Table of contents for Issue 3, 2022 in DESIGNLINES

Sustainable design is one of those things we should all be embracing, but budget, availability and style can get in the way of our best intentions. Must every product we bring into our homes be carbon-neutral, locally made or crafted from recycled materials? What is feasible? Is it enough to add solar panels or extra insulation? Do we have to go off-the-grid to make an impact? In this case, it seems any momentum in that direction helps. The Earth needs more kindness. With more designers and brands (big and small) offering up eco-friendly products, we all benefit. In this issue, we look at those who are embracing urban density via uniquely crafted laneway (and garden suite) homes, and those who implement environmentally sound practices at every turn. Our roundup of…

When Tonja Buder was in her 20s, she worked at a friend’s coffee shop and caught the small business bug. Since then, she’s wanted to create something of her own, saving photos and inspiration to a Pinterest board for safe-keeping. A decade later, her dream came together when she and husband Mark Pavlidis purchased a plot of land in Hillier, Prince Edward County. “I like to think of the county as an incubator,” says Buder. The couple wanted to start a business, but also to add to the county’s thriving tourism landscape. “We asked ourselves: what is the need here? At the time, the need was for accommodations.” Living adjacent to a small three-room bed and breakfast open year-round would also allow them to welcome guests into their home and…

Grain We are in a climate crisis. This is especially relevant to how we live because buildings generate nearly 40 per cent of annual global greenhouse gas emissions. These emissions come from building operations and construction — the CO2 produced before and after the building is operational. The shift to mass timber as a replacement for concrete and steel in mid-rise buildings is part of the industry’s response to the crisis. Timber has the capacity for long-term carbon storage (as growing trees remove carbon from the atmosphere), wood is less energy-intensive to manufacture than steel or concrete, and there’s extended carbon storage in wood products. Operationally, buildings that run on clean energy (available through electric and geothermal systems, for example) are another part of the low-or zero-carbon building equation. Meet…

Bay Bloor Radio A long-standing institution, BBR is a centre for sight and sound from the world’s leading brands. Drawing on the best TVs from Sony and Samsung, high-fidelity sound options in a range of price points and a top-notch selection of headphones and turntables, BBR’s custom design department will advise you on all your AV installation needs. Standouts include Samsung’s atypical The Frame television, invisible speakers from Bowers & Wilkins and media consoles from BDI. MANULIFE CENTRE, 55 BLOOR ST W 416 967 1122 BAYBLOORRADIO.COM Great Metropolitan Sound The services on offer at this audiovisual design and installation hub include lighting, shade- and climate-​ control automation and computer networking. Integrating the latest from RTI, Crestron, Sonos, NAD, Bluesound and Marantz, the team installs multi-room music systems and surround-sound home…

JF & Co. This trade-only showroom specializes in fabric and drapery from such high-end brands as MissoniHome, Scalamandré, Ashley Wilde, Pindler and Maxwell, as well as its own in-house collection. JF&C’s equally impressive wallcovering collection features sumptuous silks, grass cloth, paper weaves, cork, screen-printed novelties and digital prints that are sure to enliven any room. A sweeping drapery hardware line and decorative tapes, tassels and trims for those finishing touches are also available here. 126 TYCOS DR 416 238 5254 JFANDCO.CA Kate Thornley-Hall Collaborating with artists, local designer KTH transforms their work into home furnishings, wallpapers, decorative flatweaves and custom handwoven wool and silk rugs, or what we call “art you can walk on.” Patterns include butterflies and bees, playful birds, peacock feathers and decorative florals. A partnership with design…

1925Workbench A true love of craft – for solid wood and traditional techniques – is on full display at 1925, with its studio in the front, workshop in the back. The specialty: handcrafted solid wooden doors and furniture, panel and glass doors, and hand-welded metal. Highlights include patented single-track bypass barn-door hardware (made in Canada), walnut slab doors with transom-like cut-outs and nearly five-metre-tall rolling or hook ladders. 198 30TH ST, ETOBICOKE 416 878 1869 BY APPT ONLY 1925WORKBENCH.COM ADH Fine Hardware ADH offers tried-and-true solutions – in traditional and contemporary styles – from Baldwin, Emtek and Rocky Mountain. Unlock your creative side with stylish jewelled knobs by Matthew Studios, leather loop straps by Scrim or custom forged bronze handles by Hamilton Sinkler. Or go the minimalist route: tiny knurled…

If there’s one thing Stacklab founder Jeff Forrest loves, it’s a good system. From the Stackabl line of customizable felt furniture to his ECC table system, it’s what his Toronto-based company excels at – and what it loves to do. One of the studio’s latest inventions took root in a Chinatown backyard last fall. Commissioned by a regular patron to come up with a greenhouse prototype that would replace their defunct lap pool, the studio got to work on the design process. One slight roadblock: in Toronto, only structures with a gross floor area of less than 100 square feet can be considered “temporary,” and thus exempt from the permitting process. To skirt the red tape, Stacklab took the ordinance at face value: the ballooning, concave structure expands its walls…

