West End
1 Appliance Love
AL specializes in premium built-in appliances from top brands, with an emphasis on smart features. Just look to under-mount ovens with panelled warming drawers by Wolf, wine and Monolith fridges from Liebherr, Miele’s silent dishwashers and the Urban Cultivator indoor garden for proof. Other standouts include eye-popping designs by Dolce&gabbana for SMEG fridges, outdoor cookers from Germany’s Grillson, which burn ultra-efficient wood pellets for fuel, and refrigerators by True with bold industrial styling. Another reason
AL is much-loved: it delivers, installs and services purchases. 950 DUPONT ST 416 516 9500 (ALSO: 1024 DUNDAS ST E, MISSISSAUGA 905 306 1020) APPLIANCELOVE.COM
2 Commute Design
The soaring ceilings of this buzzing studiocum-showroom provide an appropriately dramatic backdrop for the generously sized sculptural lighting on display. Fixtures originally cooked up for Commute’s many restaurant projects can all be ordered to go, including the glam dome-shaped pendants found in pizzeria General Assembly, complete with powder-coated steel shades and gilded interiors. Complement your choice of statement light with a custom leather sofa, or one of several striking accent tables featuring an architectural ×-shaped base. 2896 DUNDAS ST W 416 861 0521 BY APPT COMMUTEDESIGN.COM
3 Cookery
Notwithstanding its pleasant neighbourhood vibe, Alison Fletcher’s shop – which carries everything a design-savvy chef needs for cooking and serving – attracts customers from across the city with its ever-growing selection of new and noteworthy cookbooks. Her floor-to-ceiling collection of wares features such global brands as Le Creuset, All-clad, Kitchenaid, Lodge, Wüsthof, Peugeot and Riedel. Check out Dualit’s hand-built toasters in classic chrome or fire-engine red, and Italian brand Mepra’s dishwasher-safe stainless steel flatware in vintage-inspired bronze and gold finishes. 303 RONCESVALLES AVE 647 478 3873 (ALSO: 2588 YONGE ST 416 482 0188) COOKERY-STORE.CA
4 Coolican & Company
“Endlessly durable, purposefully made” is Coolican’s motto for a reason: its heirloom-quality wooden furniture is painstakingly constructed in small batches in the company’s Toronto workshop, a former munitions factory. The Euclid wall mirror features a steam-bent arched frame inspired by the doorways of a Shaker Village in Kentucky, while the Edwin chair is a decidedly minimalist take on the classic Windsor. Quaint breadboard ends and a spare silhouette give the white-oak Lakeshore dining table – in various sizes – a timeless appeal. 225 STERLING RD, UNIT #200B BY APPT ONLY COOLICANANDCOMPANY.COM
5 Easy Tiger
ET is a haven for Torontonians craving sophisticated minimalist housewares from around the world. Hay’s swirly Lup candleholders, in brass or matte black, add a sculptural element to the table, while Lindsey Hampton’s delicately speckled ceramics delight with pastel hues. A selection of everyday essentials elevated through luxe materials and savvy design make perfect gifts for the designophile in your life: think linen-covered Shinola notebooks, One Sky Turkish hamam towels and Tsubota Pearl lighters in a rainbow of colours. 1447 DUNDAS ST W 647 748 6161 EASYTIGERGOODS.COM
6 Forever Interiors
Martin Scott’s one-of-a-kind furniture incorporates distinctive salvaged pieces and reclaimed wood. While Scott will build just about anything to order – benches, kitchen islands, sliding barn doors – he specializes in six distinctive harvest tables, as well as cabinets and shelving units. Distressed bookshelves (sometimes even crafted from recycled doors and window frames) exude a rustic vibe, while Scott’s industrial Tree Shelf, made with metal posts and thick slabs of BC fir, can be customized for any residential or commercial space. 2903 DUNDAS ST W 416 291 2001 FOREVERINTERIORS.COM
7 Green Light District
