Spotlighting Canadian interior design
IDS16 sets the stage for the best of our country’s top talent
Celebrity designers line the top of must-see lists for Toronto’s annual Interior Design Show (IDS16), opening in the coming week and marking its 18th year. Thousands of people are expected at the opening night party, with design lovers rubbing shoulders with big-name decorators, stylists, furniture makers, architects and authorities on the things that define the sense and sensibility of home and work spaces.
And while fans once came to see European and American stars in the past, homegrown A-listers are increasingly the draw at this year’s show running January 21-24, says Karen Kang, national director of IDS2016.
“When the show started, it was meant to be a platform to showcase the wealth of emerging and established Canadian design,” Kang says. “But we never highlighted Canadian talent just because it’s Canadian. It’s because it’s so good.”
Leading the charge these days, she notes, are designers such as Toronto-born and -bred James M. Davie. Back in Toronto after almost a decade working at respected U.S. design firms — including New Yorkbased Steven Gambrel — Davie’s stunning renovation of the Cabbagetown house he shares with his partner and young son is drawing the attention and praise of Canadian design media.
That’s not to say international luminaries won’t be well represented at the show, again taking place at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.
Friday’s trade-day-only schedule includes, for example, British designer Tom Dixon as an international guest of honour. Even here, there’s a Canadian connection: Dixon is collaborating with quartz-surface maker Caesarstone on a kitchen design inspired by this country’s frozen lakes, and his pieces can be seen at Klaus by Nienkamper’s exhibit space.
On Saturday, the public can browse exhibits of both international brands and smaller local players, such as Rollout, the Toronto-based specialty wallcoverings firm that’s showing a new collection designed by David Palmer (Los Angeles), Robert Sangster (Toronto) and Ryan Tomkinson (Vancouver).
Canadian talent in the global arena will be the focus of an event on Saturday with Halifax-based architect Omar Gandhi and Omer Arbel, founder and creative director of Bocci, the Vancouver-based lighting design company that recently opened a European headquarters in Berlin.
Born in Jerusalem and raised in Vancouver, Arbel is gaining recognition for his work after providing lighting installations for such high-profile projects as Canada House, the home of the High Commission in London, England.
Gandhi, who was raised in Brampton, went to do graduate work at Dalhousie University in Halifax in 2001. After a stint back in Toronto, he returned to the East Coast in 2008 and opened his own firm there two years later. He’s now opening a second office in Toronto.
The Maritimes “gives me incredible opportunities to really explore the landscape,” he says.
“Most of my projects are in rural or coastal areas. There really isn’t anything else like that.”
One of Canada’s most abundant natural resources is the focus of Woodlove, an exhibit showcasing local wood products including structural lumber, flooring, furniture, log homes and artisan goods.
The Designboom Mart space will allow visitors to buy self-produced or limited-edition pieces directly from designers, while the Studio North & Prototype exhibit features independent design and pieces not yet in wide production.
On Sunday, James M. Davie joins designers Richard Ouellette and Samantha Farjo to talk trends. It’s a topic about which Davie has mixed feelings.
“I’m always interested in finding something new.
“But trends can have a negative connotation if it’s just something everyone runs toward. I really don’t want to be overly aware of what other people are doing because I don’t want to be influenced by what they perceive,” he explains.
For inspiration, Davie turns to books on classical architecture and vintage design, and to early-20thcentury figures such as William Haines, the actor-turned-decorator who, in the 1930s, brought a crisp new classicism to Hollywood glamour.
Of his contemporaries, he applauds Paris-based Jean-Louis Deniot, known for his ability to deftly juggle patterns, periods and textures.
Having only recently come back to Canada, Davie is harder pressed to cite favourites in the Canadian design field, which he finds “very safe and dull in a lot of ways.”
“There’s always something new,” says Davie. “It just takes a visionary to create it.”
Kang agrees and also notes that most successful design gives a nod to the best of what has gone before.
“Now we’re seeing, for example, a return to traditional materials, even if they are being crafted in a modern way, and using new technologies,” she says. The Interior Design Show 2016 runs January 21-24, Metro Toronto Convention Centre, 255 Front St. W. For schedule and ticket info, go to interiordesignshow.com.