The Reuseists
Cut/Paste is on our top 10 list of things to see during the Toronto International Design Festival, which kicks off on January 19. The exhibit is one half of a two-bill show (the other half is taking place at the Gardiner Museum). Essentially, it highlights a trend within contemporary design of finding creative ways to reuse things. Many designers have explored this arena, including such prominent Canadian designers as Tobias Wong, who, among other hilariously inventive creations, came up with the smoke mitten, which is a mitten with a cigarette hole for puffing in subzero tempertures.
According to one of the show's curators Michael Erdmann of Motherbrand, "Creative reuse has deep roots in Canada. Naturally, this type of improvisation occurs all over the world, often arising out of necessity. But in a young nation like Canada these conditions tend to spring up a lot."
Examples in the show range from early First Nations adaptations of European products, to depression-era solutions, such as the Bennett Buggy and Fred Moffat's iconic K42 Kettle, produced in response to war-time manufacturing restraints.
Environmental sustainability is an issue that most of these designs address in some way,” adds Todd Falkowsky. The Motherbrand cofounder continues, "This is a powerful tactic for reducing our consumption of energy and materials; it forces us to reconsider what we consider waste. A lot of these designs are produced in relatively small numbers, so their influence is largely conceptual, but the impact is real. Based on the success of these designs, manufacturers such as Umbra and Gus Studio are finding ways to apply the same approach to larger production runs."
Cut/Paste is one of a pair of exhibits curated by Motherbrand, exploring the act of "sampling" in Canadian material culture. The second exhibition titled Copy: The Fine Tradition of Imitation in Canadian Ceramics, highlights inspired cases of mimicry drawn from Canadian production ceramics, both past and present. Copy is now on view and runs until February 5 at the Gardiner Museum. Catherine Osborne
Cut/Paste: Creative Reuse in Canadian Design, January 20 to 31, at the Royal Ontario Museum. Copy: The Fine Tradition of Imitation in Canadian Ceramics, until February 5, at the Gardiner Museum.
Images: Tobias Wong's smoking mitten; this page: k-42 electric kettle (1940), Cynthia Hathaway's Souvenir Revisited.