Martha Sturdy’s living room.Ben Nelms/The Globe and Mail
Martha Sturdy has designed all the houses she has lived in save one – the five-bedroom vacation property she owns on Preston Island, located half an hour by boat from the Vancouver mainland where the internationally acclaimed designer and artist owns and operates her own Martha Sturdy: Design and Living studio. Purchased in 2002, the new build has a traditional exterior and windows overlooking the Pacific. The views are the reason Sturdy wanted the place. A graduate of the Emily Carr University of Art and Design who started her career in the 1970s designing chunky geometric jewellery that became coveted by such fashion designers as Donna Karan and Calvin Klein and featured in the pages of Vogue, Sturdy grew up on the Sunshine Coast in nearby Roberts Creek, an experience that made her want a home on an island in the ocean. "Once you've had that," she says, "you always want it." She bought the house as is and then proceeded to put her stamp on it. The interior is entirely her own creation and includes pieces from her furniture collection, which she sells around the world through premium retailers. Designed for family – Sturdy has three children and several grandchildren who share the premises with her – the home has an all-white interior that is best shown off in the living room, her favourite spot for being perched over the sea. "It's like being on a boat," she says. "You are surrounded by water. Every window you look out of shows the ocean."
The painting
"It's resin and sand, the kind you'd buy at a hardware store to put in a sandbox – clean sand in a bag. It's my creation. I made it about three years ago. It depicts a landscape. I make a lot of art and I change it up on a regular basis. So it's always a different image."
The lamps
"They are resin and white marble and they sit on two different styles of resin tables. I made them. They are part of my collection of lamps with brass bases and linen shades. I wanted a white-on-white palette for this house and these lamps are part of that idea. They are different shades of white, so it's not a totally plain look."
The coffee table
"Again, it's mine. Am I beginning to sound boring? This one is steel-based. I powder coated it when I made it about four years ago. I have no idea why I did it. I just like the look of it. It's about two feet wide."
The plant
"This is salal, a plant that is local to the West Coast. It's native to British Columbia and is ground cover. The Indians use the berries from this plant for food; I use it in all my homes for its hit of colour. It's a beautiful green and it's long-lasting. You can have it in a vase for weeks if you water it regularly. I picked this bunch on the island. I don't want a fussy bouquet when I am here. This is the island. It's natural; things here have to be the way it is."
The carpet
"The carpet is really old. It's got to be from when I was first married, in the late 1960s. It's from East Indian Carpets Ltd., an old Vancouver company, and the carpets are from India. This one is made of very thick and heavy white wool. It's now got lots of spills on it. But I don't mind because that's the history of us in it."
The couches
"I designed them about six or so years ago. They are a classic. What I like about them is they can be 10 years old, 20 years old or brand new and they still look fresh. I keep going back to the clean minimal lines when making furniture, which I do in all kinds of leather. I like leather. You can spill on it and have dogs on it and even if it looks worn it is still good. It's got a charm to it. A fabric couch when it gets old looks grubby. But a leather couch when it ages looks even more interesting."
The cushion
"I love brown and white or black and white. I've got various types of cow prints in my collection, including on pillows I make to go with anything white."
The windows
"What's fabulous about this place is that you can have the fireplace on while the soft and comfortable furniture is encompassing you and see the waves crashing all around with salt water on the windows, even. You can see all that because there are no curtains. Look at any of my houses and you will see I never have curtains. I like the natural light. Curtains are dust collectors, as my husband says. I know people use them for privacy. But we're lucky – we don't have to. There's no encroachment. It's private without having to worry about it. That's the way we like to be."