by MATTHEW WOODLEY

Decorative umbrellas and Ferris Bueller shades may have come and gone, but accessories will always be a fashion staple. Enter Montreal's most blossoming accessory design company, Viola Blanca. They've only been at it since the summer of 2002, but designers Ennaea Currie and Katherine Taylor have already spread their silk accoutrements - from cummerbunds to chokers to (don't bail yet, hombres) ties - across the land through a recurring rock-tour-like circuit of trade shows in Toronto and Chicago. This has led to displays in stores in several cities, and rumour even has it one of their items was spotted on the red carpet at the last Juno Awards.

Taylor (who's also a champion windsurfer) and Currie (a talented country music singer) discovered their shared affinity for textiles at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design. The company idea followed afterwards. "Katherine had just come back from a fashion internship in London," Currie explains. "She had some original ideas and wanted a partner, so we just started working on designs together."

Viola Blanca creations are one-of-a-kind, a style Currie describes as "tough-meets-pretty, casual-meets-elegant." Steering well clear of the mass-produced look, the pair create intricately sewn silk pieces, at once subtle and standout. "We want to maintain a certain level of craftsmanship," says Currie, a concept that lives in the company's very name. "Viola is Katherine's grandmother, and we found the connection appropriate because grandmothers and textiles go together in our minds."

Though Viola Blanca attire is sported by all ages - "young kids to our moms," as Currie puts it - their biggest hook is with women in their 20s and 30s. And of course there are the ties. "People get really excited about those," Currie says. "They come up to us and say, ‘It's so hard to find good ties for men.' It's amazing how many people get excited about those kinds of things and will spend lots of money on them," she says, "and I'm glad they do." For more products and info, visit www.violablanca.com or see their stuff at Local 23 (23 Bernard W.).

>> Arts Listings