From MRC to NYC

Back when they were interior design students at the college that would become Mount Royal University, they bonded over being lost, late and trying to find their classrooms.

Some three decades later, Karen Scarlett and Vennie Lau’s friendship is going strong and from time to time pairs them up in professional endeavours.

“We have everything in common and are interested in everything,” Scarlett says. “If Vennie is interested in something, I’m always interested in her story whether I’m interested in the thing or not.”

These days Scarlett, an interdisciplinary artist, lives in Innisfail, while Lau is in New York where she is co-founder and creative director for VLDG, a design studio specializing in luxury residential projects and boutique hotels.

Recently, their work worlds meshed when Scarlett was commissioned to do a fine art installation for Lau's client, the Draper Hotel (part of the Tapestry Collection by Hilton,) in midtown Manhattan’s former fashion district — creating a narrative by sewing together its location and history. The location of Scarlett’s artwork in the hotel is situated on the main floor bar and lounge with access to the covered outdoor garden, fittingly named The Pleat.

The two pieces are something the friends spoke about as a vague idea for years finally transformed into the real deal. Scarlett created the pair with thousands of colourful spools of thread to create two colourful, tactile, three-dimensional designs that greet guests as they walk into the boutique hotel.

Scarlett’s other project, “Seasons,” are four pieces, three feet in diameter, and feature the four seasons. Woven on hoops, they are a tribute to Scarlett’s memories of growing up on the Canadian prairies with a nod to the fashion world and its spring, winter, fall and summer collections.

Scarlett’s inspiration for “The Hoops,” like much of her work, is rooted in her upbringing.

“I am pretty tied to the whole agriculture thing and being a fifth-generation kid from this area it’s definitely in my bones,” she says from her rural Alberta home. “My Grandma Scarlett was a weaver, she made her own looms. I did my first weaving with her when I was about six years old and it formed part of my lifelong love of creating with fibre.”

While some artists stick to “one thing,” Scarlett’s work indulges various mediums — working with pencil, watercolour, acrylic, mixed media, bas-relief, fibre and sculpture, a lesson she learned early in her career from fellow artist, Amy Dryer.

“People pick one thing because they are only good at that, but (Dryer said) if you have your landscapes that go with dolls and dolls go with sculptures and sculptures go with painting, why shortchange yourself and not allow yourself to express your voice through things you want to produce?”

Drumheller-born Lau comes from a family of dentists. That initially sent her out to pursue a science degree, but taking art classes and learning about art history, photography and drawing activated the other side of her brain.

Looking back, she says getting into MRU was a fantastic near-miss.

“When I finished my science degree, I was 22 years old and didn’t know what I was going to do. Then I learned about Mount Royal College’s interior design program,” she says. “I found out the day before the application and portfolio were due. There were something like 500 applicants and they picked 30 people. When I received my acceptance letter, it was meant to be.”

She says finding herself in the creative world also meant landing a lifelong friend. The two first met when Scarlett did Lau’s hair and make-up for a modelling job — unbeknownst to one another both applied to the interior design school a short time later.

“When I completed my Bachelor of Science degree, I was staring down a long black tunnel of uncertainty.  Getting accepted into the interior design program at MRU was the light at the end of that tunnel.  Meeting Karen again was a joy and became a cherished lifelong friendship,” Lau says.

“The skills I learned (at MRU) were very helpful in terms of what they taught and how they taught. You are there to be a sponge and so I was a sponge.”

After graduation, Scarlett didn’t have a vision of what she wanted to do. She opened a jewelry business called Pretty Twisted and saw her work land her on Avenue Magazine's “Top 40 Under 40” list. She recently returned to MRU to create a mural in the Reading Place where literacy courses are taught.

Lau went to New York in 1998 “hopeful and naive,” and three weeks later landed a job at Rockwell Group, which would be the start of an award-winning career in design. She also met the love of her life and stayed.

What’s next for the friends who forged a friendship on campus?

“Everything,” Scarlett says.

“We are in an industry of ‘you never know.’ You could receive a  phone call and it could change the trajectory of what you're doing for the next six months. I just hope we get to work on more fun stuff together,” Lau adds.

Develop a  passion for creating spaces that profoundly influence the quality of people's lives with MRU’s Bachelor of Interior Design.