A Naramata couple’s timing couldn’t be better.
Their minimalist inspired geometric wall clock has earned Colby James Sinclair Ramsay and Jenny Lillian Darychuk of Lillian Sinclair Design Co. a finalist spot in the GRAY Design Awards. The husband and wife team is nominated in the product design category of the prestigious awards organized by GRAY Magazine, the Pacific Northwest’s leading design publication.
The awards are being held Nov. 29 in Seattle, WA.
“This is the first recognition from the design community that we are receiving. We are pretty excited about the event and the other companies that are up for the award in the same category. We’re really excited to be among them. It’s an honour,” Darychuk said.
And that’s not the only exciting news for the couple. They’re slated to have the clocks featured in several upcoming issues of GQ Magazine and will travel to Milan, Italy in spring 2018 to exhibit the handcrafted clocks at Milan Design Week. The weeklong showcase attracts the world’s top designers and buyers from the largest home decor stores in the world.
“All of this came up through the power of social media. They found our posts on Instagram and through the website. People shared the designs and someone from GQ found us and the same for Milan Design Week,” Darychuk said.
“We’ve just been working on our designs. We made them as good as we could, really focussed on the quality and enjoyed the process. We didn’t know the clocks would have such far-reaching effects down the road. It’s really quite pleasant for us,” Ramsay said.
Ramsay, who designs the pieces while Darychuk focuses on marketing, grew up in Naramata and after going to school and then living in Vancouver for several years decided to return home.
The couple moved to the South Okanagan in 2016.
Prior to the move Ramsay, who went to post-secondary education for multimedia production, designed bar stools for a brewery in Vancouver. The stools had a minimalist feel using materials of just steel and wood. He enjoyed the process and decided to take a few industrial design courses at Emily Carr.
At the time Darychuk owned and operated a successful yoga studio.
It was always in the back of their minds to start their own home decor business.
When they made the move to Naramata they decided to dedicate to make a business of home decor. Thier first project was to bring back the wall clock.
“I think it’s something that people have forgotten about. People don’t think of clocks as the feature of design they once were. The clock of modern times has really been reduced to us looking at our phones or if someone is wearing a watch it’s a smartwatch,” Darychuk said. “We wanted to take the clock, which is something that people aren’t really thinking about, and put a new spin on it.”
The company produces several different types of wall clocks including circle, triangle, square and rectangle shaped. Prices range from $115 to $285 depending on the design.
The simple yet eye-pleasing geometric design is handmade by Ramsay out of wood. Any part that needs to be fabricated is done by skilled people in Penticton.
“We’re making timeless pieces. The materials and the thoughtfulness goes into each clock. We want them to be heirloom pieces and we don’t want to lose that. We’re not interested in mass producing a cheaper version of them,” Ramsay said.
In addition to the clock line, the couple is working to come up with a line of lamps, and have aspirations of moving into the bath and body area.
Recently the pair just launched theokmarket.com a website designed to sell the work of Okanagan artists.
“We’re really excited about that as well. It’s really about connecting artists and artisans with buyers. There are so many talented people here,” she said.