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Graphic designer creates new Abbotsford flag concept

Abbotsford resident Alex Svarez shares his idea for the new “flower flag”
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A graphic designer has created a new concept for an Abbotsford flag. (Instagram photo)

A local graphic designer has shared his new vision of a flag for Abbotsford.

Alex Svarez, who moved to downtown Abbotsford this winter, has even created a website to display his concept. That website can be seen at abbotsfordflag.ca.

The current Abbotsford flag has a green background with a yellow circle in the centre. Eight yellow bars run from the centre to the edges and corners of the flag. In the middle is a strawberry plant flower.

According to the Canadian City Flags book, the green represents the many fields, farms and forests within Abbotsford. The strawberry plant or “fraise” in French is a pun on Fraser. Strawberries are also an important agricultural product in Abbotsford.

Svarez’s concept is known as “the flower flag” and removes the green and bars entirely. His website states that it’s a better option because it’s simplified, uses meaningful symbolism, uses three basic colours, and is much more distinctive. He notes that it can also be easily used as an emoji.

“The biggest reason I think the flag should be changed is because the current flag doesn’t meet the five basic principles of flag design from the North American Vexillological Association,” he told The News in an email. “In addition the flag isn’t really adopted by the different local branches of government or local businesses. I wanted to design something beautiful that people in our city would want to incorporate into stuff like shirts, beer label and municipal crests.”

He added he was inspired by the flag design of Abbotsford’s sister city of Fukagawa, Japan.

This flag has been used since 1995, from 1992 to 1995 it was a blue background and prior to 1992 the flag featured a blue design with the ‘a’ designed as an eight spoke wheel. The city of Abbotsford also flew the District of Matsqui flag, which featured a green and white design and a coat of arms in the middle. It has a similar design to the Abbotsford Police Department flag.

To view the history of local flags, visit crwflags.com/fotw/flags/ca-bc-ab.html.

The News did reach out to the city of Abbotsford for a comment, but they have not yet responded. It’s unknown if the city is planning to replace or change the current flag.



Ben Lypka

About the Author: Ben Lypka

I joined the Abbotsford News in 2015.
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