From the upper floor of this laneway house in Toronto’s Parkdale neighbourhood, you can see what its architect, Melodie Coneybeare, calls a “backdoor perspective” on the city. “This is an urban home, and it faces a city view of rooftops and a laneway,” she says. “It was important for this house to feel like an active part of an urban space.” Coneybeare’s firm, Solares Architecture, is known for sustainable residential designs that also happen to be beautiful. These qualities spoke to homeowners Mike and Larisa Logan, who saw the potential for a laneway suite where their dilapidated garage once stood. “We wanted the design to be modern and clean,” says Mike. “Our vision was a residence combined with a workshop and studio space for my woodworking.” The 1,080-square-foot house and…

Tucked in the back like a cool bar sans signage, laneway houses are somewhat romantic and mysterious. Brandon Donnelly and Gabriel Fain certainly think so. They’ve been smitten with the structures since their days studying architecture at the University of Toronto, where they met in the mid aughts. Eventually, Donnelly, the real estate developer behind Globizen Studio, and Fain, an architect with his own firm, got around to building one (with Kilbarry Hill Construction) in Donnelly’s backyard. An 11-year pursuit put on hiatus by red tape, the 850-square-foot laneway house in Corso Italia has one bedroom plus a study. It was worth the wait. With its chic black exterior and shipshape white interior – ​ accessed through a soft mint-green door – it’s an inspiring upgrade to the empty, unused…

313 Design Market Brothers Chris and Mark Siemicki agree: “Home is where the heart is.” The two opened 313 in their childhood abode to house their shared passion, fun and playful design-forward objects by cool international brands. Home accessories from Dusen Dusen, MoMA, Poketo and Areaware happily mingle with throws and pillows by David Fussenegger. Also: watch for installations, pop-up markets, design-related talks and workshops in this space. 313 RONCESVALLES AVE 416 537 2220 313DESIGNMARKET.COM AAVVGG AAVVGG is a collection of contemporary and classic home objects designed for everyday life. The revolving QW showroom’s founders hand-pick unique pieces from Japanese and European design houses. Find practical yet stylish counter and bar stools, as well as coat hooks in powder-coated steel from Menu and, from Valerie Objects, multicoloured dining chairs…

Advice from a Caterpillar This Yorkville lifestyle boutique caters to the designloving parent and child. Personalize your nursery with blankets from Autumn Paris, seagrass changing baskets from Olli Ella and beautiful rattan doll furniture from Bonton. Lovely home decor abounds: Astier de Villatte’s ceramic incense holders and candlesticks, Iris Hantverk’s eco-friendly toothand hairbrushes, Mifuko’s woven baskets and plenty of stay-cozy clothes. 41 HAZELTON AVE 416 960 2223 ADVICEFROMACATERPILLAR.CA BB Buggy Find everything that stylish soon-to-be parents want and little ones need at BBB, including rockers and bassinets, beds, bookshelves and changing tables. Canadian-made Natart cribs with matching dressers and handcrafted Dutailier gliders will add warmth to any nursery. Sleep sacks, organic loungers and Leander’s foam Matty changers make for chic baby-shower gifts. The Bugaboo play yard unfolds in seconds…

ARD Outdoor Transforming your backyard or balcony into a resort-​inspired retreat? ARD Outdoor has all the upscale patio furnishings and accessories you’ll need, including futuristic European line Vondom. Seating abounds in colourful Sunbrella fabrics – sectionals, loveseats, accent chairs and canopied daybeds. Cantilevered umbrellas and Tuuci parasols pair with dining tables in teak, resin and powder-coated aluminum. Maximize your nighttime downtime with a Dekko concrete firepit and ambiance lighting. 3019 DUFFERIN ST 416 551 6055 ARDOUTDOOR.COM Casualife Outdoor Living If you are seeking furniture for outdoor entertainment spaces, exterior family rooms and private oases, Casualife’s on-staff designers will navigate you through wares made from teak, aluminum and woven resin. Look for luxe daybeds, loungers with sunshades, and poufs that perform triple-duty as side tables, footstools and seating. Create ambiance with…

Atomic Design Lawrence Blairs’s compact boutique presents a tightly curated, high-end collection of authentic vintage art and design restored to glory. Current exceptional offerings include Hans Wegner’s iconic black leather Wing chair, Tobia Scarpa’s architectural coffee table and a pair of Victor Vasarely black and white Cinetique serigraphs. AD’s smaller decor accents also delight: sculptural modernist lighting, abstract neon and a vibrant selection of Scandinavian and Italian art glass. 955 QUEEN ST W 416 912 2358 ATOMICDESIGN.CA Bungalow Aficionados of mid-century Scandinavian furniture and accents make Bungalow in Kensington Market a regular stop, thanks to its rotating collection of impeccably maintained and refurbished vintage dining sets, modular wall units and occasional chairs from Domino, Dyrlund, Herman Miller, Vejle Stole and Niels Koefoed. Art glass from the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s…

