The Chairmen of COFO

Meet local design studio COFO. Helmed by Desmond Chan (left) and Randy Simmen (right), COFO (short for “Cofounders”) introduces Canadian-made home furnishings by emerging designers to the market. The goal is to champion homegrown talent and innovation, and to introduce exceptional pieces – not mass-produced or expendable ones – to the competitive world of retail.

This is how it works: first, young designers answer COFO’S annual call for submissions by sending in their plans for original home furnishings. COFO evaluates these, picks its favourites and collaboratively fine-tunes the designs through a series of revisions and prototypes. The final iterations are fabricated from premium materials in a manufacturing facility just outside the city. The products are then sold online through COFO’S shop with a percentage of the profits turned over to the designer.

COFO launched last year with one product introduction (the Roque chair), and recently upped the ante by producing another six.

Check out the full collection online or, even better, come see some of the pieces in person at Designlines’ Interior Design Show booth (from January 17 to 20 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre). And for those of you keen on collaboration and itching to see your furniture drawings come to life, enter COFO’S 2019 design challenge by February 28 online at cofodesign.com. BY TORY HEALY 

From left: 49 North lounge chair and ottoman by Kenny Nguyen and Ian Buckley, Garcia coat rack by Mary Anne Garcia, Cinch stool by Lucas Stanois, and Roque chair by Trish Roque.