Best of Design Week, Day 5: Felt Pockets, $100 Hamburgers & Super Chia Seeds

More like the Weather. A collection of compositional vases by Mercury Bureau is presented in the impeccably designed floral boutique Flùr. The vases display wispy, slightly wild arrangements of flowers and herbs (we loved the fragrant rosemary cuttings) provided by the floral studio. Smaller vessels, such as the bronzed pieces above, highlight individual stems. ( Flùr, 1087 Bathurst Street)

Hangeraki. The fun name of this space-saving item alone deserves an accolade; added to that, we have nothing but praise for the object itself, designed by Dear Human. The complementary colours, house-like shapes with-in shapes, and bonus mirror hit all the notes. (Work/Life, Umbra Concept Store, 165 John Street)

Marianne Ibrahim's smiling goddess got a lot of attention at the packed Come Up to My Room exhibition, and it's not hard to see why. The clay figurine, possibly arranging her hairdo, definitely perfecting a power-stance, is a sculpture and planter in one. Seated in a shallow dish of water, the wonderful piece sprouts chia seeds and a healthy, body-positive message. (Gladstone Hotel,1214 Queen Street West)

Material Witness. Artist Jill Price hangs shaggy pieces of reclaimed fabric from Gravity Pope's basement ceiling in a fascinating solo show dealing with the environment. The forms, which are meant to cast intense shadows, remind us of sleeping bats. (1010 Queen Street West)

Après Ski. Most fashion labels gear their resort collections to fashionistas on their way south of the equator, but Guild Studio's capsule collection pays homage to those of us who are brave enough to spend the winter at home. Taking cues from 80s ski culture, their neon frames caught our eye. (346 Westmoreland Avenue, Unit 105B)

Desk/Divider. This simple desk by Jacob Mailman features a removable felt divider that provides privacy and storage. Typically, we love anything with pockets, especially when they accommodate a Loves tag. The felt and wood bring softness and warmth into work environments. (Work/Life, Umbra Concept Store, 165 John Street)

Jewellery maker Alice Yujing Yan could have a second career as an architect. These miniature pieces made of copper and powder-coated steel are designed like whimsical factories, complete with pipes, chimneys and loudspeakers. The beauty of the pieces, however, are that they evoke multiple meanings depending on who's looking. (Face à Face: An Exhibition of Canadian Contemporary Jewellery, Harbourfront Centre, 235 Queens Quay West)

Elevation Excavation. Nestled in Pekota Design's showroom is Marian Wihak's imaginative sandbox. Created a s a response to Closer to Where We Began, a poetry book by Lisa Richter, the piece is rich with narrative. In one tableaux, a woman / explorer poses triumphantly on the summit of a sand dune. In another, she struggles to escape from an encroaching thicket. (406 Pacific Ave)

Museum of Contemporary Work. Taking up the top floor of Artscape Youngplace, this show curated by Sean Hazell is a fun and thought-provoking look at the history and future of the 9 to 5. Artifacts on display include career-inspired toys (hello suited up Barbies and Lego men), personal planners, souvenirs and tools, even a vintage punch clock. (Artscape Youngplace, 180 Shaw St.)

First Gentrification. These hanging sculptural works by artist Justin de Lima explode with meaning and forms. The artists used reclaimed materials fused together with expansion foam and millennial pink paint. A nod to his generation's role in gentrifying one of his favourite haunts in Little Portugal, the installations acts as a memorial and call-to-action. (Come Up to My Room, The Gladstone Hotel, 1214 Queen Street)

Seattle. An exercise in simplicity shipped in a bankers box from the design community in Seattle, we love the impeccably made serving tray, hand towel, mason jar with walnut lid and candle holder with match strike, each impressively displayed with their own platforms. Bravo to the designers included: Fin, Grain, Fruitsuper and Turnco.(Artport Gallery, Harbourfront Centre, 235 Queens Quay West)

We are long-time fans of Marie-Eve G. Castonguay whose kinetic jewellery merges fun, refinement and architectural aesthetic. We absolutely love her latest necklaces and brooch made of sterling silver, paper and nylon cord, each one reminding us of miniature magical gardens. Her work is part of a group show featuring the work of 10 Canada-wide artists. (Face à Face: An Exhibition of Canadian Contemporary Jewellery, Harbourfront Centre, 235 Queens Quay West)

The $100 Burger. How much should we actually be paying for hamburgers? Supermilk Studio's window installation at Easy Tiger Goods answers that question. The bill is a whopping $100. But considering the environmental cost of eating burgers, we should all pay way more at the drive-thru for our fast food addiction. Side note: we love, love the suspended-in-space assembly line created for the window. (1447 Dundas Street West)

We were inspired by Maureen Matthew's Recycling Words project at "In Place," a group exhibition featuring community-based art projects at the Harbourfront Centre. Originally launched in 2015 for the Winnipeg Warming Huts Exhibition, the winning design has since become a mainstay on the frozen rivers in Manitoba. Each year, families flock to push each other across the ice. (Artport Gallery, Harbourfront Centre, 235 Queens Quay West)

Saskatoon. While we loved the leather and steel stilettos by Last Shoes and the Oculus Pendant necklaces by Beton Brut Design, made of concrete, brass and semi-precious stones, it was the board game by Open Design Collaborative that won us over. The amusing toy is an industrial design educational toy with the winner achieving the end goal: building a bench that comfortably seats three. (Artport Gallery, Harbourfront Centre, 235 Queens Quay West)

Something Inbetween. Dear Human is an innovative designer-maker duo hailing from Vancouver and now based in Montreal. Their thoughtful body of furnishings, accessories and public art is crafted from a super strong pulp repurposed from paper destined for recycling depots. We love their Pulplites, a pair of geometric pendants that prove reclamation is not just responsible but beautiful, too. (Artport Gallery, Harbourfront Centre, 235 Queens Quay West)

Pendulums by Lauren Reed. I thought they were clocks at first, but they have no internal mechanisms. You gently push them to begin and the pendulum swings on its own for quite a while. They are meant as objects for mediation rather than measurers of time.

We’re out tagging the best products, designs and installations we encounter at the Toronto Design Offsite Festival (TO DO) and the Interior Design Show (IDS). Here’s our fifth dispatch from the wilds of Toronto

From January 15 to 21, we’re awarding 100 Designlines Loves tags to the most beautiful, most innovative, and flat-out wackiest stuff we encounter. Keep track of everything we tagged in our master list and share your stories with us using the hashtag: #DLLoves18. Happy trails!

Day Five of our Toronto Design Offsite Festival adventures brought our editors to far-flung corners of the city. At the Harbourfront Centre, we viewed three concurrent exhibitions displaying travelling objects, community art projects and Canadian-made jewellery. Dear Human impressed us with pulp pendants at the lakeside exhibition, and again with the meticulously designed Hangeraki at the Work/Life exhibition at Umbra on John Street.

Another editor visited three festival highlights in the west end. Sean Hazell’s Museum of Contemporary Work put a new spin on our daily grind, while Supermilk Studio suggested we should be paying (way) more for a hamburger at Easy Tiger. Finally, Marianne Ibrahim’s chia-powered sculpture captivated at CUTMR. The closing festival dance party, held in the Gladstone’s ballroom, was a fitting end to a week of power walking.

Last edited: February 1, 2023