How I Became a Designer & Business Owner
My path to interior design was a mission of side quests - as I’ve come to appreciate from all those I admire in their respected professions who have equally embraced an atypical journey to finding their sense of place. I graduated from Emily Carr University with a major in industrial design and minor in experience design, with the intent to pursue architecture as my masters. After a season of working for various designers in the city of Vancouver, I felt my boots-on-the ground experience only cemented the desire to further my education. I knew from a young age I wanted to build a space for myself and others to be authentically and creatively themselves. I wasn’t sure how to make it happen, but I knew for certain that the rugged edges of some very cut-throat time in the industry made me more keen than ever to find a way.
There are many leaders across an interdisciplinary lens in creative works that I admire. Among them is Openspace Architecture, a company I worked for on the North Shore of Vancouver. Still to this day it remains the most seen I’ve ever felt in a professional capacity. At the time, I was a young and eager intern-esque design graduate with the bonus of being brought on by a team that not only valued fair wages but a voice at the table. In short, I was brought on to explore the idea of how industrial design could influence architecture, and working alongside Don Gurney was one of the most valuable experiences I’ve ever had. I would trek to their office from UBC where I lived at the time over two bridges in my 86’ Buick Skyhawk with my yellow lab Harlow (yes, they were just that cool there). In the end, my heart as a young designer was way bigger than my capacity (as should be expected at the young age of 21), and yet even in those early years of biting off more than I could chew, the team embraced everything I brought to the company with nothing but appreciation. Every single day there was productive and fun. It would be this level of influence that would lead me into business years later, to carve something I knew was possible and yet saw in the field far less often than I believed necessary.
I have always had my hands on paint brushes, and began designing furniture at the age of seven. My dad would generously feed my curiosity for building things in his shop and patiently listen to instructions on exactly how I wanted to build it and why. I went from quirky crooked furniture in my basement to designing and building a bentwood teak and acrylic chair alongside a pendant light and extensive fabric collection I would call “Bloom” for my graduation project from Emily Carr University.
Soon after graduation from Emily Carr, I entered into my masters in architecture at the University of British Columbia and fell in love with space on a macro level, quickly realizing however that I missed the personalized aspect I had come to love in people, design, and a more relationship-driven career path. I left architecture after a year with my well-earned GPA not knowing where my path would lead and for the first time in my life I felt completely lost. I would come to find later that this was exactly where I needed to be. Turning back to my roots, I left Vancouver and went back to work in my mothers shop in my hometown of Powell River BC, a beautiful retail brick and mortar of home furnishings and accessories that she opened when I was 13. I loved the shop, everything about being in the space and working alongside her lit me up, and it wasn’t long after repositioning myself onto the coast that we started exploring the idea of launching a partnership. So came to be the birthplace of Parker & Harlow Inc!
Yes, those are our yellow labradors Parker and Harlow at our feet ;) We knew at the time, our business would be driven towards providing interior design for our coastline, and aimed to work on island homes specifically. What we didn’t see coming was a fast and furious growth over a short four years, taking us from luxury island estates to penthouse projects in Vancouver and all sorts of projects scattered between. We learned a lot, through failure and success, and thankfully we both enjoy working in our business as much as on it, and as a reward for this tenacious spirit and duality (in both life and professional experience) - we grew!
We secured our place in a myriad of publications, a seemingly impossible feat built as much on doing things right as it was by gracefully picking ourselves up after falling on our face. Nobody tells you that perseverance is one of the greatest things to work in your favour in this industry. I am most grateful to be able to share my voice and have it received so generously over the years, It will never get old to me and I will never shy away from the reality of being a business owner. Times are always changing, we started this company in the midst of a global pandemic and pushed through some impossibly difficult industry shifts in the process. All those hurdles became little votes of confidence, teaching us the importance of versatility and unwavering commitment.
With eyes set on serving a larger audience in more approachable ways, The Shoppe at Parker & Harlow was born, an online curated collection of home goods tailored to the brand we had carved over the years. It started as a dream to serve our coastline in BC and quickly grew to serve a wide clientele across Canada. To pair with this new endeavour, we launched our e-design packages, a virtual, bite-sized experience of our design services that would also serve homeowners from coast to coast across the country.
Life as a business owner lit my world on fire in the most positive ways I cannot begin to wrap into concise words. I found my passion and followed it wholeheartedly. I am now an interior designer leading this national company alongside Deb, as well as a full-time student attaining my MBA (Masters in Business), while raising my family and climbing mountains here in the Pacific Northwest. Continually applying an endless abundance of inspiration this part of the world has to offer Parker&Harlow Inc with the ultimate goal of providing space for talented and ambitious people to exercise all they’re capable of within its walls.
Keep chasing those dreams, find beauty in failure because it’s the only sure thing to grow you, and press on!
Sincerely, Paige.
HELLO
I’M PAIGE GRAY
Here with a big dream to bring inspired, livable, and approachable design to you wherever you dwell across Canada. Designer, blogger, content creator, and mother of soon-to-be two daughters living with my hubby in the Pacific Northwest of British Columbia. Loving boat rides, climbing mountains, and life with our dogs while diving deep into anything and everything design!