Made to move you
Curated by Shaun Moore and Julie Nicholson of Made, Radiant Dark is one of the season's most anticipated off-site design events. Running concurrently with the Interior Design Show and as part of the inaugural Toronto International Design Festival, this exhibit is a great opportunity to check out the latest products and prototypes by Canadian designers.
Last year, the show's theme was Elegant Corruptions and was installed in a warehouse. The rustic environment was a perfect setting for Katherine Morley's Freakware, a series of ceramic pieces shaped like side-show characters, and for Cali Balles and Don Mclennan's pendants made of blown glass (purposely overheated with creative intention) that looked like grey ghosts. Also, Bev Hisey's area rugs modelled after infectious molecules were novel eye catchers.
This year's event location is inside Commerce Court West's tower of glass and steel designed by famed architect I. M. Pei — a venue that offers quite a different vibe to past locales. The action takes place in the lobby which, because the space has super-high ceilings, no interior walls and only one electrical outlet (!), Moore and Nicholson had to kit out the space with a bit of infrastructure to support the work, gallery-style. They describe the look as "formal," but in a good way.
Thirty-four products by 32 designers respond to Assets & Value, a theme inspired by one positive outcome of the 2009 financial meltdown — our reawakening to what matters most, even amongst what Moore calls "all this stuff." Some of the names on the roster will be familiar, including Hisey and Morley. Also on the bill are Brothers Dressler, Eric Mathew, Kathryn Walter of FELT, Rollout custom wallpaper and reuse/recycle furnishings and cushions by Kelly Palmer and Melanie Zanker. Others we'll be watching: master wood-bender Rob Southcott and the lighting pros behind Propellor Design. Tory Healy
Radiant Dark: Assets & Values runs Jan. 20-24 at Commerce Court West, 199 Bay St., ground floor lobby, Thu-Sat 11-7, Sun 11-6. Free. For a complete list of other Toronto International Design Festival events, click here.
Images: previous, rug from Bev Hisey's In The Woods At Night collection; above, wallpaper by Rollout.