Local architect and in industrial designer, probably best know for his Bocci lights, is collaborating with the 2010 Olympics to help design the medals. This is a great local story for a talented designer/architect that has really made a name for himself.

You can read the full story here.

Every medal won at the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games will be unique — a first in Games history. Recently unveiled to great critical acclaim, the medals designed by Omer Arbel are characterized by an undulating form meant to abstractly represent ocean waves, drifting snow and the mountainous landscape surrounding Vancouver.

On the medal’s surface, Arbel applied two large master artworks of an orca whale (Olympic) and raven (Paralympic) by Vancouver-based Corrine Hunt, a Canadian artist of Komoyue and Tlingit heritage. Hunt’s artwork was produced at a large scale, and then a specific, cropped section of the larger art was applied to each of the individual medals, making each unique. A silk scarf printed with the master artwork will be presented to each medallist along with their medal, enabling them to see how their medal connects with those awarded to other athletes at the Games and to make the artwork complete. Like a puzzle, it takes all of the individual medals to complete the artwork.

The medals were produced by the Royal Canadian Mint using metals supplied by Canadian mining company Teck Resources.

Omer Arbel is an industrial designer and architect based in Vancouver who leads OAO – a design office focused on eliminating the boundaries between the traditionally defined fields of architecture, industrial design, material research, manufacturing and invention. This basic conceptual approach has resulted in unexpected and inventive works which have positioned the practice as one of Canada’s most experimental and innovative young design offices. The practice has been extensively published, has won some of the highest profile international design awards,

and exhibited work in some of the most celebrated venues worldwide.

Bob Rennie, probably the most successful Real Estate Marketer in town, has spent millions restoring the oldest building in Chinatown to convert it into a Contemporary Art Musuem. I think it’s a great way to give back to the community and a great gesture for heritage Architecture, for art lovers, and of course, for artists.

The article is below and can be found on CTVBC’s website along with the news video.

Bob Rennie has made millions selling condos in downtown Vancouver. But his latest real estate venture has nothing to do with money — it’s all about art.

Rennie has spent $20 million turning Chinatown’s Wing Sang heritage building — the oldest building in Chinatown — into a contemporary art museum.

“We’ve promised artists for years who have trusted us that eventually we’ll have a space,” Rennie said Saturday before an opening gala for collectors and curators.

“I’ve got the world here and my goal is to make sure I’m conscious every minute of it because I’ll never open a space like this again. I’m a happy guy.”

His first exhibition is the work of renowned Palestinian artist Mona Hatoum — part of a private contemporary art collection experts call one of the finest in the world.

“This is my golf game,” Rennie said. “Every morning when I go in, I can talk to artists and curators and museum heads and dealers in Europe or back east, and I can go about my day knowing I got to play my golf game. It’s my passion.”

The museum will be open to the public on Thursdays, though appointments will be required.

Admission is free.

“You don’t charge people to see art,” said Carey Fouks, the museum’s director of art services.

The Condo King isn’t making any money out of this?

“No,” Fouks said.