Helen Siwak – Issue #43 – Publisher’s Message

I am always impatient for the arrival of fall. Swapping out my summer blacks for my cozy fall blacks is so exciting: the substance of a cable knit, the architecture of a proper coat, jewellery with enough weight to draw a lens before I do. British Columbia goes through its own version of that shift right now, patios closing, light shortening, summer’s performance giving way to something quieter. This issue is built for that mood, for the luxury spaces, public and private, that let us turn inward and contemplate rather than simply consume.

That instinct toward reinvention runs through several stories here. At 91 E 40th Avenue, a bold modern build holds its own among Vancouver’s heritage housing stock. Holborn‘s newly approved Georgia + Abbott tower, designed with Henriquez Partners Architects, takes that same instinct to a civic scale, its form drawn from British Columbia’s own sea glass sponge.

Escape and celebration shared these pages. At Granville Island Hotel, a stay in the False Creek Penthouse proved anonymity and access can coexist minutes from the Public Market, while Dockside Restaurant‘s inclusive menu, and its marina wedding backdrop, did double duty. Serena and Li‘s celebration at Swaneset Bay Resort & Country Club, styled by Liting Chan of Paradise Events, closed nearly a decade of distance with a day built entirely around who they are.

That same substance carried through fashion and culture. After fifteen years across Vancouver’s storied luxury retailers, Michelle Addison stepped out on her own. Champlain’s Jonathan Richard turned to British heritage fabrics for the label’s fall Estate Collection, while CHANEL‘s new Oakridge Park boutique and Chaumet’s Joséphine collection gave the city two fresh arguments for luxury built on permanence. And Chan Hon Goh‘s appointment as Vice President of the Royal Academy of Dance carried a Vancouver studio all the way to a global stage.

Our cover belongs to Danny Singer of Gallery Jones, whose panoramas of prairie main streets, stitched from over a hundred images into a single unbroken horizon, reached straight back to my own upbringing on the Prairies. I am also pleased to share that Folio.YVR has been invited to co-author the World Luxury Chamber of Commerce‘s upcoming (eco)luxury manifesto and to contribute Canadian luxury stories to their newsletter.

Fall does not hand us an excuse to coast. It hands us a reason to pay closer attention. This issue is our invitation to do just that.

All my best,

Helen Siwak, Publisher & EIC

helen siwak, folioyvr, vancouver, bc, yvr, ecoluxury, luxury lifestyle, west coast luxury

Photography by Vladimiros Xanthopoulos

Author Profile

Helen Siwak, Luxury Lifestyle Observer: Helen Siwak is the founder of EcoLuxLuv Communications & Marketing Inc and publisher of Folio.YVR Luxury Lifestyle Magazine and PORTFOLIOY.YVR Business & Entrepreneurs Magazine. She is a prolific content creator, consultant, and marketing and media strategist within the ecoluxury and luxury lifestyle niches. Helen is the west coast correspondent to Canada’s top-read business magazine Retail-Insider, holds a vast freelance portfolio, and is an EIC for Hire. Connect with her here: [email protected].