At just 36 years old, Halifax-based Omar Gandhi has already built an extensive portfolio of structures that capture the spirit of their East Coast surroundings through tactile spaces and striking forms.
As he prepares to open an office in Toronto – and headline a talk at the Interior Design Show – Danny Sinopoli profiles one of Canada’s most exciting emerging designers.
For a budding starchitect, Omar Gandhi seems refreshingly devoid of ego. Or maybe he’s just pragmatic.
If the Ontario-born, Halifax-based designer flops, “I can always go back to Brampton and work in trucking like I did when I was a kid,” he jokes from Nova Scotia, where he has been living on and off since receiving his master’s degree at Dalhousie University in 2005.
Considering that, in 2014 alone, Gandhi nabbed both the Canada Council’s $50,000 Prix de Rome and a spot on Wallpaper magazine’s list of the world’s top 20 young architects, his Plan B likely won’t be necessary. In fact, Gandhi will be returning to Ontario this week – as a featured speaker, along with B.C.’s Omer Arbel, at the Interior Design Show in Toronto. Not long after, he’ll be back to open a satellite office in the city. Not bad for a 36-year-old whose projects to date have largely been private homes. Full article here
