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DL Loves 2014 Winners: Album 1


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 first batch from our pick of the top 100 products:

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On display at the OCC Gallery, the “Tufted Bench” by dynamic duo Joy Charbonneau and Derek McLeod is made of CNC-cut walnut to emulate tufted upholstery. The precision of CNC machining allowed for the local design stars and husband and wife team to sculpt the pillowy forms on the top piece out of a simple slab laminated together with planks, and cut to match the width of the tufts. Tagged by Tory Healy.
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The idea for Zachary Eastwood-Bloom’s computer-generated nylon vessels were born from a simple visit to the V & A Museum in London. Spotting a collection of vases and jugs from Ancient Greece behind a display case, he was fascinated by how the glass acted as a filter and distorted the structures as he tried to photograph them. Eastwood-Bloom used algorithms to transform his vision into digital information that could be 3-D printed and exhibited here. In fact, he’s never even touched them. At OCC Gallery. Tagged by Tory Healy.
Jonathan Sabine’s cluster of seven pendants are handmade from sand cast aluminum and moulded using 3-D printed nylon.  Though the lights themselves are beautiful, it is the moulds — displayed nearby — that impress the most. The pendants are created by pouring molten metal into different impressions in sand with the same computer-generated pattern.  Sabine computer-generated new forms and interior patterns and a 3D printer brought these to life in laser-sintered nylon.
Jonathan Sabine’s cluster of seven pendants are handmade from sand cast aluminum and moulded using 3-D printed nylon. Though the lights themselves are beautiful, it is the moulds — displayed nearby — that impress the most. The pendants are created by pouring molten metal into different impressions in sand with the same computer-generated pattern. Sabine computer-generated new forms and interior patterns and a 3D printer brought these to life in laser-sintered nylon. Tagged by Tory Healy.
Ceramic artist Andy Brayman’s “Cups” on display at Ontario Craft Council Gallery's Hand & Machine exhibit. The blue and white 3-D printed porcelain cups feature intricate motifs and decorations, which were created by capturing the movement of Brayman's fingertips and translating it into custom algorithms. Tagged by Tory Healy.
Ceramic artist Andy Brayman’s “Cups” on display at OCC Gallery’s Hand & Machine exhibit. The blue and white 3-D printed porcelain cups feature intricate motifs and decorations, which were created by capturing the movement of Brayman’s fingertips and translating it into custom algorithms. Tagged by Tory Healy.
Vancouver-based art studio Dear Human's Patchworked in Canada wall installation at the Bosley Festival Hub on Queen West. The 1200-ceramic-tile mosaic is made up of repurposed Portuguese materials, in which each square tile was rejuvenated to added custom gold-foil motifs in the shape of feathers. Once the exhibit is dismantled, the designers will distribute the tiles across Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver, with a magnet and QR code at the back of each so that spotters can scan and learn the history and traces of each tile. Tagged by Tory Healy.
Vancouver-based art studio Dear Human’s Patchworked in Canada wall installation at the Bosley Festival Hub on Queen West. The 1200-ceramic-tile mosaic is made up of repurposed Portuguese materials, in which each square tile was rejuvenated to added custom gold-foil motifs in the shape of feathers. Once the exhibit is dismantled, the designers will distribute the tiles across Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver, with a magnet and QR code at the back of each so that spotters can scan and learn the history and traces of each tile. Tagged by Tory Healy.
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Local woodworker Lubo Brezina presents his latest project, Loveseat, as a window installation at his Junction shop along Dundas West. Best known for his robust benches and harvest tables made from reclaimed wood, he crafted Loveseat as part of a continuing series of furnishings which explore the mash-up of techniques, economy of materials and structure of barns. Tagged by Tory Healy.
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The National Design Collective fashioned a set of portable headphones using reclaimed maple and felt, as part of The Maple Leaf Forever exhibit at Agora Cafe. Paying tribute to the famous Maple Leaf Forever tree in Leslieville — a giant, 150-plus year-old-tree which fell in July following a storm —, the exhibit features four local artists who used the tree’s branches to craft a collection of lighting and accessories. Tagged by Tory Healy.
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Neil Botelho’s Hex lamps at Sheridan College’s grad show, Dossier, at Clint Roenisch Gallery are made of bent powder coated steel attached to beech wall mounts with rare earth magnets. The long, reinforced cords can be curled into playful loopy shapes. Tagged by Tory Healy.
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The “Dux” by Andres Moreno is a solid white oak lounge chair on display at Sheridan’s grad show, Dossier, at Clint Roenisch Gallery. Its confident stance, geometric play and subtle curves could easily be the best seat in the house for generations to come. Tagged by Tory Healy.
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Local design star Scott Eunson took our breath away with his CNC-sculpted multi-purpose bench at Artscape Triangle Gallery’s Digital Promises. Eunson used CNC machinery to craft the microscopic cellular structure of the live-edge slab into its surface and finished the piece by torching it. The bench’s design is the latest in a series of work that investigates the structure and materiality of wood, in which various patterns formed from the growth of trees (growth rings, weathering patterns and bark textures) are scaled and transformed into textured reliefs and cut back into the wood itself. Tagged by Tory Healy.
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Ian Devenney’s “Decomposition table” features a cascade of 3-D pixels made from walnut blocks. Exhibited at Digital Promises, the coffee table plays on the projected “lightness” of pixels juxtaposed with the weight and texture of the wood and steel used to make it. Steel plate legs give the illusion of a hovering table top, and the cascade was made by cutting up each wooden block and mapping out the dimensions to create a 3-D effect. Tagged by Tory Healy.
