Design Studio Ette Puts Down New Roots
Led by Kate Richard, the formerly Vancouver-based furniture and interiors studio is setting up shop in Toronto
Material-driven. Research-based. Intimate. This is how designer Kate Richard, founder of studio Ette describes her emerging practice. After studying industrial design at Emily Carr University in Vancouver, she cut her teeth at local interior design studio Ste. Marie and architecture firm Campos Studio. But she kept returning to her love of furniture, making pieces for herself or custom commissions on the side. “I was really interested in domestic space and what it means to live at home and our relationships with objects,” she explains.
Ette’s Algae-stained stool.
It was through her personal projects that she first began to hone her design approach: “I think materials can really speak for themselves, and I’m trying to them do their job instead of following a trend or making work that’s inspired by things that I see,” she says. “I try to become inspired by books or art or theory rather than visual things. I feel like we’re very overstimulated that way.”
When she’s not experimenting, whether staining chairs with algae or creating short films of her work, Richard primarily focuses on residential interiors. She got her first project—a Vancouver loft in Gastown—through word of mouth. The client came to her with a desire to warm up the cold industrial space with wood but also gave her a lot of freedom. With custom millwork and an eclectic assortment of furnishings (many designed by Richard herself), the resulting space is a testament to Ette’s collaborative, client-focused design process, which is partly a response to what she felt was missing in the market.
The Noon showroom—design for a friends jewellery business. Photo courtesy of Chloë Van Tighem.
Interiors of Soe Cafe in Penticton, British Columbia.
Ette’s untitled floor lamp uses materials sourced from an auto parts fabricator specializing in custom materials for race cars.
“In Vancouver, I noticed that architects would do the exterior and then also take on the interior, and it became this less important aspect. It’s obviously considered, but I found that a lot of them started to look the same—it was just these modern looking spaces that felt like they had no life to them,” she recalls. “So, I became interested in working with people on residential spaces, to take more time with clients and make that a really intimate process to create their own unique space.”
After a few more projects, she decided to turn her side hustle into a full-time gig. Richard runs Ette as a one-woman show, occasionally hiring contract workers during busy periods. While residential design is her primary focus, she has also completed a handful of commercial projects, including a jewelry showroom in Vancouver and a Japanese-inspired café and wine bar in the Okanagan. “The larger scale interiors are more informed by creating an atmosphere for the client, but I think my personal research probably subconsciously informs those projects as well. It ends up being an interesting balance,” she says.
Ette crafts the Butterfly stool from solid mahogany and finishes it with a gentle beeswax.
In August, the designer embarked on a new chapter, relocating her practice to Toronto. While she takes some time to get situated in the local design scene—and prepare for DesignTO, where she’ll show some of her latest pieces—she’s working on decorating her own home (she just designed the bed frame and dining table). “I’m trying to create a bit of a sanctuary,” she explains. “I live on a very busy street, and when I leave the house, it feels really chaotic and there’s people everywhere. When I come home, it’s nice to be able to be in a completely different environment.”
