Fashion for your walls. That's what you'll find at Port Moody's newest gallery.

Reinventing The Jolly Olde Bookstore on Clarke Street, owner, Gaëtan Royer has created Silk, a modern, bright and chic new gallery. Stepping through the door, it’s impossible to envision this is the same space. Once crammed with a maze of towering shelves spilling with dark and dusty literary tomes, you are now greeted with the likes of Sharon Huget’s architecture influenced canvases artfully displayed on bright white walls.

The space is open, bright, inviting. It draws you in where Jean Duguay’s award-winning work, Cube, holds a place of honor. The two small back rooms, which once were indistinguishable, now hold the metal artistry of Debra O’Neill and the woodturning of Des Wilson, all notable local artists. The gleaming front window is graced by a sparkling piece of Margret Billing’s glasswork.

Here, Royer brings together his successful urban planning business, CityScape, with his passion for the arts, the two sharing the space and providing an exciting venue for local artists to display and market their work. Royer hopes to carry some longer-term artists, while still introducing new artists to the community every couple of months.

The synergy between a design firm and an art gallery is a natural alliance. For urban planners and design consultants, being surrounded by art inspires creativity. In fact, Silk’s motto, “Art is oxygen for the soul” really says it all.

Silk may be an unexpected name for an art gallery, and of course there is a story behind it. Royer has been fascinated with silk as an art medium dating back to a 1987 trip to Suzhou, China, home of the world's finest silk embroidery and silk paintings. Royer and his team showcase new ways to incorporate this luxurious and durable material, creating delicate yet sturdy works of art.

Silk Art gallery is an exciting addition to the Port Moody Arts scene, creating a go-to destination along the Clarke Street corridor. Art lovers can stop in and check-out Silk, then continue on to the neighbouring art studios and galleries, like Spatial Ceramic Art Studio next door and Gallery Bistro two doors over. A short walk and they will find Little Gypsy’s Fine Jewelry around the corner and Port Moody’s iconic Arts Centre on St. John’s Street.