Indice dei contenuti per Issue 1, 2024 in DESIGNLINES

Arash Moallemi Growing up enamored of his father’s blueprints and architecture books, Moallemi became interested in photography and pursued his career by assisting locally and abroad. A master in both architectural and portrait photography, his work has received multiple accolades and can be found in magazines such as Wallpaper* and AZURE. In 2024, he hopes to extend his work in video as a medium to connect with people and share their stories. In this Issue Moallemi captures AM Studio’s showroom, plus the street views of Mirvish Village and Corktown. Find them on pages 34, 40 and 77. Riley Snelling After earning a BFA in Photography from TMU, Riley honed his skills alongside leading architectural photographers in Toronto before establishing his own practice. His interest in design is fueled by an…

Curves Appeal Artist and Designer Sean Brown pays homage to hip-hop history with new collection Under the label Curves at Home, Toronto multi-hyphenate Sean Brown has shared his interpretation of everyday objects through an amalgam of his creative viewpoints in expressions of colour study, form, and unconventional materials. Adding to Brown’s growing list of collaborators, Pharrell Williams and Scott Vener’s OTHERtone Media, plus podcast creators Eric and Jeff Rosenthal of The Blog Era have teamed up with Curves at Home, crafting a contemporary homeware collection that intertwines cultural archiving with design innovation, all in the name of hip-hop. The collection is a captivating five-piece assortment that beautifully weaves together Sean Brown’s prized design vision with the vibrant history of The Blog Era — a transformative period in hip-hop marked by…

Spirited by the proportions and forms within Asia and Africa, Jeremy Do Hyun Joo’s work draws from the common cultures of floor seating, communal dining, ceremony and sharing. As the mind behind local design studio JDH Projects, Joo translates this distinct design language into furniture, objects, spaces, and now, lighting that strikes a balance between minimalist and complex. Years in the making, the duo of table and floor lamp prototypes affirms the artist’s signature style, yet contribute an entirely new element to his studio’s catalogue. While paralleling the platform-like features of JDH Projects’ Incense Burner and Side Stool, the lamps reveal the studio’s experimentation with new textures and materials. “Glass and paper are made from sand and wood, which feel like natural extensions of the materials used by the studio,”…

Husband and wife team Alina Tacmelova and Yury Goncharov founded their custom fabrication company YA Fabrica to help clients create, well, anything. Digital designs are realized in the physical world using multiple processes and materials. Think furniture, art, architectural and décor elements, lighting, or sculpture. The works they create, often using digital printing and/or Styrofoam transcend the usual boundaries of what’s possible. The affable couple’s talents blend seamlessly; Goncharov is a trained engineer and Tacmelova is an artist and psychologist. By mixing an artistic vision with technical know-how and a human touch, they craft expressive and precise design products. We chatted with them in their studio north of the city. What is your vision for the brand? Our initial vision was to create objects using only our own designs. After…

Tricks with light, collapsible furnishings, and ingenious built-ins render industrial designer Ryan Wilding’s mere 450-square-foot condo expansive. Just off Dundas, in the heart of the West Bend, his small but Zen-filled home makes every inch achieve its full functionality. “This is the second big reno the place has had,” laughs Wilding, owner of Studio Hand, an architectural millwork design and fabrication shop. Wilding bought the property in 2010 with partner Agata Piskunowicz, a creative director, and reworked it over time. Wilding’s company Studio Hand works with architects and interior designers to transform spaces with custom built-ins, structure-specific furniture, and millwork, such as the elongated, white oak doors throughout his home. “I tore out the frames and rebuilt the doors to look taller than they actually are by bringing them right…

The Inukshuk is about finding your way. Sometimes it’s a rocky road to navigate, and sometimes it just takes a little guidance. Metaphorically speaking or not, it’s good to have a marker for the important places, and to love the place you hang your hat. And, if you need help getting there, that’s alright, too. In this renovation issue, we look at how several homeowners and designers interpreted the improvement of home and found their way to a place that is uniquely theirs. We peek inside a luxury reno by ACDO, a tiny condo refinement by STUDIO HAND, a small house reinvention by up-and-coming studio SVIMA, and a Little Portugal transformation by Creative Union Network. Each project represents thousands of individual decisions and directions that led to the final results,…

ORGANIC FORMS Equally plush and alluring, the Oaze Sofa by La Manufacture is made of foam layers and is available in an array of bold colours. Pricing upon request, at Founded by Garcia. STRINGS ATTACHED Reminiscent of the flapping wing of a bird, the suspended F42E Lounge Chair is an iconic hovering chaise. Designed for both indoor and outdoor use, this recliner chair is supported by an adjustable stainless-steel cord. $3,999, at AAVVGG. CLASSIC COMFORT A bentwood frame and tufted cushions make the iconic Poäng Armchair and footstool a uniquely IKEA silhouette. Supremely comfortable with a high back and moveable footstool in a variety of colours, it adds classic style to any room. $318, at IKEA. LEAN BACK Inspired by Scandinavian-Modern design and featuring buttery soft leather and solid ash…

