Martha Sturdy showcases latest

Layne Christensen
SPOTLIGHT FEATURE
‘M NOT fluff. Period.”

We are discussing the ap-
peal of Martha Sturdy’s instantly
recognizable sculptural ac-
cessories with their strong lines,
striking minimalist detail and metal
accents.

“I'm an idea person, a creative

as [Posie ip:

CHUNKY HAND-CRAFTED
necklaces, earrings and brace-
lets in 24-karat gold-plated
brass have become the cor-
nerstone of Martha Sturdy Inc.
This season, Sturdy’s designs
have gone organic, with leaf
shapes and antique bronze
finish reflecting the trend in

_ fashion toward subdued hues
and natural fibres.

person, a designer, a sculptor;
there’s a million terms,”’ says the
internationally recognized Van-
couver designer. One is surprised
to discover that success came late
in life to this confident and am-
bitious individual, who, at 19,
dropped out of art school to get
married,

Ten years and three children
later she resumed her studies at
the Emily Carr College of Art (then

NPIVIDUAL
PIZZA

called the Vancouver Art School)
sculpting large-scale works out of
cold-rolled sivel in the studio and
making jewelry in her basement,
selling it at the Vancouver Art
Gallery and Art Gallery of Ontario,
to pay her way through school.

Once graduated, at the age of
36, Sturdy began to receive local
recognition for these ‘small
sculptures” of brightly colored
acrylic in bold, chunky shapes.

After three years, she’d moved
her operations downtown.
Another three years and she'd
moved into a 510-square-metre
(5,490 sq. ft.) studio on West Fifth
Avenue,

"I said ‘You either become a
grownup and take this business
seriously and get it logether or you

don't,’ so | built this building,” she

says fram her light-filled office on
the second floor of the concrete
and glass structure which she had
built to spec ~ clean and minimal
like her designs.

In 1988, with sales grossing over
$2 million, and distribution in over
200 stores in the U.S., Sturdy
opened the first Martha boutique,
at the foot of Shaughnessy on
south Granville’s tony shopping
strip.

Her bold designs were featured
in the pages and on the covers of
international fashion magazines,
and af 46, Sturdy had received
recognition as one of North
America’s top 10 designers.

“tloved getting credits in
Vogue magazine,”’ Sturdy recalls
of her acceptance by the interna-
tional fashion community. ‘I was
really keen on having the approval
of people | respected. like English
Vogue or Italian Vogue or Ameri-
can Vogue — you know, that
kind of peer group.

“When they said | was great,
then that was like ‘What else is
there?’

A three-year-old line of home
accessories, a new line of ac-
cessories for the bath, and a col-
lection of furniture soon to be
showcased in the newly opened
Martha boutique on Burrard Street
between Robson and Georgia —
that’s what else.

“It’s very exciting,” Sturdy,
now 51, enthuses over the transi-
tion into home accessories.

“It’s a growing market, But
besides that, it’s getting closer to
the scale | like. We're doing
tables, we're doing screens, we're
doing lamps, wall sconces.”

At the same time, Sturdy’s
hand-crafted pieces of wearable
art are getting smaller in scale.

Her latest offering of earrings,

fst
bale

EAGLE HARBOUR resident Martha Sturdy’s line of home ac-
cessories signals a move for the sculptor and fewelry designer

toward larger scale works.

bracelets, pins and neckpieces are
a point of departure from her
trademark pieces of satin-finished
24-karat plated brass.

“We're now going into a new
color,” she explains, picking a
heavy chain-link belt off of her
desk and draping it around her
neck,

“There's always going to be a
gold customer,’’ Sturdy says as she
ingers the belt's leaf-shaped
charms of antique bronze, "but
there's a whole other direction
now, of things being back to
ecology — colors are tnore sub-
dued. The leaf story is part of the
way people are thinking.”

Sturdy, who leaves her Eagle

Harbour home and arrives at her
Vancouver studio before 7 a.m.,
has an uncanny ability to forecast
market trends.

“tthink it’s because I've been
around a long time. I'm in the
marketplace. I just know things.

“t's like learning how to play a
game and then finally you just fig-
ure things out.’

Leyla yeh

ih

creations in newly opened Burrard boutique

Yel she insists she aims to please
herself first.

“4 design what | like, Some-
times it's good, Sometime’s it’s
not, If it isn't good I'll just ectit it
out of the line, But | don’t ever
copy people."

Though she swears she’d never
move to the States, being a Van-
couver-based designer has its
disadvantages, including an ex-
haustive travel schedule.

In New York 50 days of the year,
and Toronto another 20, the
tireless designer plies her wares at
trade shows, and meets with a
multitude of clients who carry her
lines: Saks Fifth Avenue, Barney's
and the Museum of Modern Art in
New York, |. Magnin in San Fran-
cisco, the Museum of Contem-
porary Art in L.A., the Royal On-
tario Museum in Toronto, to name
a few.

But success, recognition and a
busy travel itinerary haven't meant
Sturdy’s lost sense of what's im-
portant.

“To be a successful human be-
ing, you must have balance, which
means you have a full life; you en-
joy your family, Career is really
important but having a life is really
important, too.

“| met a guy this weekend,
very successful man, probably in
his 40s, and he’s totally wired —
on getting success — and | could
see me in him, But he couldn’t
carry a conversation because he
was 50 absorbed in this focus —
this tunnel vision of money and
success. And where will he be? To
me that isn’t happiness.”

For Sturdy, happiness is a suc-
cessful business that fulfils her
need to create and gain recogni-
tion tempered by travel to far-
reaching places - for both in-
spiration and introspection —
strong friendships with her three
adult children and companionship
with second husband David War-
dle.

Time spent in her country house
in Pemberton horseback riding,
cycling and gardening, not in the
glare of the spotlight, are where
she’s most comfortable.

“There’s real people there.

’ There’s no games, | don’t wear

any jewelry, It’s just blue jeans
and a country mentality. That’s me.”

eee

HOW ABOUT YOU ?

.. if you are planning a move, you're
looking for a positive, professional, highly
effective & efficient salesperson. Please
call me for a pleasant surprise |

GRANT M. BOTTO

SUSSEX REALTY 984-9711
Realty

Sussex Group - S.R.C. Really Corporation

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