Shop owners David and Deborah Peets travel the globe to find eclectic furnishings sourced directly from independent artisans. Alongside Peter Coolican’s elegant wood furniture, copper-and-cedar birdfeeders and house numbers by Q&A Design, you’ll find artful lamps from Montreal’s Brollte and wood-inlay media units by Christopher Solar, as well as European oak side tables with slender cube-shaped bases and tops that remove to reveal hidden storage space. Eye-catching homewares include sculptural blackened oak candlesticks and Lorraine Tuson’s Merino wool felt pillows, coasters and table runners. 457 RONCESVALLES AVE 416 272 5005 GREENLIGHTSHOP.CA
8 Hollis+morris
If you love Mischa Couvrette’s minimalist stylings, get up close and personal with his impeccably honed tables, chairs and lighting – and the designer himself – in his showroom and workshop. Four cylindrical wooden legs pierce through a white marble top to lend an unexpected, visually striking element to his Polar table. Meanwhile, Couvrette’s imaginative luminaires include the dramatic zig-zagging Bolt sconces, and the paperclip-like Link pendants, which can be hung horizontally or vertically and grouped together in custom configurations. 501 ALLIANCE AVE, STE #102 647 970 9716 HOLLISMORRIS.COM
9 Home Smith
A cozy aroma (courtesy of Linnea’s Lights candles) and charmingly eclectic furniture and accessories radiate welcoming vibes to visitors of this Roncy outpost. Larger pieces run the gamut from swanky velvet club chairs and weathered hickory bar carts to slender glass étagères with gilded iron frames. The diverse selection of textiles and accessories here includes Montauk linen throws, elegant walnut serving trays, hand-hammered brass bowls and Dash & Albert rugs in a variety of contemporary geometric patterns. 309 RONCESVALLES AVE 416 484 3702 HOMESMITHHOUSE.COM
10 Made Design
Looking for Canadian design with a modern twist? In a sunny industrial loft, Shaun Moore stocks one-of-a-kind products from independent designers. Check out Jeremy Hatch’s porcelain Best Before creamers for Ricochet Studio – shaped like open milk cartons – or rustic bark-covered Log bowls with glossy pastel interiors from Alberta’s Loyal Loot Collective. Don’t miss the rugs and lighting fixtures (we love the untreated birch-bark shade of the conical Ono pendant by Vancouver’s Propellor), as well as designed-in-house customizable dining tables, upholstered furniture, builtins and shelving. 70 GEARY AVE 416 607 6384 MADEDESIGN.CA
11 Mellah
Inside their sweet little shop, Miriam Zittell and John Honeyman share their love of Moroccan rugs: the scrappy textures and eye-popping colours of their hand-knotted boucherouites will complete any bohomodern living space. More understated are the muted tones and simple patterns of Mauritanian Tuareg mats, handcrafted in the western Sahara from palmwood and leather and suitable for indoor or outdoor use. While most of the inventory is one-of-a-kind vintage, the owners also take custom orders. 1090 COLLEGE ST 416 580 7122 MELLAH.CA
12 Mjölk
Though located in a neighbourhood known for industrial products, Mjölk is a shrine to contemporary Japanese and Scandinavian sophistication – everything from Oji Masanori’s sand-casted brass flatware and Jurgen Lehl’s Nambu ironware kettles to Finn Juhl’s iconic France and Chieftains chairs. Among its many exclusive pieces is the porcelain Sucabaruca coffee service; designed by Luca Nichetto and Lera Moiseeva, its conical profile, handengraved linear pattern and glossy white finish give it a contemporary yet timeless feel. 2959 DUNDAS ST W 416 551 9853 MJOLK.CA
13 Pekota Design
Marco Pecota’s rugged hot-rolled steeland-baltic birch shelving, chairs, luminaires and tables match the industrial character of the shop’s Junction location perfectly. The streamlined silhouette of the
PK10 table – available in solid maple, walnut and Baltic birch – was inspired by early aircraft design, and can be sized to order. Alongside Pecota’s own lighting designs are a variety of Vita Copenhagen fixtures with whimsical shades in materials ranging from felt (the Sine pendant) to white goose feathers (the Eos pendant and floor lamp). 406 PACIFIC AVE 416 792 8654 PEKOTA.COM
14 Phil’z
This modernist emporium will leave you wishing for a loft to fill with its iconic light fixtures and rare vintage furniture and contemporary finds. Cynthia and Phil Markowitz’s space is impeccably stocked with refurbished 1950s coffee tables,