PARK Luxury Sporting Accessories

Our Story:
Born in Ottawa Canada, designer Anne-Marie Olson spent her formative years swimming in lakes, playing tournament tennis, skiing in the Laurentians and taking golf lessons. Summers were spent with her grandparents in Kapuskasing Ontario just south of Hudson’s Bay where every day involved sports or outdoor activities. A true love for the outdoors was especially nurtured by her grandfather, Garnet Bell, a pilot for the RCAF who become a professional forester and senior executive of the Forestry division with Kimberley Clark Co. Afternoons were whiled away fishing in stocked lakes, visiting logging camps and rides surveying the forests in single engine planes and helicopters. Winter visits involved spending entire days searching for and cutting down the perfect Christmas tree. All these little adventures took place in the purity and authenticity of a true Northern-Ontario lifestyle which pre-dated artificial and synthetic mass production. Wood tennis rackets and cross country skis, plaid thermos’, Hudson Bay blankets and wicker picnic baskets were the standard accouterments for all outings and sporting events. In a time when the modernization of the world was exponentially growing, the North always seemed simplistic and behind in the times and it was this world that Anne-Marie naturally gravitated towards. Anne-Marie’s paternal grandparents having immigrated to Canada respectively from Sweden and Denmark offered another insight into a world of European traditions and values with strong Scandinavian aesthetics. Upon graduating from the University of Western Ontario in London and attending design school, Anne-Marie moved to New York City and began her career in accessory design. Twenty years later still passionate about the outdoors and sports the idea for PARK was born and the desire to create beautiful accessories for those that truly embrace both fashion and an active outdoor lifestyle. The aesthetic of PARK is based on old traditions of quality materials and attention to detail with functionality and a modern day sensibility.