We hope you enjoyed this year’s virtual Homes for the Holidays presented by Nicola Wealth!

Thank you for your support, and we can’t wait to see you again next year!

Giovanna Perot-Averill is the Director and Principal of Giovanna Averill Interiors Inc., a firm based in West Vancouver dedicated to creating luxurious havens for busy professionals. Her aesthetic emphasizes simplicity of form and clean lines, restrained embellishments, calming neutrals, tactile luxury, and thoughtful hits of glamour.

With a former career in the neuropsychiatric pharmaceutical sector, Giovanna was intimately aware of how hectic lives and demanding jobs impact the psyche and leave little time to craft a welcoming home. She changed careers, pursuing her longstanding love of interior design, and graduated with high honours from Vancouver’s Visual College of Art and Design.

Giovanna is a long-time supporter of charitable endeavours and has participated in events such as Dinner x Design and the partial refurbishment of the Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre in Vancouver.

In addition to local work, she is currently designing projects in Ontario and New York City, and is developing content for a nationally known Canadian interior design magazine.

Ami McKay, creative director at PURE Design Inc., is known for setting design trends in Canada and the U.S. with her sustainable product design, contemporary interiors, and gorgeous, healthy spaces. She has been recognized as a top interior designer and a visionary entrepreneur for her work in building one of Vancouver’s top interior design firms.

Ami spent two years as an interior designer and host of HGTV’s “Makeover Wish” for which she earned a Leo Award nomination. Chatelaine Magazine calls Ami McKay one of “Canada’s Top Five Interior Designers” and Rue Magazine named her one of the “Top 5 Designers to Watch in 2016.” Ami is also the recipient of the Woman of Distinction award for her many years of success in business. Through the Forum for Women Entrepreneurs, Ami shares her business acumen to empower women around the world with the tools and encouragement needed to grow their own businesses.

Developing a strong connection with her clients is extremely important to Ami as is recognizing and appreciating her incredible team that helps bring her ideas to life. Interior designers, architects, and builders all make up the PURE Design family.

Gaile Guevara is the Creative Director and Founder of Gaile Guevara Studio and has over two decades of experience leading as a creative, visionary, and advocate for the greater good through impact-driven design and sustainable and ethical practices. Her studio works alongside like-minded professionals, makers, and tradespeople who fully understand the integrated design-build process.

Gaile believes good design should be accessible to everyone. She shares her passion for storytelling through her work thoroughly investing in each client to uncover and tell their unique story and expressing it via meaningfully designed spaces. A trained Interior Designer, Gaile is both a creative, conceptual, and strategic thinker who encourages innovation and risk-taking while simultaneously practicing mindful intentionality during every step of the process. Her work has received countless accolades as well as the prestigious 2019 Western Living Designers of the Year – Robert Ledingham Memorial Award for an Emerging Interior Designer.

Gaile is an advocate for self-development and community. She is dedicated to inspiring and mentoring her team and extending herself to the community, fostering deeper connections through the sharing of her passions and knowledge.

Karla Dreyer is an award-winning Interior Designer and Stylist who believes in living authentically at home and in life. She likes to inspire intentional living and the creation of meaningful moments, and assists her clients in identifying their own personal décor style before designing or refreshing a space.

Karla’s work has been featured in ELLE Magazine, Style at Home Magazine, Rue Magazine, Design*Sponge, Western Living, Canadian Home Trends, Modern Sanctuary, and Vancouver Magazine.  She is a regular TV Design Expert on CBC, Global TV, City TV’s Breakfast Television, and she created the recurring ‘Room Refresh’ series on the Marc and Mandy Show and for Canadian Home Trends Magazine. She is also a Speaker on the HGTV Stage at the BC and Fall Home Shows. Karla has received multiple Best of Houzz Design, Customer Service, and Influencer Awards. She also produces a weekly You-Tube Show with Design Tips and DIYs.

Sydney Carlaw, owner of Purity Designs Inc., emerged on the scene in 2012 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Fine Arts, experience designing her own homes, and a successful career in corporate sales. A contractor’s decision to take a chance on her gave Sydney the break that launched her career in design. Not only did she design the interiors, select materials and furnish the custom Craftsman home, but she also re-designed the architect’s original exterior drawings. Her future career path became obvious when her first fully designed home landed a multi-page spread in Style at Home magazine.

Just eight years later, Purity Designs has now completed well over eighty single- and multi-family homes as well as commercial spaces and has been featured in Western Living Magazine, Style at Home, The Vancouver Sun, and Chatelaine Magazine. The design firm has also received the NKBA awards for “Best Large Kitchen” and “Best Room” and has been shortlisted twice for Western Living’s Designers of the Year.

Taking risks, while still creating a classic vibe, is something Sydney will always strive to achieve. Client testimonials and continued referrals are confirmation that she and her team are doing something right!