&Daughters’ Thoughtful and Inventive Design
Poetic design.
Selene by Ema Peter
Each project from design studio &Daughters is a world of its own. Instead of imposing a certain style or approach on clients, the studio allows each space to naturally guide the design, yet a common thread runs through each project from &Daughters: one of a space that is poetic, layered, and unique.
This consideration of context and constraints, and how they are transformed into design opportunities, informs many of the studio’s projects. “While constraints can seem limiting at first, we’ve found that they often become a catalyst for more thoughtful and inventive design,” explains Darcy Hanna, who started &Daughters with Emma Sims. “They provide a framework—a set of parameters that help focus the process and clarify priorities. Instead of viewing them as obstacles, constraints are opportunities to approach a project more critically. When embraced creatively, and when there’s trust from the client in that process, they can lead to unexpected and often more meaningful design solutions.”
Portrait by by Where They Find Us
Portrait by by Where They Find Us
Take the Vancouver cocktail lounge and raw bar Ama, where diners step into a moody and intimate space. “With Ama, the overarching conceptual idea was how we wanted to create a certain quality of light with the feeling of an infinite dusk or sunset,” Hanna says. “One of the early decisions we made was to remove all of the natural light, since the windows didn’t add much to the space. We chose to play with people’s sense of time by creating this quality of light where there’s no sense of time.”
Other recent projects from &Daughters highlight this creative and context-based approach, such as leaning into the limited natural light in a North Vancouver residence through warm woods and texturally rich materials like soapstone, brick, and cork. Or at Small Victory Bakery in Vancouver’s Yaletown, they brought in ocean-inspired features that reflect the bakery’s waterfront location.
Ama by Ema Peter
Founders Hanna and Sims have shared an aligned approach to design from early in their careers. They began collaborating while studying architecture at the University of British Columbia’s School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, working together on a range of projects, including founding a design collective called Evenings and Weekends.
After working for different practices in Vancouver—Hanna at Scott Posno Design and Sims with Ste Marie Studio—the pair founded their own design studio in 2017. “It felt like a risk starting early in our careers, but it also meant we were able to experiment and have the stakes be lower,” Sims says. They chose &Daughters as a play on the conventional “and sons” in business names, and also as a reflection of their ethos. “Generally, our approach has a lot of root in craft, traditional methods, and natural materials, and we wanted something that had a heritage quality to it but in a contemporary way,” Sims explains. “The word ‘daughters’ flips the convention. We liked that juxtaposition of this traditional thing made radical by that one switch.”
Glenview by Silent Sama Photography
The pair’s creative skills extend throughout design. Beginning their studio work focused on residential projects, they’ve since expanded. “We never wanted to be confined to just an interior design studio,” Hanna says. “We’ve moved from full house design with architecture and now also do interiors and even industrial design.” Recently, &Daughters produced a chair in collaboration with Vancouver-based furniture studio Lock & Mortice, venturing into furniture design.
Distinctive and layered, yet adaptable and flexible, each project from &Daughters reflects an exploration into design itself.
The Loft by Tomasz Wagner Photography
