The Journey to Designer Guide
Ten years ago, I couldn’t have imagined where this path would lead—but every step brought me here.
In Paris, I lived on coffee, photography, and the joy of turning wanderings into travel guides.
Three years later, I realized big hospitality projects take forever to complete, and when the chance came to design a custom home, I leapt. I started my own firm, Bryony Wright Design. The learning curve was steep, but my first client was WONDERFUL, and I was hooked. For four years I ran projects and collaborated with top Vancouver designers.
Then came Paris. I moved there for a year, still running projects remotely, without fully knowing why. Paris changed everything.
There, I started Designer Guide—first as an Instagram account, long before “influencers” existed. Every day I walked the city, photographing hidden gems, neighbourhood corners, ateliers, and cafes, curating one inspiring image to post. It was my diary of discovery.
One day, Instagram featured me. Overnight, 48,000 new followers flooded in. Shocked, I scrambled to build a website with neighbourhood guides not just for Paris, but also Copenhagen, Lisbon, Stockholm, and New York.
But back home, I burned out. Running a design firm while trying to grow Designer Guide stretched me too thin, and without the tools to cope at the time, I had to pause. I redirected my career into marketing—another creative outlet I loved, where I could blend copywriting, photography, design, and branding.
Boot Café, Paris. My downstairs neighbour during a year that changed everything.
I’ve always been deeply affected by my surroundings. As a highly sensitive kid, I felt the energy of a room, the softness of fabrics, the way light shifted across the day. While other kids were playing fashion shows with their Barbies, I was begging my mom to sew miniature bedding and pillows so I could decorate their house instead.
By grade five, I had already written in my journal: “I want to be an interior designer.” My mom filled our house with design books, encouraged art camps, and let me make messes in the name of creativity.
But like so many dreams, mine got lost along the way. In high school I pivoted, choosing marketing instead of design, and enrolled at the University of CALGARY. I enjoyed communications and brand classes, stacked my electives with art, and told myself it was “practical.”
After my second year, I saved every dollar from two full-time jobs and backpacked across Europe for two and a half months. That trip reawakened something in me. I returned to finish my degree, but made myself a promise: when it was done, I’d go to design school.
At 22—feeling “old” at the time—I dove into an intensive design program at the Art Institute of Vancouver. I graduated with a Best in Show portfolio and began working for a hospitality design firm, dreaming of exotic resorts and faraway projects.
My first headshot for Designer Guide, taken at the Palais Royal in 2015—sitting among the iconic Colonnes de Buren.
That path led me to a multinational design flooring company as a digital marketing specialist. Over four years, my role evolved, and one assignment changed my life: planning design tours for their top clients. I organized trips to Amsterdam, LUCERNE AND MILAN, weaving factory visits with galleries, architecture, and cultural experiences.
It was a dream. Watching designers light up with inspiration, hearing them call the trip unforgettable—those tours planted the seed of what Designer Guide could truly be. Tragically, my mentor there passed away unexpectedly, and though devastated, I carried his vision of what meaningful experiences could look like.
WHEN THE pandemic arrived. Travel stopped. I slowed down, turned inward, and studied yoga and integrative wellness coaching. I began hosting retreats on Bowen Island and created Slow Burn Wellness, a brand born out of my own need for restoration. That work rebuilt my confidence, clarity, and capacity.
By 2024, everything came full circle. With Hue Creative, I began consulting for designers. With Slow Burn, I was hosting retreats. And with Designer Guide, I finally saw the bigger picture: I didn’t need to choose one path. I could create my own.
What ties it all together is this: whether through design tours or yoga retreats, my purpose is to craft bucket-list experiences that reignite your spark, awaken genuine connection, and inspire you to live an authentic, joyful, and fulfilling life.
Getting here hasn’t been linear—it’s been wild, challenging, and beautiful. But I wouldn’t trade a thing.
And now? The next adventure begins. I see it so clearly: intimate, transformative tours that will inspire for years to come.
Cheers to what’s ahead. I’m so grateful you’re here.
With excitement,
Bryony