interior design: Going for the gold!! But silver or bronze will do too :-)

The 2010 Winter Olympics are nine days away. The Olympics are always exciting, but there’s something extra-special about having them in your own country. And there’s something extra-extra-special about the Winter Olympics — Canada rocks at winter sports!! Yeah!!! :-) Well, what do you expect from a country where it’s winter for half the year?? We get really good at doing things in the snow ;-) And really, that’s what the Olympics are all about — WINNING!!!

OK, really the most important thing is taking part. But winning an Olympic medal is pretty cool. And For the 2010 Olympics and Paralymics, two Canadian designers were given the task of designing the gold, silver, and bronze medals.

Corrine Hunt is a designer/artist and a member of the Raven Gwa’wina clan in BC. Omer Arbel is a Vancouver-based designer and owner of Bocci. Together, they designed these absolutely stunning Olympic medals:

I love the rounded square shape of the Paralympic medals:

These medals aren’t flat—they’re curvy and undulating and sexy!!

Aren’t they beautiful?? Too bad you have to train for years and years and years to win one!! ;-) And it took almost as long to create the medals!! It took two years to make them. Each medal is one-of-a-kind and is made by cropping into details from two of Corrine’s pieces of art. Each crop is different, which is what makes each medal unique.

The motif on the Olympic medals is an orca. Corrine selected the orca because a whale’s pod demonstrates teamwork.

Corrine selected the raven motif for the Paralympic medals because it represents rising above physical challenges.

When they’re not creating medals, Corrine and Omer are busy making beautiful art, jewelry, furniture, and lighting. Here’s is some of Corrine’s work…

Wolf

Salmon Swimming coffee table

Lovebirds

Hilton lobby, Whistler, BC

Omer names his pieces the same way Hugh Laurie names his underlings on House ;-)

Here’s 14…

And 17…

And 25…

In the Olympic spirit of winning — I mean, friendly competition and sportsmanship — we have not one, not two, but THREE giveaways coming up!! The prizes are quite awesome if I do say so myself, so be sure to check in later this week when we’ll be announcing the first giveaway. Trust me, it’s awesome!! Really!! Even better than a gold medal!!

We may be a polite bunch, but every now and then we have to let loose…