It’s been a long road to get to the AM House Calgary. What began as one man working out of his home turned into a small team of locals ready to serve the community. Building relationships and in some cases, even turning them into some exciting collaborations to celebrate the opening. Atelier Munro in Calgary has evolved into 2500 sq ft of meticulously designed store located on the Beltline. A wide open space with a balance of polished cement floors and warm timber, filled with light, both natural and synthetic for the dark winters. And despite beginning years ago in a living room, ironically feeling more like home now than ever. We talk to Can and Elbert from the store about the space and the journey to get here.

What are you most excited about for the opening?

C: You know, for me, one of the main reasons we are doing this is to tell those people who have supported us here in the beginning how much we appreciate them. Because we have come a long way.

Tell me more about that journey.

C: I have been on the ground here since day one. I started operating from my own condo, and because of the beauty and strength of my relationships, my friends, my clients, they were coming to my condo in the middle of the pandemic. Getting measured in my living room, changing in my bedroom. So that’s how the business started and after that it came to a point where all I was doing was working and laying on the couch watching Turkish soap operas, so I said I need to get out of the house. And everyone in Amsterdam was so supportive. We decided to open the pop up. After blood and sweat and all that stuff setting it up, we had a beautiful store. When I look at the pictures, I still get emotional, you know? From nothing we created a very homey, very cozy environment for our clients. And again, they were there to support us. Right in the middle of the pandemic, on the second floor of an office building, with no street exposure or anything, they came. And now we can open this 2500 square foot store. That’s what I’m more excited about than anything. To look those guys in the eye and say ‘You know what? We wouldn’t be able to do any of this here today without you and your loyalty’.

What a road to get here.

C: There is no ‘I’ in team either, of course. After I hired Elbert and James, they were such a big help, but at first I was solo and that was a learning for me too. I had opened a few stores throughout my career. But this time, I was the only one on the ground. I felt like a man on the moon for the first time, so it was an interesting experience for sure.

The store really is looking so beautiful. Tell me more about the process of creating it.

E: It was a clean slate, in terms of the shell itself. It’s got that contemporary, industrial feel. What caught our attention when we first walked into space was the height. It’s still warm, but it almost has an outdoor feel. Especially with the high windows and the light. It feels like a home instead of your typical store.

What makes it feel more like home?

There’s a living area with a lounge and library, change rooms, real greenery. It feels so much better. I think it has a lot to do with the lighting, we really invested in how everything was lit. Calgary gets quite dark quite early, especially in the wintertime. So the right lighting, nothing too warm, you can really distinguish the fabrics and the colors properly. Working in retail for so many years, I have seen that be the downfall of so many shops. The big windows to outside make a big difference. Eva, our head of spatial design, did a great job with the tape lighting as well. To really bring out the richness of the woods, that was all brought in from Amsterdam. It does the same for clothing too, there are no shadows. At night everything just glows. Even the electricians when they installed it were like wow. It’s a really well-thought-out space.

What’s your favorite part?

E: There’s a coffee machine. I’ve learned my cappuccino and latte skills, but I haven’t figured out how to do the fancy little hearts yet though. There are some really nice touches. Like near the change rooms, you’ll see this curtained area that is an art piece. It’s a canvas of parts of suits created by an artist just for this space, Franziska Minnema. She has been working with Atelier Munro since the early days.

What I really love are our collaborations and the fact that we can support local. The plants are from a place about 2 blocks away called Sunday Shop. When we were looking at a potential space for a store in the Inglewood area, which is a bit older, Eva found these beautiful ceramics and she was like, OK I want to know who makes these ceramics, I want to meet her. So she did. And now this local artist Becky has gotten involved and made our mugs and cups specially for our space. And these are all from recycled clay. Her whole thing is all about reusing clay that people throw out, so she collects literally thousands and thousands of pounds of clay to manually break it down and reuse it.

It’s quite an achievement. How did you celebrate?

C: It has been a week of festivities. So, on Wednesday we had a really lovely, very intimate luncheon. I believe about 20-30 people who have been really involved in the launch. Mike Dings, the artist that created some art works for the store, Andrew from our new collaboration and his fiancé attended. There were speeches, a lovely lunch. Thursday was a bit bigger, a smaller press party with the crew, people from magazines, influencers, some of our VIP clients. We asked some of those top clients, the guys I mentioned before that have supported the most in the last couple years too.

E: Saturday was the grand opening with our clients and friends coming over to celebrate. There were 100 plus people. It was such a fun night with the DJ and all that. Everyone got to try the special AM Pilsner that we created for the event too.

How did that come about?

C: You know, that’s the beauty of these relationships we’ve built here. When we decided to design our own beer, the only name that popped up in my mind was my good friend and a client. I trust him and I admire his work ethic and passion in the brewery business in Calgary. So, I called him, and he was ready to jump on the wagon with us and help us. His company Eighty-Eight Brewing made us an amazing pilsner and a really cool casing, so I was very excited to share that with our friends on Saturday

There was another collaboration with locals Smithbilt too.

E: Yes! We are creating some cowboy hats with Smithbilt in our signature colors.

You guys have been busy. What’s next for you?

C: I think the first thing will be a day or two or day off so we can rest my body and soul (laughs). It’s been a journey and a worthwhile one. But now we’re about to enter the busy season of the retail world soon too. We will have to prepare ourselves and the store for that.

I’m very proud of what we have achieved. I have always been a competitive character. It doesn’t matter what I’m doing. And I want to do the same thing here with my team. We want to create a superstar shop for Atelier Munro. I think that’s the next task. Building even stronger relationships with those people who have supported us from the living room and some new faces too.