Omer Arbel is the co-founder and creative director of Bocci and the founder of Omer Arbel Office (OAO), an interdisciplinary practice established in Vancouver in 2003. His work spans architecture, lighting, objects, installations, and sculpture, grounded in an ongoing exploration of materials and light as a creative medium.
Omer trained with architect Enric Miralles in Barcelona and later worked with Patkau Architects in Vancouver. His practice is distinguished by a sequential numbering system in which each project, regardless of scale or discipline, is assigned a number in the order of its creation, reflecting his integrated approach to art, design, and architecture.
His built work includes House 75.9, recipient of the 2019 World Architecture Festival Award; Bridge House 91 in British Columbia’s Gulf Islands; and Governors Point, a 16-home community currently in development situated within a 98-acre nature reserve on Washington State’s Salish Sea. His large-scale installations for Bocci have been exhibited internationally at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the Barbican Centre, and the Art Institute of Chicago.
Omer is the recipient of the 2026 Sam Carter Applied Art + Design Award of Distinction. The award recognizes an established artist whose extraordinary and sustained accomplishments have made a significant contribution to applied art and design in British Columbia and beyond.
