furniture for the spaces. SUPPLIED Destiny Seymour, founder and owner of design and textile studio Indigo Arrows SUPPLIED Destiny Seymour, founder and owner of design and textile studio Indigo Arrows 'There was an energy coming from our side to try and showcase as much Canadian content and Canadian manufacturers as possible,' Cooke says. 'We met with Destiny and Thom on our own to see if they were interested in delivering specific furniture pieces for the summit. They were both excited about the opportunity.' Seymour's drumming stools, made from Manitoba ash wood, were reimagined for the summit. Previously covered in easy-to-clean leatherette material, the new iteration sees the wood encased in wool blankets from Seymour's Elements line. The blankets feature ancestral Indigenous pottery patterns, ranging from 400 to 4,000 years old, from this region. 'Global Affairs Canada liked that I was reviving the pottery and bone tool patterns and giving them a fresh take,' Seymour says. Thom Fougere Studio Designer Thom Fougere chose to work with Tyndall stone, which is unique to Manitoba. Thom Fougere Studio Designer Thom Fougere chose to work with Tyndall stone, which is unique to Manitoba. The Earth blanket range comes in neutral, creams, earthy and brown tones; the designer used both sides of the blankets so some of the stools feature one design and the other feature its reverse. The stools were placed in each of the bilateral rooms and the design has already garnered interest online; Seymour has been busy fielding orders. 'I will have to start a line of those blanket stools now,' she laughs. The interior designer established her own studio in 2016 to address the lack of Indigenous representation in the industry. Unable to source products with an Indigenous theme, she decided to create her own home decor line, highlighting historic patterns from this territory. SUPPLIED Manitoba's 1x1 Architecture designed the renovation for Pomeroy Mountain Lodge during the G7 Summit in Kananaskis, Alta. SUPPLIED Manitoba's 1x1 Architecture designed the renovation for Pomeroy Mountain Lodge during the G7 Summit in Kananaskis, Alta. She now has a commercial fabric line as well as a flooring line. 'I think that representation is very important,' she says. 'I feel honoured and proud that our Indigenous designs were on a global stage, that I got to do that. I got a lot of positive feedback from the community. People are proud, because these patterns are from this land.' Thom Fougere's three-piece table collection was also created exclusively for the summit. Honed from Tyndall Stone, the set features two 2.5-metre-long display tables and a matching side table, which doubles as a vessel for flowers. Geologically referred to as the upper mottled limestone of the Red River Formation of the Ordovician system of the Paleozoic Era, Tyndall Stone is only quarried in Manitoba. According to a spokesperson from the Summits Management Office, Fougere's piece, along with other works by other Canadian designers and artists, 'was selected to highlight contemporary Canadian design and craftsmanship, and to showcase the beauty of the Canadian materials used.' SUPPLIED The G7 Summit in Kananaskis, Alta. featured design work by 1x1 Architecture. SUPPLIED The G7 Summit in Kananaskis, Alta. featured design work by 1x1 Architecture. 'Tyndall Stone has been in my life for a long time,' Fougere says. 'It's a material that's pervasive throughout the Prairies, so for the longest time I overlooked it, as it was just a common, everyday thing. It wasn't until I started to travel often for work, and to factories producing furniture around the world, that I started to look at what I took for granted back home in a new light. 'It's a beautiful material, and it's only found in the Canadian Prairies, just outside Winnipeg.' The Winnipeg-born designer, who moved to Montreal in 2021, worked with Gillis Quarry to locate stone pieces large enough for the design he had in mind. The tables were ground shipped in crates and driven carefully to the site, where a team of nine people were waiting to set up the 545-kilogram display tables and 225-kg side table. Fougere explains that a lot of his design decisions were pragmatic in nature, such as splitting the long display tables into a composition of two gestures, making them easier to manufacture, install and later move. 'I wanted to really show off the material with these pieces, so I elected to use fairly large heavy blocks of stone, and positioned them in a fairly brutal but balanced fashion,' he explains. 'The side table took a few forms, but I eventually landed on a vase-like piece that would hold a flower arrangement and also function as a practical side table.' The tables will eventually be moved and used in a government building in Ottawa. Thom Fougere Studio Thom Fougere furniture was prominent at the G7 Summit in Kananaskis, Alta. Thom Fougere Studio Thom Fougere furniture was prominent at the G7 Summit in Kananaskis, Alta. The G7 summit design project has been the most high-profile commission 1×1 Architecture has been involved in, Cooke says. It was also one with the swiftest turnaround time. 'Federal projects usually take multiple years to deliver, so for this one to have started in October and finished in June is an extremely aggressive schedule,' Cooke says. 'We had to get design signoff from the federal government on the chosen scheme, then we had to produce construction drawings so that the contractor — who had only 14 days to construct the entire project — could build it.' Their main scope of work was the Outreach Room where the G7 Nations and Outreach Countries came together on the last day of the summit. The conference room had windows overlooking the Rocky Mountains, which were fitted with rough-sawn spruce timbers in front of an existing curtain wall. 'These timbers were culled from a firebreak initiative around the town of Canmore, which is only 30 miles away from Kananaskis,' Cooke says. Thom Fougere Studio Thom Fougere's side table doubles as a vase. Thom Fougere Studio Thom Fougere's side table doubles as a vase. 'Watching the news, it's hard to ignore the forest fires that we're currently dealing with annually. So it was a nice way to also tell the story of Canada's commitment to forestry stewardship,' Jull adds. The impermanent nature of the redesign reinforced the team's commitment to creating products that could be removed and repurposed. 'We were thinking what the next lifespan of that product could be,' Jull says. 'Could the hotel make use of it, or could that go somewhere else? Could it be donated to a school? We were considering a lot of modules, just thinking of the future use of that product, so that it does not end up in a landfill. 'Part of the government's commitment on this summit was to be a very green summit. So we were always trying to consider the reuse, recyclability or the next life value of it.' AV KitchingReporter AV Kitching is an arts and life writer at the Free Press. She has been a journalist for more than two decades and has worked across three continents writing about people, travel, food, and fashion. Read more about AV. 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