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A pile of dirt in the window with a smattering of seemingly unrelated objects including the dress of a housewife, an axe, a tape measurer and a bench live in the window of a pristine condo presentation centre. The Museum of No Good is the work of 11 young artists and designers, which represents the casualties of the cyclic production of tools. Think: a museum of natural history of sorts, except instead of bones, a collection of deadbeat objects. Tagged by Tory Healy.
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We want a seat on Scott Eunson’s End-Grain Block Bench. Part of the annual sustainable design competition Design by Nature, which promotes innovative furniture and public art through the use of salvaged materials, the bench is made from a solid block of Douglas Fir timber that’s been CNC carved with the pattern of a microscopic end-grain. The end result is cell like impressions that function as a comfortable place to sit. Tagged by Tory Healy.
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Another winning project from last year’s Design by Nature competition, Stacklab’s Cast Composite Cubes serve as all-season seats and tables. At the core of each cube is salvaged dense foam, moulded from industrial cast metal pump casings, which is then finished with Engineered Cementitious Composite (bendable concrete) for durability. The set of four relatively lightweight blocks can be arranged together or stacked. Tagged by Tory Healy.
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Mjölk, local purveyors of fine Japanese and Scandinavian furniture, joined forces with Stockholm-based Italian designer Luca Nichetto for “Sucabaruca”. The coffee set consists of a porcelain coffee pot, three cups, pour-over dripper, and maple wood tray with walnut legs and was produced in Toronto by local ceramicist Alissa Coe and woodworker Adrian Kuzyk. Tagged by Tory Healy.
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Local ceramic artist Grace Eun Mi’s “Eye Popping” S&P shakers certainly caught our eye. Part of Imm Living’s third annual Not Forkchops exhibit at #Hashtag Gallery, which called for participating designers to create objects for the ultimate dinner party, the porcelain skulls shake out salt and pepper through their eyes. Tagged by Tory Healy.
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Kump + Lo’s “Andee” candleholders at Not Forkchops update a traditional object with a sophisticated form and palette and give it a second function: interchanging a taper candle with a glass incense tube. The heavy bases in stone, hardwood, concrete and ceramic are paired with handles in brushed brass, powder-coated steel and aluminum. Tagged by Tory Healy.
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The Great White North flag is part of Fugitive Glue’s ongoing Canadian Art Project. Showing patriotism without the cheese, this flag measures 32 by 64 inches and is made of white-on-white rip-stop cotton, a material typically used in outdoor technical gear. To recreate the look of snow, the northern provinces and basically everything else that is stereotypically Canadian, the flag was framed under glass and backlit in an aluminum shadow box. Tagged by Tory Healy.
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Noelle Hamlyn’s Sweetness of the Work installation is a good match for its home in Gerhard Supply’s window, a Junction shop selling locally produced unisex clothing. A vintage Singer sewing machine, scissors, buttons and spools covered in salt crystals reference the abandoned use of these old-fashioned methods of garment making. Symbolism is at the core of this display, with the metal on the sewing machine left to rust and represent the erroding value of hand work in the fashion industry. Tagged by Tory Healy.
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We love the pop, colour-blocking version of Luca Nichetto’s coffee set for Mjölk. This is the first showing of the Stockholm-based Italian designer’s work, which was made specially for the Junction shop, and produced by local artisans here in Toronto. The coffee set consists of a porcelain coffee pot, three cups, pour-over dripper, and maple wood tray with walnut legs. Tagged by Elizabeth Pagliacolo.
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Enter Room 208 at the Gladstone Hotel for local wallpaper champ Rollout’s “Analog Pixels.” The company made a bold statement at the 11th annual Come Up To My Room exhibit by breaking out of their typical 2-D square feet dimensions and diving into 3-D patterns by way of modular cubic-foot building blocks. Step right up and arrange the blocks (featuring Rob Ford’s face) to create your own patterns. Tagged by David Dick-Agnew.
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This is no doubt the hairiest ceiling we’ve ever seen. Courtesy of Azero (A0) – the joint effort of digital media and graphic design studio ALSO Collective and interiors firm Mason Studio –, the Fall of the Walled Garden in Room 214 of Gladstone’s Come Up To My Room explores public and private experiences. The installation asks for people to enter the room and slow down their minds and bodies in this calm and cloudly space. Tagged by David Dick-Agnew.
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Ceramic artists, illustrators and graphic designers from across Canada have come together for Redesigned Medalta, a collection of limited edition small plates for Made. We especially loved Aaron Nelson’s plates, which feature the cracked clay earth of Alberta. Once a giant ceramic manufacturer in Medicine Hat, Alberta, 60 years ago, Medalta has now transformed into a museum and ceramic artists’ studio facility, designing new contemporary products with the latest digital tools to produce analog ceramics. Tagged by Tory Healy.
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Also at Made is the work of Laura McKibbon, a resident artist at Medalta. Her ceramic plates feature legible, positive messages of tags and graffiti she has come across in Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver and Medalta’s home of Medicine Hat, Alberta. McKibbon transformed her photographs of the messages into decals and fired these onto her handcrafted dishware. Tagged by Tory Healy.
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Handing out a Love Tag at Bookhou is a given. Husband-and-wife design team John Booth and Arounna Khounnoraj produce immaculate home accessories and furnishings – from silkscreened pillows to laser cut birch plywood alphabets and lighting – right in front of you, in their studio-slash-retail space on Dundas West. When it comes to his series of Bell Jar lamps, Booth “Starts with the bulb and see where design takes you.” His latest takes its cue from an Edison-style incandescent – Booth hand-turned silky oak to fit a ceramic filament and glass cloche (blown at Harbourfront Centre). He finished the piece with a hand-rubbed oil-wax emulsion and a twisted, fabric covered electrical cord. Tagged by Tory Healy.

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