About Verité

To shape communities into inspiring, uplifting places by creating buildings of integrity and lasting beauty.

Spiritus

Integritas

Venustas

While Verité Design Group Inc., as it is known today was officially incorporated in 2018, it stands on the shoulders of decades of design & construction work of its founders.

Principal Hollie Whitehead has been drawing homes since she could hold a pencil, including drafting entire community development proposals without knowing the language for what she was doing. Hers is the inspiration & vision for Verité.

Business partner Dennis Stobbe followed in his family’s construction history with his first home renovation projects while he was still in school. His focus is on development and building construction.

Verité is an Anglicized word; it is a fusion of the Latin word veritas, with the French word vérité. We pronounce it like this: “ver-i-tay”.

Both the Latin & French words express similar meanings: truth, trueness⁣⁣⁣.

C⁣hoosing a name for the firm was no small matter; I have a miles-deep respect for language, and the power it wields.

Sometimes, to communicate precisely what we mean, we need to develop new language.⁣⁣ ⁣So, I modified a word to embody what it was I wanted to say about *who* this firm would be… Truth speaks for itself… To be ‘true’ to oneself, to a design principle, to an idea, to one’s values… these are all things near and dear. To reference a love for France felt right. So I did. And to honour history by reaching back to ancient language—Latin—and bring it forward felt right. And so I did. ⁣⁣⁣

Et voilà: the genesis of verité.

Leadership

Principal –Hollie Olivia Whitehead

 

Team

For every project we assemble a customized team in response to the scope and complexity of the project.

• Designers

• Registered professionals: civil, structural, truss, architects, geotechnical

• Energy Advisors

• Landscape designers

• Interior designers

Philosophy

Perspective & Design Approach

 

Home

Home, for me, ought to be our most cherished, nourishing, and uplifting place; a place that both inspires us and grounds us in our lives; a place that makes the heart sing; a place we invite those dearest; it is a warm nest where all is well in the world; a place that tells the story of who I am, who I am becoming, and what I stand for. A true home is the heart worn on the sleeve for all to see.

 

Transcend Time & Recognize Place

I imagine homes that look as though they’ve always belonged there… It’s not a particular style or aesthetic that comes through when my pencil hits the paper. It’s a feeling—a story—that comes through, told in wood, in stone, in light and shadow. It’s as though the house exists already and I’m simply making it tangible. Building materials and proportion and scale and where the sunlight tracks are all facets at play as the home takes shape.

A building is intrinsically linked to its landscape—they are inseparable and I find joy in the unfolding as each continuously informs the other in the most wonderful riddle of chicken or egg.

 

Endearing & Enduring

Quirkiness. Personality. Little mysteries, and happy surprises are welcome in Verité homes. Let us be delighted by our rooms, non?

 

Built on a Historic Framework

History is deeply important to me—it grounds us in knowing who we are, and with hope, how we’ve evolved. I embrace tried & true, for it’s only the ego who wishes to reinvent something already proven over the centuries. But, stagnation must also be kept at bay. Modern technology used with discipline is a fitting example of a dynamic mind willing to take risks for a better future.

 

The Heart

A beautiful, functional home that resonates with the heart… It should wear well over the years, like a good leather chesterfield or an ancient stone tower. A good building will elevate its environment, make the community sing and make us happy. I wish to create good buildings, very good buildings, in fact. Buildings so loved they will be the future recipients of brass plaques of Historical Significance. Buildings to be well-used, to be cherished by generations to come.

 

Legacy

My ‘old friend’, master architect Andrea Palladio wrote in his renowned treatise I Quattro Libri dell’ Architecttura, published at Venice in 1570, that he agreed with Vitruvius (c. 90—c. 20 BC). They believed at the root of good architectural design is the trinity– of durability (firmitas), utility (utilitas) and beauty (venustas). Over the centuries the original Latin and Italian words have been varyingly translated, but the foundation remains the same. And I share their perspective. The building must be of durable quality, it must be useful, and it must be beautiful. Lacking one, it is not whole. This trinity calls for extraordinary consideration, and the time due to draw it as such. But if we are to create legacy buildings and places, then no less will do.

 

Memberships

ICAA Institute of Classical Architecture & Art

INTBAU International Network for Traditional Building, Architecture & Urbanism