It goes without saying that Jann Arden is the hardest working woman in Canadian media. This Calgary-based creative is a multi-platinum recording artist, bestselling author and the creator and star of her own hit TV sitcom. When Jann decided she needed a crash pad in Toronto — where so much of her business life leads her — she called Tommy to help feather the new nest. TOM Lead Designer Laura Fremont stepped in for creative collaboration and after a few pandemic telephone talk-a-thons, The Janndo makeover was underway.
Tommy has known Jann for several years, so he already had a good understanding of what she likes, how she lives at home and her general style. Because this condo is far from her home base in the West, it needed to be totally her, but also of its place. Her condo would have to be different, but maintain an aesthetic connection to her main residence near the foothills of the Rocky Mountains.
Tommy and Jann are both vegan and since animal rights activism is a defining characteristic of Jann’s public and private life, the very first project discussions focused on best practices and cruelty-free choices. Tommy and Laura enlisted trusted brand partners like Montauk, Kravet, Hanstone and others, asking them to verify that their products, furnishings and materials were considered vegan. Some of these companies had never been asked this question before, but without exception they were interested and engaged in the conversation — which, as Jann pointed out, is its own sort of activism at work.
Tommy and Laura asked artist Johanna Reynolds to create a custom painting that would ground the home with something personal and purposeful. While listening to Jann’s recordings, Reynolds made plant-based pigments and used them to pull a visual image right out of the music. The result is evocative, beautiful and distinctly Western in feeling, while conveying the energy of the colourful, culturally diverse city surrounding Jann’s downtown pied-a-terre. It became the jumping-off point for the whole design scheme.
Laura and Tommy developed a colour palette that would reflect the artist’s spirit: feminine, strong, optimistic and rebellious. Soft pinks and pistachio hues crash into bold black and bright white, juxtaposing refined discipline with unapologetically joyous colour. We like a little punk with our pretty, and that felt wholeheartedly Jann Arden.
Project Creative Community: Tommy Smythe & Laura Fremont
