Canada’s design fair, the Interior Design Show (IDS), transformed the North Building of the Metro Toronto Convention Centre over the weekend. The show features the newest and most innovative in international and Canadian products, presented by 300 emerging and long-established exhibitors. The show has the power to make the typical young professional (YP) want to work even harder to one day obtain those kitchens, bathrooms and offices, as it highlights some of the best international interior, architecture and industrial design trends. The weekend kicked off with the Opening Night Party (presented by Scavolini, The Globe and Mail and benefitting ONEXONE) on Thursday evening.
The party brought out every art, design and pretty thing-loving YP out of the woodwork and was the type of occasion where you could see an ex, an old high school friend and a client all in ten minutes. As guests daydreamed about renovating their homes, they also mingled throughout the trade show floor, sampling wines, champagne and food while listening to the sound of the DJs, like Toronto staple Dan Buckman of Bellosound.
The evening kicked off with Douglas Coupland, who discussed his just-released furniture line (it is, appropriately, inspired by a writer’s nook) and stopped to chat with us for a few minutes. A stop at the Andrew Richards Design display, a go-to outdoor furniture destination of choice for the city’s young stylish set, immediately got us excited for the warmer months ahead. We caught up with young professional Andrew Richards himself, who told us that we can look forward to a more organic feel with his furniture for SS2013: “We are using a lot of organic materials like reclaimed teaks and an overall less modern and boxy design to something more romantic and curvy. It is about warm and friendly, not cold and boxy,” says Richards. His furniture is designed for “people who were born in the 1970s, grew up in the 1990s and are ready to really begin their lives right now.”
The rest of the evening brought some of the most dream-worthy fridges, bathtubs, showers, lighting, kids rooms (one day) and offices we had seen in one spot. Other highlights included the Designboom Mart, a street market-style setting featuring international emerging designers, with all design and small furniture items priced between $1 and $100; a stunning balloon entrance installation by Willy Chyr; the ONEXONE Cherish Auction presented by Blu Dot, where eye-catching digitally designed Blu Dot Real Good Chairs were auctioned to benefit ONEXONE’s children’s charity; Design Icons presented by KIA and Design Lines, where displayed vehicles feature unique motifs created by designers Karim Rashid, Jürgen Mayer H., Christian Lemieux and Douglas Coupland; and National Bank’s WORK.SPACE, where National Bank, in partnership with Trend Hunter and designer Jentry Chin, highlighted 23 of the most innovative offices from around the world.
The show continued throughout the weekend: Friday was the Trade Day and Saturday and Sunday were consumer days (Globe and Mail Style Saturday, and House and Home Sunday, to be specific). IDS was established in 1998 and has since attracted some 660,000 professionals, consumers, and media.
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