The Interior Designers Institute of B.C. (IDIBC) created the Fellow Awards to recognize the outstanding contributions of certain members and individuals in the design community.
A Fellow is currently, or was previously, a registered member who has been nominated by the membership and approved by the Fellow Nomination Committee for having contributed in a significant manner through distinguished service to the betterment of the association, the interior design profession or the applied arts to an extent sufficient to warrant the honour of Fellow.
IDIBC named three new fellows for 2020: Sally Mills, Jim Toy and Gerry Shinkewski.
Sally Mills, a principal at Kasian Architecture Interior Design and Planning in Vancouver, has a long history of advocating for the interior design profession in B.C. and across Canada. She served on the IDIBC board of directors as president, and currently she sits on the board of governors. As the B.C. director for Interior Designers of Canada (IDC), Sally played a liaison role between our provincial and national organizations. In 2018 she was elected President of the IDC Board of Management; today she serves on that Board as Past President.
Jim Toy’s induction as a Fellow of IDIBC is long overdue. As owner of Vancouver’s False Creek Design Group since 1994, Jim is a longtime member of the Vancouver interior design community. He has volunteered in several significant roles within IDIBC; president of the board of directors, member of the board of governors, member and chair of the Regulatory Process Committee, and Governance Committee member, to name a few. Jim provides an important link between the interior design and architectural communities. He recently he concluded a three year term as board chair of the Architectural Foundation of BC (AFBC), a board on which he also sat as a director from 2011 to 2016.
Gerry Shinkewski is one of the founding partners of Seeton Shinkewski Design Group (known today as SSDG Interiors), one of the largest interior design firms in Vancouver. Established in 1979, many Vancouver designers speak fondly of having worked with Gerry at SSDG. As a member of IDIBC he volunteered on the legal committee, and even though he retired from practice in 2016, Gerry remains active on the regulatory process committee which is diligently working towards the regulation of BC’s interior design industry.
