­­Don’t you hate it when you are handed a steaming cup of coffee in a shop.. and ­even with two cups and a cardboard holder it is still way too hot to hold? (Hello, Financier patisserie, I mean you). The folks over at Contexture Design (Nathan Lee and Trevor Coghill) in Vancouver have come up with an ingenious and stylish way to tackle this. They have come up with a coffee holder slash cuff bracelet made from reclaimed ebony veneer wood. I love it- although I can’t quite imagine whipping it off my arm the next time I am in Starbucks.

Blue Ruby
This jewellery shop carries celeb favourite designers like Chan Luu (Jennifer Aniston is a fan) as well as local designers like Amanda Vogler, Andrea Waines, Tarina Tarintino and Mimi and Marge.

Looking for a way to put more “art” in the Art of Travel? Check out Vancouver's 129 room Listel Hotel which spends more on the art it displays on just one or two floors than most hotels invest for an entire property””and I'm not talking about art that makes you say (or at least think) “My three-year-old could do that.”
By partnering with Canadian art world heavy hitters, the hotel has amassed a noteworthy  collection of both modern art and traditional British Columbian art. To make the most of its collection, worth more than half a million dollars, the hotel is divided into different floor categories, each with its own artistic focus.

“I love her as a singer, but she was so cheesy as the MC,” says the glam Amazon-woman to her friend in the elevator at Opus Hotel.  “She wasn't MC-ing!” he shrieks, hiking up his $500 jeans as the doors opened on their floor. It's the kind of conversation hip people have in a hip hotel and the 97 room Opus Hotel is the hippest roost in town. How hip, you ask. Well, Pam Anderson, who was born near Vancouver, was in the city during my stay and I expected to bump into her around every corner.