Stories told through craft and design
A part of the design process for Fogo Island Inn and our sister business Fogo Island Workshops involves connecting international designers with local makers and artisans to express our history and culture through design.
Throughout the Inn, you’ll find objects and design choices that give you a glimpse into our history or tell a small story of this place.
Dining Room Chandelier
When Frank Tjepkema and his Amsterdam-based design studio, Tjep., were asked to consider a vernacular reference for a chandelier, they quickly realized that chandeliers were not common in rural Newfoundland.
After experiencing the island in bloom, Tjepkema was inspired by the wildflowers and incorporated the colourful flora into his design. The team used repurposed fishing rope to hand-knot the petal motif. This resulted in the hanging woven-rope chandeliers that brought the natural world and Fogo Island’s maritime history to the Dining Room.
Bar Lights
The circular lights hanging over our Main Bar act as a silent navigational sign. These lights draw direct inspiration from the white circles painted on the doors of red fishing stages. In the dark, the contrasting colours helped fishers navigate their way to the stagehead. Just like these navigational marks, our circular lights help orient you within the space.
This method of silent wayfinding continues throughout the building: a blue wall between white wood panelling marks a public washroom, a black wall leads to our kitchen, and bright green walls welcome you to our Tea Room.
Bronzed Keys
With found objects sourced from the shorelines, fishers’ sheds, and even the local supermarket, designer Chris Kabel conceptualized the Inn’s key fobs. Each of the twenty–nine objects, from a wooden clothespin to a net-mending needle to a discarded snow crab claw, were cast in bronze to make a memorable and unique key accessory.
Devil’s Purse
Near our Front Desk, you’ll find a collection of small objects and textiles made and sold by Fogo Island Workshops. These products are arranged on a shelf that is affectionately called “Devil’s Purse,” modelled after the egg sacs of skate fish.
These pouches have a distinctive flattened, rectangular shape with tendrils or horns at the corners, resembling purse strings or devil’s horns, hence the name.
Monkey's Fist Doorstop
As a community with a deep fishing history, we are no strangers to the monkey fist knot. This heavy knot was tied to the end of a line and thrown ashore from a boat to secure a docking line. The weight at the end of the rope was key to ensuring a line could be tossed accurately over the water.
In each room and suite within the Inn, you’ll find a short version of this heavy knot, tied around cast metal, serving as a functional and symbolic doorstop.
Antique Furniture and Pieces
Throughout the Inn, in commons spaces and your room, you’ll find antique pieces alongside the furniture and textiles that are made here. Some antiques were found locally on Fogo Island, others across the province, and even on the mainland, before being returned home.
When Newfoundland was connected to the greater country by ferry, furniture companies arrived to sell their “new” furniture to families, offering to buy their “old” pieces in return. Once returning to mainland Canada, these furnishings were sold. Designers who understood Newfoundland design would find these antique objects, and through a period of reclamation, would salvage or buy the pieces to return them to Newfoundland.
Stairwell Wallpaper
Each stairwell at the Inn tells its own story through wallpaper. Designed by Nick Herder, “Island Atmosphere” is found within each of our three stairwells and expresses the dynamic interplay of light, showcasing Fogo Island’s atmospheric nuances.
In our East Stair, hues of purple evoke imagery of the sunrise. The Central Stair features shades of blue that mirror the clear blue skies of midday. And in the West Stair, warm orange and yellow tones reflect the glow of a Fogo Island sunset.
Textiles that Tell a Story
A Storied Seat
The Fogo Process
Just outside the Cinema is a bench featuring a hooked rug designed and made by Lillian Dwyer. Black and white, like The Fogo Process films that inspired it, the design is patterned to resemble a film strip and its imagery is drawn from The Children of Fogo, one of the 27 short films that make The Fogo Process.
Lillian watched the films again and again, carefully selecting moments that tell the story of fear, resilience, and rebirth: the design begins with tombstones that represent the fear of resettlement and the threat of losing everything, before moving into scenes of community life – a child on stilts (who is Community Host, Rosemarie Burke) and a party at Jim Decker’s, along with other motifs. The story ends with renewal and hope through the formation of the Fogo Island Co-operative Society Ltd.
More than a bench, this hooked seat is an archive, displaying an important moment in the history of Fogo Island.
Seven Seasons
Located near the front entryway is a hooked rug that expresses Fogo Island’s seven seasons, each shaping daily life and the ways people lived with the land and sea. While working on the piece, maker Gwen Burt was able to reflect on her childhood and express her lived experience.
At the base of each vignette, punts carry symbols of the season they represent, their scenes divided by ropes that recall how ropes held fast to so much of life on the island. Everyday tools of outport life appear: a grub box, gaff, tow rope, cod, punt and skiff, and fish flakes. One small detail even depicts a broom laid across a doorway, a quiet signal to neighbours that no one was home.
Ancestors
In front of the elevators on our first floor, another hooked rug bench, designed by Lillian Dwyer and created by Ann Marie Newman, brings together symbols of where many Fogo Islanders trace their roots: a shamrock for Ireland, a rose for England, and a thistle for Scotland.
The piece features a “Boston pavement” motif, a popular pattern on Fogo Island, as it could be made from leftover fabric, ensuring nothing ever went to waste. More than 300 hours went into the making of this hooked mat.
Curtains
Small floor-to-ceiling windows line the right side of the Gathering Hall. Chris Kabel, the designer behind our found-object room keys, developed these curtains to cover the windows.
These windows face north, and Kabel’s curtain design reproduces the Milky Way from this location, looking north. The woven fabric glows in the dark, and in the darkness, the pattern appears to float in space, producing an impression of the Aurora Borealis.
Knit Cushions
On some of the wooden furniture throughout the Inn – the Long Benches found in the Lobby and the Rockers, Four-Legged Chairs, and Get Your Feet Ups in room and suites – have knitted cushions to help with comfort, as upholstery was not common in Newfoundland furniture making. When developing these cushions, local knitters turned to familiar patterns and modelled the design after an older style of knit slippers.
Plan Your Stay
Fogo Island’s heritage is reinterpreted through modern design and furnishings within the Inn. Learn more about the materials, cultural connections, and environmental considerations that have shaped the Inn on an INNsider Tour. Or dig a little deeper into the making of the furniture within the Inn on a Tour of Fogo Island Workshops.