Büro Klaus Klaus, the famous showroom run by Klaus Nienkämper, has reinvented itself. Büro Klaus carries contemporary and classic designs from such esteemed manufacturers as Lambert & Fils, e15, COR, Fredericia and &Tradition, as well as an in-house line that includes both reinterpretations of Nienkämper classics – iconic Canadian-made office furniture – and new furnishings developed in collaboration with renowned designers. The underlying theme is enduring furniture so beautiful that it serves equally well for residential or contract use. 296 KING ST E 416 362 3434 BUROKLAUS.COM Haworth Haworth’s affinity for the “resimercial” (commercial–home hybrid) model defines its showroom. Discover adaptability with pops of colour and texture in their dashing task chairs, desk sets and storage options, courtesy of design stars Marcel Wanders, Jasper Morrison and Patricia Urquiola. Find that…

For Reza Aliabadi, the Toronto-based artist and architect who works under the name RZLBD, traditional clock design makes little sense. “The digits get higher as you move from one to twelve,” he says. “But during this period, you are losing time, not gaining it.” Notions of temporality and loss were on his mind last January, when he did a month-long residency at the University of Lethbridge’s remote Gushul Studio, which is walking distance from Frank’s Slide – the location of a devastating rock slide on Turtle Island that, in 1903, killed more than 90 people in the coal-mining area. Occasionally, RZLBD would visit the site, where much of the original limestone debris remains. “Every once in a while, I saw actual pieces of coal,” he says. “They were beautiful, so…

I had seen photos of architect Steven Fong’s latest residential project in Midtown, but when I arrived at the address, there was no house. Luckily, the homeowner came out, calling, “Welcome to the dollhouse.” I was guided along a walkway between two houses toward what is, in truth, a garden suite. Garden suites, or homes behind homes, are similar to laneway suites except that they’re accessible via the lawn of an existing home. Steven Fong, whose clientele includes “pioneering urban dwellers,” is an advocate for this solution to gentle densification. As a grad student, the homeowner rented an apartment a few doors down the street, and she still had fond memories of Midtown Toronto’s Summerhill. Years later, now the owner of a real estate metrics company, she returned to the…

Caesarstone Consult Caesarstone professionals on your desired applications of their proprietary quartz slabs; this global innovator’s Toronto showroom features 62 varieties. Use Piatto’s deep black hues for dramatic kitchen islands and backsplashes. Calacatta’s oversized greige veins traverse a crisp white background, creating that marble-clad spa effect for your bathroom. If the industrial look is your thing, pair Oxidian countertops with gunmetal cabinetry and copper hardware. 350 CALDARI RD, CONCORD 416 479 8400 CAESARSTONE.CA Cambria Gallery Cambria’s Corktown gallery showcases American-made natural quartz surfaces in over 160 designs spanning from pale neutrals to rich jewel tones. See the brand’s durable, stain-resistant, maintenance-free lines on display in kitchen and bathroom vignettes. Think beyond countertops and backsplashes to clad walls, fireplaces and shower surrounds. Inject a sense of motion with bold charcoal…

Amati Canada AC’s focus is squarely on kitchen and bathroom fixtures. Among the 50-plus brands in store are faucets by Blanco and Hansgrohe, rain showers by Aquabrass and Dornbracht, commercial-grade sinks by Elkay, elegant free-standing soaker tubs by Porcher and therapeutic bath systems by BainUltra. Also in store: minimalist fixtures from Riobel, Philippe Starck’s wall-mounted toilets for Duravit and extraordinary faucets from Graff. 105 DONCASTER AVE 905 709 0881 AMATICANADA.COM Appliance Canada Find the latest innovations in ultra-premium appliances here, including Thermador ovens with patented Star Burner technology (which delivers superior flame spread) and Freedom induction cooktops that are controlled using a full-colour touchscreen. Consider Hestan wall ovens, refrigerators, wine cellars and outdoor grills with colourful finishes, and Fisher & Paykel dishwashers that offer the convenience of two independent drawers.…

Allan Rug Company ARC’s newly renovated 1,263-square-metre showroom boasts a staggering selection of versatile flooring solutions suited to home and office environments. This long-standing family-owned business – one of Toronto’s largest carpet and flooring showrooms – carries Missoni, Nourison, Stanton, Karastan, Bloomsburg and many more. Also at ARC: custom and hand-knotted rugs in modern and traditional designs. Cork, laminate and extra-wide hardwood and vinyl planks from Lauzon and Fuzion Flooring round out the selection. 103 MIRANDA AVE 416 787 1707 ALLANRUG.COM Amala Carpets For their local, designed-in-house artisanal rugs, Amala uses Nepalese wool and Thai silk. The six-generation family business works directly with the craftspeople who harvest and weave creations using sustainable methods and vegetable-based dyes. Find exquisite transitional and contemporary designs in hand-trimmed Himalayan sheep’s wool and shimmering hand-reeled…