Shop With Alda Pereira, Designer Of The Year

Frugalbits goes shopping with Alda Pereira, western Canada’s 2010 interior designer of the year.

Already considered one of Canada’s top interior designers with many awards and plenty of ink in glossy publications to her credit, Alda Pereira added another feather to her cap last month when a jury of her peers recognized her as Western Living magazine’s 2010 interior designer of the year.

While her private residential projects and multi-unit development interiors are always a delight to the eye, Pereira is no “shrinking wallflower looking to please multitudes,” commented Western Living editor Anicka Quin, who appreciates Pereira’s “knack for pairing the unusual with the well tailored.”

We love Pereira’s talent too—and her personality, which despite her early and prolonged success, is refreshingly unaffected. Pereira admits she loves to shop “Unabashedly. Period,” she says, “especially window-shopping. Did I mention that it’s free?” Here she shares a few of her favourite haunts.

Alda Pereira’s 5 favourite shops in Vancouver

GET LOST at MacLeod’s Books. This shop immortalized by artist Stan Douglas is one of Vancouver’s best antiquarian and used-book institutions. The book selection is varied and the chaotic bookshelves are loaded with classics and miscellaneous titles at decent prices. Canadian history is a specialty. Browsing is free.
MacLeod’s Books, 455 Pender Street West, 604-681-7654

EAT on HEATH from Provide near MacLeod’s. Heath tableware is a 55-year-old company based in Sausalito, California, with an emphasis on design and the same handcrafted techniques created by original ceramicist Edith Heath. Start with one piece and go from there. Provide is also loaded with beautiful accessories in wood and metal.
Provide, 529 Beatty Street, 604-632-0095, www.providehome.com

LIGHT UP at Bombast. Also on Pender is another carefully edited shop that that emphasizes quality along with design integrity. As well as a being a boutique manufacturer of contemporary furniture, it carries the Bestlite line of light fixtures that are a lesson in simple beauty.
Bombast, 27 East Pender, 604-678-9123, www.bombastfurniture.com

GET INSTANT WALL ART at Paper-Ya. This treasure trove has decorative papers from all around the world. Buy a sheet for approximately $6 and take it down the street to Opus Framing & Supplies, where you can frame it yourself to save some more money.
The Original Paper-Ya, 9 – 1666 Johnston Street, Granville Island, 604-684-2531, www.paperya.ca

MEET at Met Home. Recently relocated to the Armoury District, this store is a gem featuring vintage furnishings from the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s. Owner Mary Watson preserves the history by telling the story of each piece. Very good value and environmentally smart.
Metropolitan Home, 1626 West 2nd Avenue, 604-681-2313

GATHER at Café Bica. A new coffee shop in the Armoury offering pastries, soups and sandwiches made with local organic ingredients, Café Bica promises to gather good people by serving good food and good coffee. Its motto: Make Haste Slowly. Ask for the afternoon special: Bica (espresso) with pasteis de nata (egg custard).
Café Bica, 1809 Fir Street, 604-733-8818, www.cafebica.com

To see more of Alda Pereira work visit Alda Pereira Design at www. aldapereiradesign.com