Earth tones of terracotta and sand warm up interiors while a mix of high and low pile heights gives movement to rugs and offers sumptuous padding underfoot. "There is a huge emphasis on the tactile factor," says Richard Sakic of Calligaris Toronto, which favours silky, smooth-to-the-touch textures achieved with natural and recycled materials. If you’re a colour enthusiast and subtle isn’t your thing, “I am seeing a strong desire for high saturated hues, especially in North America,” says Ana Cunningham, managing partner at Creative Matters Inc. Industry experts also agree that the trend of irregular shapes in area rugs will reign in 2024, adding versatility and more visual interest in a space than the predictable and boxy rectangle.…

Night in the Garden of Love SHEZAD DAWOOD Aga Khan Museum Now through May 5, 2024 Making its Canadian premiere, Night in the Garden of Love is a captivating, multisensory exploration of an imagined universe. Inspired and named after a novella by the late Yusef Lateef, the exhibit by London-based artist Shezad Dawood delves into the dual nature of a garden, combining its earthbound and spiritual dimensions. It features painted textiles, drawings by Lateef, and sculptures dressed in costumes by fashion label Ahluwalia that capture nature’s resilience to climate change. Technology is integrated by way of a two-player virtual reality experience and a series of Digital Seedbanks that display seven AI-generated plants to a score from Lateef. Tapping into the potential of juxtaposition, a signature fragrance component crafted by AI…

Genius Loci PALMERSTON DESIGN CONSULTANTS The owners of this West End house loved its locale, but not much else, so they enlisted David Small Architects and Palmerston Design Consultants for the interiors. “We worked very closely with the clients for many months prior to the shovel going into the ground to achieve a cohesive design for the interior,” says Kirsten Marshall, principal at Palmerston Design. A peek into both the powder room and basement guest bathroom reveals a very contemporary home with hits of black throughout that quietly unify while statement fixtures and finishes provide a definite wow-factor. In the mignon black and copper powder room, “We were originally going to do a wall-mounted faucet, but the clients saw this incredible ceiling-mounted faucet and the whole powder room took shape…

Corktown is one of Toronto’s most promising neighbourhoods, where cobblestone streets lead to trendy restaurants and some of the best design shops in the city SHOPS 1. studio b home The superb collections at studio b home span the best in design from around the world. Exclusives include industry leaders Holly Hunt and Kettal. Plus, an in-store Hästens shop showcases hand-made mattresses from Sweden’s bespoke bed manufacturer. 380 King Street East, studiobhome.com 2. MOLTENI&C This Vincent Van Duysen–designed showroom illustrates Molteni&C’s commitment to sophisticated, detail-driven furniture, accessories, storage solutions and kitchen systems. 380 King Street East molteni.it/am 3. ROCHE BOBOIS This airy, two-storey showroom demonstrates the French art de vivre and is a beloved source for praised modern furniture pieces at the corner of Adelaide and Parliament. 101 Parliament Street…

Enter Patria’s iron gates at King and Spadina to discover “the heartbeat of España in the heart of Toronto.” Following a brief closure in 2022, the Spanish restaurant is reaffirming its status in the city’s food scene with a fresh face to match its vibrant culinary vision. Revealing a new and improved interior design by Block Plan Studios – the atelier behind neighbourhood gems like Chica, Lapinou and Miss Likklemore’s – the once moody space now exudes a luminous and airy charm, while staying wholly true to its soulful origins. “The design concept is old-world meets modern times,” says Danielle Adams, principal designer and CEO of Block Plan Studios. Classic elements, such as the U-shaped bar, are paired with plush seating and white-oak wall panels for a union of timeless glamour…

Lighting matters. It leads to the understanding of what is around us and what we see. Light alters moods, soothes or excites our senses, affects everything on this planet directly. Light moves at, well, the speed of itself, but other things cannot be rushed, like the skill and craftsmanship to shape molten glass. This is especially true when the glass weighs in at 22 kilograms and the process involves several people moving in synchronization with little tolerance for misstep. AM Studio owners Giora and Orly Meyer curate their showroom meticulously. They are serious about the product lines and design systems they represent. All are inventive, sculptural and serve the purpose of adding more than just light to a room. Absorbing their design district studio needs time and stillness. Each piece…

IF ONE HALF OF A COUPLE LOVES “BRIGHT FRENCH COUNTRY KITCHENS” AND THE OTHER “TENEBROUS MINIMALISM” WHAT STYLE IS THEIR HOUSE? It’s not a riddle, but rather the design brief that architecture and art studio SVIMA accepted when renovating a Toronto couple’s small post-war home in Eglinton West. After living in the house for a decade, the owners, Troy and Amelie and son Ben, wanted to streamline and organize their books and belongings, and carve out a truly unique expression of who they are in the process. The studio, formed in 2021 by artists and architects Anamarija Korolj and Leon Lai, landed on a dual design that addressed both clients’ aesthetic preferences and focused on what they both love – art, design, beauty. “These clients did not want a typical…