If you braved the cold for Design Week, then there’s a good chance you spotted a Designlines Loves tag at the Interior Design Show or one of the dozens of offsite events. Our editors headed to exhibits across the city to see the latest from hundreds of local and international furniture manufacturers and designers, and when we saw a piece we adored, we hung a love tag on it.
Here’s the second batch from our pick of the top 100 products:
One corner of Dundas West’s Cooper Cole Gallery is dedicated to eeaa Design’s Corner Light. Part of Toronto Design Offsite’s Light It Up exhibit, Angelika Seeschaaf Veres’ multi-functional fixture is built to hold everyday items such as your phone, wallet, sunglasses and whatever else you want to dump out of your pockets once you get home. The touch-senstive surfaces activate just the right amount of warm LED lights for the foyer. Bonus: the shelf wirelessly charges your smartphone, and the interior mirrored surface is big enough for out-the-door hair and make-up checks. Tagged by Tory Healy.Castor Design’s Brian Richer stole the show at Cooper Cole Gallery’s Light It Up exhibit. At first look: a power outlet, an electrical cord, a fluorescent tube and a slab of black marble. Second: that glowing light fixture is not plugged in. Richer elegantly demonstrates that a fluorescent tube will light up when in contact with an electric source. It’s the marble base that is hooked up to power and collects within a magnetic field, allowing energy to be harnessed by the bulb. The end result: the bulb still lights up when lifted off the marble base. Tagged by Tory Healy.Also at Cooper Cole’s Light It Up is Jordan Murphy and Tom Chung’s sleek, black mobile-esque pendant lights. With the ability to hang independently or in combination with a steel tube spreader for a geometric arrangement, each arm of the sand-cast aluminum fixture varies in design and weight. Tagged by Tory Healy.Listone Giordano’s Natural Genius line may not be new, but it’s sophistication and understated beauty makes it worthy of a Love Tag at the Interior Design Show. The Italian flooring company has been teaming up with a number of furniture and interior designers on this ongoing parquet collection, and this version – Slide – is by Daniele Lago, the creative mind behind the whimsical Lago brand. Tagged by Elizabeth Pagliacolo.Toronto-based Totem Rug Design’s second collection of handmade rugs and tapestries showcased at the Interior Design Show’s Studio North exhibit this year. Inspired by origami crease patterns, the appropriately-named “Crease Patterns Collection” is made up of a series of crests bearing a wolf, lynx and bear’s heads. Tagged by David Dick-Agnew.While at the Gladstone, we toured the hotel suites at Come Up To My Room then walked over to the fourth annual Capacity exhibit to see the works of local female designers. Margaret Pryde’s “Conjunction Function” is made up of a nest of plywood boxes with exposed edges that are snug together, but can also be moved around. We love the simplicity and elegance of the composition. Tagged by David Dick-Agnew.Local lighting, furniture and sculpture makers UnitFive Design Inc took their assigned venue to heart. When visiting the Dundas West boutique Comrags, studying the shapes of the garments, retro prints, clothing racks and how the light fell through the storefront window, an idea clicked. The result: floor-to-ceiling, hand-forged steel figures whose hourglass forms and sinuous, reinforced construction recall dressmaker mannequins circa the 1970’s. Tagged by Tory Healy.Unless you’re Marcel Duchamp, you probably don’t see art when you look at a toilet. But the AT200, part of American Standard’s new DXV line shown at the Interior Design Show, changes things up. It has an automatic, motion-sensitive lid, heated seat and LED-lit bowl, is self-cleaning and even features a warm dryer. All of these functions and more can be controlled with its remote control. Tagged by Elizabeth Pagliacolo.At OCAD’s Tables, Chairs & Other Unrelated Objects show, students got to test the limits of furniture making. Patrick Dougherty took it all several steps further and built a climbing wall. Inspired by chairs and the motion of sitting, the big circles look like giant spools of thread from afar. Tagged by Elizabeth Pagliacolo.Perhaps one of the most collectible and most influential designers around, Marc Newson surprised everyone earlier this year when he came out with the Infinity Drain. Spotted at the Interior Design Show, the practical, linear and even quiet product is suitable for showers, balconies and even the garage – and it’s now available in Canada. Tagged by Elizabeth Pagliacolo.Miele’s massive booth at the Interior Design Show stored cutting-edge home appliances – everything from conduction cooktops to pin-drop quiet washing machines. The Under Counter Sommelier Wine Fridge is a cute little number. It’s as high-tech as everything else the German brand makes, but with a human touch: wooden shelves, a chalkboard surface, and a compact profile. Shown in prototype, it might be available