Shops We Love: Find Globally Sourced Goods At Rhubarb Designs
Lorraine Hamilton, celebrated landscape designer and owner of Rhubarb Designs on Salt Spring Island, B.C., has spent her career considering artful objects for the home and garden — the more tactile and unexpected, the better.
“I love unconventional things,” she says.
Last year, she moved her shop to a new expanded location near the island’s popular summer market. Scroll down to step into this island gem!
Blessed with three sets of French doors, abundant natural light and a small courtyard, it’s a perfect setting for her globally sourced goods. Outside, you might find vintage Chinese grinding stones and Hungarian enameled tubs alongside garden furniture and Lorraine’s favorite broadleaf evergreens and Japanese maples.
Inside, traditional African stools and woven baskets mingle with imported and locally made linens, and one-off pieces from her annual pilgrimage to Paris markets and Maison&Objet. Schedule lots of time to browse.
“You could go through here 10 times and see different things each time,” says Lorraine, who has a second small shop, Rhubarb Too, in Victoria. “But it all works together.”
Keep scrolling to see some of Rhubarb Designs’ best-selling items!
This oversized bowl is perfect for alfresco dining.
Serving bowl in Black by Silvia K Ceramics, $490.
Vases by San Francisco artist Tina Frey are made from buttery-soft resin and come in vibrant shades like this sunshine hue.
Medium Loopy vase in Yellow, $290.
This large linen towel does double duty as a throw.
Fouta Stripe Belgian towel in Black by Libeco, $265.
Made by Finnish-born glassblowing artist Mervi Haapakoski on Cape Breton Island, N.S., these drinking glasses are shaped to fit the palm of your hand and are a shop staple.
Mervi drinking glasses, $45 each.
Pop into the store or browse online.
Rhubarb Designs
3107-115 Fulford-Ganges Rd., Salt Spring Island, B.C.
(250) 537-8873
Art by Jane Campling, $650.