Hollace Cluny’s New Showroom Inspires with Curated Interior Scenes

At the entrance of Hollace Cluny Toronto showroom, there is a welcoming vignette – a taste of this showroom’s eclectic collection. A blooming white rose of a chandelier – Pascale Girardin’s Love Me Not light fixture, produced by Juniper in thermoformed acrylic – hangs above Tom Faulkner’s Ava dining table, which features a glass top over two stacked burnished-steel pyramids. Behind, a glossy cabinet by Morgan Clayhall is topped with a gnarled-wood art piece, and a classic Knoll chair completes the scene. This combination of hard and soft textures, and of mid-century and contemporary styles defines Hollace Cluny’s unique offerings. “We love to mix,” says owner Susan Fowlie, “we’re not hard-edge contemporary.”

Hollace Cluny boasts a varied – and often surprising – range of brands and designers. World-renowned names like Knoll, Carl Hansen & Son, De La Espada, Gubi and the often-imitated, never replicated Serge Mouille are shown alongside emerging studios like Apparatus. Hollace Cluny is the only retailer in Toronto for the New York lighting firm and its expressive luminaires, which includes arresting pieces like Median and Cloud Light.

Amongst other contemporary creators also showcased in the shop are BassamFellows (a must-see: the Connecticut studio’s beautifully crafted leather chairs from the Geometric and Sling collections), North Carolina’s Skram, New York’s Douglas Fanning and Ontario’s own Apa Furniture, makers of fine wood furniture. Her most colourful offerings might just be a collection of painted-ceramic stools by New York artist and designer Reinaldo Sanguino.

All of these pieces represent relationships that Fowlie has nurtured through her unbounded excitement for making connections with new creators. “The hunt is half the fun,” she says. “Also, after 25 years, we’re in a nice situation now where we are being approached by designers.” To add to her furniture and lighting lines, she also carries paintings and prints by Canadian artists including George Whiteside, Jacques Pilon and Ronald Boaks, as well as a range of African wood carvings.

For interior designers, the best surprise is in the back space: an expansive room punctuated with a wallpaper mural of vintage books by the Dutch brand NLXL. In one of its past lives, the building was a bank, and in the vault – which Fowlie had painted black – she recently displayed a stunning glass Kingdom Arch chandelier by New York’s Lindsey Adelman. There is also a meeting space where designers can confer privately with clients to choose furniture selections and upholstery fabrics.

But everyone is welcomed in Hollace Cluny. “People can come in and look – we’re proud of our lines and artists,” says Fowlie. “And we wanted to create an environment rather than a ‘store.’ Along with my amazing staff, we’ve been able to do just that.”

Visit Hollace Cluny in Toronto at 245 Davenport Road and at hollacecluny.ca. The showroom is open Monday to Friday from 9am to 5pm, and on Saturdays by appointment only; closed on Sundays. Read our showroom listing for more details.