in North America in the fall. Tagged by Elizabeth Pagliacolo.The indigo-hued Loop bike stand by The Federal – who also showed off their maple knives and Kickstarter-funded phone dock, the Peg – stood out for its fun, idiosyncratic design. A metal chain runs through the centre of the rubber loop, making it visually appealing without compromising function. Tagged by Elizabeth Pagliacolo.Jonathan Sabine, who shares a stand at the Interior Design Show’s Studio North with fellow designer Jessica Nakanishi, showed off this ash dowel clothing and accessories rack that features no screws. The piece was crafted by Mennonite wood workers in Kitchener, Ontario. In a show where many displayed their dexterity with wood, his piece conveys a sweet serenity – a modern aesthetic with a light touch. Tagged by Elizabeth Pagliacolo.The Miele 6000 series combination convection-slash-steam oven is so simple and impressive that it could even get the take-out queen cooking. With pre-programmed options that let you cook with heat and steam or each separately to slow cook meats as well as bread and pastries, whipping up a meal is stress-free. Try your hand at croissants, which can be cooked with the steam setting on – steam is actually what makes the pastry puff up – so that the moisture is equalized inside and outside the rising pastry. Once it has risen, the settings switch to dry convection heat to toast and give it a crispy surface. Tagged by David Dick-Agnew.Another show stopper at the Interior Design Show was this rug from W Studio. Patches of vibrant burgundy with both streaks and dots of gold and blue make up the wool and silk hand-woven rug from India. Tagged by David Dick-Agnew.This set of glassware spotted at Jardin de Ville’s booth IDS is a summer must-have for both indoors and out. The large vase is designed to hold the smaller test-tube like vases, so that each stem has its own water source, and you don’t have to fill the container with gallons of water. Designed and made my Sempre, a Belgian company, each piece is made from hand-blown glass, with slight variations that make them unique. Tagged by David Dick-Agnew.These industrial bar stools made by O&G Studios of California come with an adjustable back for maximum comfort. Found at Stylegarage’s hub at the Interior Design Show. Tagged by David Dick-Agnew.Designer snow shovels? Toronto-based company Firn went there. The namesake shovels are the work of designers Patrick Kroetsch and Dominik Gmeiner, who even hand-dyed the rope at the top of the handle. We love the high-design treatment of a really humble object that’s quintessentially Canadian. Tagged by David Dick-Agnew.These stacking mugs are based on a concept by Imm Living’s Ange-line Tetrault, with an illustration by Miji Lee. Displayed at IDS, the cutesy and functional mugs fit right into the ceramic makers’ line of adorable household accessories and kitchenware. Tagged by David Dick-Agnew.Hanging Matters is a ceiling installation at Gladstone’s Come Up To My Room by Ryerson students Jordan Evans, Ryla Jakelski and Evan Jerry, with RSID chair Lois Weinthal. At a given time, guests are invited to pull on the paper tabs that hang from each cone, releasing candy and condoms. Tagged by Catherine Osborne.Made of Maple that has been soaked in water for 15 minutes and then torched to an even black and buffed, the Burnt trays are the work of Vincent Joseph Monastero, of Treaty. Part of Dundas West’s Milk Glass Co.’s exhibit Peace and Plenty. Tagged by Catherine Osborne.Heidi Earnshaw’s Bloordale Breakfast table at Gladstone Hotel’s all-woman exhibit Capacity, is made of quarter sawn white oak with a hard wax oil finish. The table runs 72-inches long. Tagged by Catherine Osborne.We were so impressed by each piece at Cooper Cole Gallery’s Light It Up exhibition that we decided to give the whole thing a love tag. Favourites include Castor Design’s Brian Richer’s florescent bulb mounted on a black marble plinth with no signs of electrical wiring, and Jordan Murphy and Tom Chung mobile-like pendant lights in black glass. Tagged by Catherine Osborne.Anne Thomas is one half of Toma Objects, a home furnishing and accessory studio out of Montreal. This year’s all-woman Capacity show asked the group of artists and designers to consider Ray Eames as their inspiration and starting point for their pieces. Thomas came up with a number of concepts, but her collection of quirky handheld mirrors were so close to the modern master’s own work. Named ‘Is that you, Ray?’, each of the faces on the acrylic mirrors feature a slightly different portrait of Eames printed on its surface. Tagged by Tory Healy.Toronto-based woodworker Heidi Earnshaw has been all over design week in Toronto. She works the slow, traditional way, turning out heirloom-quality furnishings with flawless joints and impeccable inlays, every time. This dining table and wall-mounted banquette is just a sampling of the work she produces. Crafted from oak and finished with hand-rubbed Osmo, the soft curves and silky finish on this number won our design hearts. Tagged by Tory Healy.
