ABOUT

Calen Sinclair was born in Witbank, South Africa near Johannesburg in 1944. At an early age, Calen moved to Devonshire, UK with his mother and father and attended a Montessori school where they encouraged him to be inner directed. After moving around the UK numerous times, his family settled themselves into Canada. Calen attended Vancouver School of Art (Emily Carr University) for Industrial and Product Design, along with sculpture. He later attended Columbia Broadcasting to study film and video.

Calen used some of his transferable skills to get an entry-level position at Ericksen and Massey where his design, illustration, drawing and drafting came in handy. After getting his hands dirty making models and sculptures for various jobs, he decided it was time to do something bigger. While reading the Vancouver Sun, Calen spotted an interesting article about West Vancouver having a budget of $12,000 to built a skatepark. Although nobody had experience building something like this, he offered his services and was later hired by Anne Arrnott, a councilor with the city. Calen must have done something right, because after West Van he went on to create Seylynn Bowl in 1978, Canada’s oldest surviving skatepark and one of the most historic parks in North America, as well as China Creek.

After skatepark design, Calen went on to do numerous projects ranging from graphic art to film to playgrounds and residential designs. One of his most famous projects was EXPO 86, where he created many concepts and designs.

Now, Calen focuses his energy into his on-going passions, which mainly include researching and developing “Green” approaches in the city of Vancouver and playing percussion in “The Carnival Band” doing upwards of 100 gigs a year.