Outside Influence

Outside Influence is a curated collection of clothing and homewares that question the notion of regional vernacular in contemporary design. With worldwide interconnectivity at an all-time high, how can a young port city in the Pacific Northwest claim a particular design identity? What are Vancouver’s defining factors in terms of shaping its creative output? New designers, with the formative years of their careers shaped by international university exchange programs and internships abroad, are inheriting the mantle of giving the region its identity. Each piece exhibited is linked to the others only by geographic location of the designer, forming a de facto gestalt of the current Vancouver design scene. Outside Influence is an attempt to create a dialogue surrounding the perception of “Vancouver Style”.