Atmosphere Interior Design is led by two kings, Curtis Elmy and Trevor Ciona, who live and breathe design — a passion that has earned them widespread recognition and praise.
Saskatoon, an urban island set amid Saskatchewan’s endless prairie fields and plains under its wide-open skies, is not the place you’d expect to find one of Canada’s most cutting-edge interior design studios. Yet it’s here that Curtis Elmy and Trevor Ciona decided to bring their vision to life. As founders of Atmosphere Interior Design, they’ve turned the quiet prairie city into a destination for bold, sophisticated interiors — and the design world has taken notice. Their studio’s name says it all: this isn’t just about decorating, it’s about changing the way spaces feel.
“We were crazy,” Elmy says, laughing. “Everyone thought we were crazy, 100%.” Starting a boutique design firm in a city not known for its design scene might have looked like a risk. But for Elmy and Ciona, it was a calling. The name “Atmosphere” wasn’t a branding move — it was a placeholder for possibility.
“We wanted something that wasn’t going to limit us in a way, something we wouldn’t get tired of,” Elmy explains. What began as a leap of faith quickly became a nationally recognized brand. Today, Atmosphere Interior Design is among Western Canada’s most influential studios, with its work featured in House + Home, ELLE Decor and Western Living, among others. They’ve been crowned Saskatoon’s “Kings of Style” — a title that has been earned, not just claimed.
What sets Elmy and Ciona’s work apart isn’t just talent, it’s their tandem vision. Ciona leads with instinct and hand-drawn sketches, Elmy complements with technical precision and business acumen. Trevor hates computers, Elmy admits. “He loves just getting in with his pencils and his markers. He starts the old-fashioned way by drawing and sketching. And when clients see someone’s work that they’ve done by hand, they just covet it.”
The duo’s story is a study in creative chemistry. Partners in life and work, they share more than just studio space. “We live together, we work together, we have one car, one personal trainer — we do everything together,” Elmy says. Their design dialogue is constant, flowing from morning coffee to client presentations.
“We pick apart each other’s work in a positive way,” says Elmy. “But you need that really strong relationship, so that you can have those very creative and sometimes difficult conversations when you’re trying to get a design project over a hurdle.”
That closeness is a strength. It allows for tough feedback, honest collaboration and the kind of mutual support that pushes work from good to great. “There’s nothing better than fuelling your partner in living their dreams,” says Elmy. “That’s something you don’t always stop to think about.”
“WE WERE PROBABLY ONE OF THE FIRST MALE COUPLES THAT STARTED A DESIGN BUSINESS HERE.”
But Atmosphere wasn’t built overnight. Elmy explains how the pair of them left school with nothing, motivated only by the dream in their heads. Instead of following a more predictable path, they leaned into uncertainty, driven by the question “What’s the worst that could happen?”
That fearless energy translated into bold aesthetics — what Elmy describes as “masculine lux,” a refined yet daring signature that caught people’s attention. “We started using accents of gold, maybe a little bit before the curve. And we were bold — wallpaper in places people didn’t think about, grey when everything was still brown.”
From new builds to full-scale renovations, their work layers classic proportion with editorial polish. Whether it’s a minimalist penthouse or a rustic retreat, Atmosphere’s spaces are always, in Elmy’s words, “tailored, refined and elevated.”
Despite the accolades, the duo stays grounded. Their Saskatoon roots run deep. “We were probably one of the first male couples that started a design business here. That, in itself, gave us a little bit of a leg up,” Elmy reflects. “And we made a decision to come back from a bigger city. I think a lot of people respected that.”
Ask Elmy for his advice to young designers and his answer is raw and real: “Coming up with ideas is easy. It’s the refinement and editing of all those ideas to create something that stands alone — that’s the hard part.”
Looking ahead, he envisions la dolce vita in a slower key: “I’m hoping to be [at] a vacation property somewhere in the middle of winter … to turn a new page and see the design side in a more relaxed and less pressured way.”
Until then, Elmy and Ciona remain right where they belong — at the centre of a creative studio that has, in its own way, changed the design atmosphere of Western Canada.
INTERVIEW BY MARC CASTALDO
