Award Category: Applied Art and Design Award

Stefanie Dueck is a blacksmith specializing in decorative flatwear. A graduate of the Kootenay School of the Arts in Nelson, Stefanie perfected her craft of metalwork with a blacksmithing apprenticeship in Southern Spain. She works in a variety of metals including stainless steel, copper and bronze using such techniques as lost-wax casting, welding and hot forging steel. She opened her Vancouver studio in 2008 and her work is now shown in stores and galleries across the continent.

Wayne Ngan is a renowned potter whose abstract and contemporary works reflect the traditions of pottery from China, Korea and Japan and the dynamic influence of his natural surroundings by the sea in his studio on Hornby Island. His Japanese-inspired studio continues to be a destination every year for hundreds of visitors from around the world. Regarded as one of Canada’s most influential ceramicists, Wayne received the Saidye Bronfman award in 1983. His work has been exhibited widely for over five decades and is in a number of permanent collections including in the Canadian Museum of Civilization.

Christian Woo is a self-trained skilled craftsman and woodworker who designs and builds contemporary custom furniture. His style reflects his Pacific Northwest background and the influence of Scandinavian and Japanese design. Every piece constructed combines elegant simplicity and fine detailing with functionality. Christian’s work is regularly featured in international design publications and presented at design shows in Canada and the United States.

Lisa Henriques received a Bachelor of Fine Arts: Ceramics from Emily Carr Institute of Art & Design in 1999 and received a Master of Visual Arts: Ceramics from Australia National University in 2011. Lisa’s practice centers around large-scale storage vessels. Her techniques reference her studies of the ceramic traditions of Africa, Mexico, India and China, where she completed apprenticeships with ceramic masters. Lisa’s work has been exhibited in North America, Asia and Europe.

Sisters Mary and Sarah Schwieger learned the craft of traditional broom making from their parents while growing up in Gray Creek on the east shore of Kootenay Lake. In 2010, Sarah and Mary received a CMHC artisan award providing them with studio and retail space on Granville Island.  There, they hand-make their unique, high-quality, long-lasting brooms using raw unprocessed broomcorn woven onto a variety of handles. Each creation blends beauty, function and tradition.

Catherine Regehr is a Vancouver-based internationally acclaimed fashion and home designer. Her work reflects her northern roots and her signature elegance. She studied fashion design in Paris and worked in fashion in New York before returning to British Columbia, where she launched her first couture collection in 1986. More recently, Catherine has created a home collection mirroring her connection to the outdoors and fascination with texture. Sumptuous fabrics, elegant, understated lines and timelessness characterize Catherine Regehr’s designs.

Building on a deep connection with the materials he uses and with his natural surroundings, for over 20 years Brent Comber has designed and created original wood furniture pieces. Self-taught, he has conscientiously used salvaged, scavenged and historically significant wood to create modern urban forms, including his iconic ‘Alder Cube’. Comber has received international and national commissions and his work has been displayed from New York to Dubai to Shanghai.

Dina Gonzalez Mascaro received a BFA from the Universidad de La Plata in Buenos Aires, later attending the Banff Centre. Dina’s unique designs combine the materials and techniques of a jeweller with the eye of a sculptor and the sensibility of an architect. Award-winning Mascaro has a hybrid studio/gallery/store called JewellerBau, in the Mount Pleasant area of Vancouver, where she challenges the public to expand their understanding of what jewellery can be.