/Get Inspired/Toronto Design Week 2018
Best of Design Week, Day 1: Black-and-White Totems and Slick City Bikes
The Series Five Totems. Exploring the nature and role of totems in history and contemporary times, these thirty totems by Djuna Day reach "not up to the sky, but to each other." The towering pieces are stunning on their own, together, they "vibrate as a single body." Magical. (Spectacle, 18 Rack House Mews)
Phoenix Rising. This roosted phoenix by Susan Taylor caught our eye, not only because of it's eye-catching colour, but because its fiery plumage is made entirely from discarded pieces of leather, plastic rhinestones, and felt. The metaphor - of a bird rising from a pile of obsolete material - made an impact on us. (Dark Tools, 750 Lake Shore Blvd E.)
Big Bang. Another inverted wonder from the E is for Earth exhibition, this woven tableaux by Eve Weinberg and Team Earth makes a bang out of faux leather. The object is to show that outliers, much like molecules during the Big Bang, can be transformed into something big and beautiful (like the universe). (Dark Tools, 750 Lake Shore Blvd E.)
Flotsam Particulates. No, they aren't tiny Death Stars. For this window installation, LeuWebb re-casts another, equally familiar icon into gleaming bronze statuettes: the Ontario Place Cinesphere. We loved seeing this landmark transformed into memorabilia. Bravo for making the architectural spirit of Ontario Place into a collectible. (Swipe Design, 401 Richmond St. W.)
Useful/Useless. Nicholas Hamilton Holmes explores material memory in a series of useful/useless objects crafted from spalted maple wood. Although his forms feel familiar - like tangles of topsy-turvy table legs and coat hooks - the objects in his collection serve no explicit purpose, other than to look beautiful. Will we find a use for them? (Urbanspace Gallery, 401 Richmond St. W.)
Revelo ThinStem. Industrial designer Henry Chong’s ThinStem allows any bike’s handlebars to swivel vertically, vastly reducing a two-wheeler’s footprint – a remarkably simple solution that makes bulky bikes a snap to transport and store. Expect it to hit Kickstarter this year in a 100mm variant. (Cycle Couture, 926 College St. W.)
The Nubo Lamp. Constructed using digital software and 3,000 triangles, Svima Collective’s Nubo light is alien, animal and alluring: part soap bubble, part amoeba, it seems to shapeshift depending on your viewing angle, reflecting iridescent light at every step. Fun fact: each triangle is friction fit, meaning no glue was used on the lamp. (Anti Vice Juicery, 853 College St. W.)
Local Meets Edgy: Expert welder Danielle Schön has earned a rep as one of Toronto’s best bicycle frame builders. For good reason: At Local Meets Edgy, we were especially wowed by her frames’ winged- and splatter-shaped lugs, especially on her donut-inspired track bike (above). Be still, Homer Simpson’s heart. (Fix Coffee + Bikes, 80 Gladstone Ave.)
We Hope You Enjoy Your Stay. These illustrations by Teddy Kang, presented mid-air on airplane cables, are an invitation to daydream. He turns everyday scenarios, such as pigging out, or relaxing at the beach, into surreal, and slightly humorous, scenarios. We loved his highly stylized takes on contemporary life. (ildsjel Collective, 4 Carlaw Ave., Unit #7)
We’re out in force tagging the best products, designs and installations at the Toronto Design Offsite Festival (TO DO). Here’s our first 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!
Our first day in the field took us from Danforth and Coxwell to Carlaw and Lakeshore Blvd, and then from the Distillery District to 401 Richmond. Somehow, we also managed to make two pitstops on College St and Gladstone Ave. At night, we celebrated the start of the Toronto Design Offsite Festival at Lightform.
In total, we handed out 8 Loves tags to some very deserving stuff, including LeuWebb‘s tribute to Ontario Place at SWIPE DESIGN, vivid illustrations by Teddy Kang from his east end solo exhibition, woodworker and artist Djuna Day‘s lofty totems, and some very cool, urban bikes. Swipe through the gallery above to everything we saw.
