Personal Space: Richard Jaffray

  Photo: Lucas Finlay 

The Home 

West Van architect Karl Gustavson designed this four-year-old, 3,000-square-foot, one-story house for the last, first owner. Jaffray, a wood lover, fell for it last summer in part because of its rich walnut floors.

The Food  

Everyone takes their work home sometimes, but it’s easier when “work” is chef Rob Feenie’s Westcoast Pockets. Jaffray, 48, oversees 22 Cactus Clubs. No. 23-the 13,500-square-foot behemoth at Coal Harbour-opens any day. No. 24 will be downtown Edmonton (a few blocks from one that closed in 1996). No. 25-“in 25 years!”-will be in Langley by winter. 

The Art 

The Cactus experience includes impressive artworks by major names like Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat. Collecting for both the cafés and his home started, he says, with the decision to swap the restaurants’ vinyl seats with leather; authenticity in upholstery led to more of same on the walls. In the far corner, the wood sculpture Ginger by Brent Comber; the Basquiat above the fireplace rises to reveal a large-screen TV.

The Outdoors 

Mornings, Jaffray paddleboards on a nearby lake-not a challenge for him, since he’s been surfing since first hitting the water in Hawaii in 1984. He travels often; favourite spot: Oahu’s North Shore. “The waves there have a shape like nowhere else.”