Awards of Excellence — 2015 Recipient | Royal Architectural Institute of Canada

Awards of Excellence — 2015 Recipient

Omer Arbel
Vancouver
BC
Award Category: 
Allied Arts Medal

Omer Arbel Office and
Bocci Design and Manufacturing Inc.

Omer Arbel is the principal of Omer Arbel Office, which produces designs for buildings, objects, furniture, lighting and electrical accessories. He is also co-founder and creative director of Bocci, a design and manufacturing firm whose portfolio ranges from light installations to furniture and electrical sockets.

Arbel graduated from the University of Waterloo School of Architecture in 2000. After apprenticeships with Miralles Tagliabue in Spain and Patkau Architects, and Busby + Associates Architects in Vancouver, he founded his practice in 2005. Bocci also launched in 2005. Over the past decade, Arbel has continually explored new directions in lighting design.

Arbel’s accolades include several Red Dot and iF awards, a Yellow Pencil Yearbook Entry, the Ron Thom Early Design Achievement, and the commission to design the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Medals.

Jury Comment(s): 

His work “presented us with an artful play in perspective, object, and space,” said the three-member jury.

“Breathtaking and delightful in its simplicity, the Victoria and Albert installation effects a surprising transformation of the space and surface of the architecture, of up and down, dark and light,” they said.

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Light installation at Mallet Antiques, London, UK

BoccixMallett / Photo: Gwenael Lewis

Light installation at Mallet Antiques, London, UK

BoccixMallett / Photo: Gwenael Lewis

Light installation at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK. 2013

28.280 / Photo: Gwenael Lewis

Light installation at the Deutsche Gesetzliche Unfallversicherung, Berlin, Germany. 2014

28.106 / Photo: Hartmut Nagele

Light installation at Spazio Rosanna Orlandi Gallery, Milan, Italy. 2012

38 / Photo: Gwenael Lewis

Light installation at Tacofino Restaurant and Commissary, Vancouver, Canada. 2012

54.2 / Photo: Gwenael Lewis

Light installation at Tacofino Restaurant and Commissary, Vancouver, Canada. 2012

54.2 / Photo: Gwenael Lewis

Light installation in private residence, White Rock, Canada. 2010

23.2 / Photo: Nick Lehoux

Light installation in private residence, White Rock, Canada. 2010

23.2 / Photo: Nick Lehoux