Issue 3, 2018: Best New Homes & Condos

DESIGNLINES

Your ultimate guide to Toronto's best contemporary design destinations

DESIGNLINES2 min read
Carte Blanche
What is your name? Pamela Young What have you done for us lately? I wrote a tribute to Klaus Nienkämper (p. 114). It’s the 50th anniversary of the contract furniture company he founded, and that means I am very old: I did a lot of the copywriting for
DESIGNLINES3 min readFashion
Hot Dates
To Jan 6, 2019 Question: what was Carrie Bradshaw’s fictional walk-in closet stacked with on Sex and the City? Answer: Manolo Blahniks. (You’re welcome, future trivia night winner.) For today’s well-heeled set, this collection of iconic footwear from
DESIGNLINES3 min read
Look Book
“WHEN THE OWNER TOOK POSSESSION of the property, it was a rooming house, and the kitchen was beyond repair,” says architect Nelson Kwong. The kitchen and the eight apartments attached were unusable – in fact, how the owner, a copywriter, saw beyond t
DESIGNLINES2 min read
Toronto’s Most Wanted: the OG
“I SEE MYSELF AS AN OUTSIDER,” Omar Gandhi says. We’re chatting at his Toronto headquarters, a low-slung brick building on the edge of Parkdale, while his small crew quietly works away on residential and hospitality projects in Halifax and Toronto. D
DESIGNLINES3 min read
Urban Update
1 WOOD IS GOOD After beating out three other international firms, architects Moriyama & Teshima and Acton Ostry will design what is slated to be Toronto’s first net-zero, mass-timber tall tower. Set on George Brown College’s growing waterfront campus
DESIGNLINES4 min read
Live Here
1181 Queen Street West, at Gladstone Ave Completion: Spring 2021 From: $599,900 (56 square metres) Quick take: Vogue magazine ranked Queen West one of the trendiest streets in the world, and this luxury mid-rise is poised to increase the hype that su
DESIGNLINES2 min readArchitecture
Post Production
WITH ITS SOARING GABLED ROOF, white-stained pine board sides and black-framed windows, this house doesn’t exactly blend in amid the rolling hills of Erin. There are plenty of wood-framed structures here, but none quite like this one. Instead of fadin
DESIGNLINES2 min read
Superkül World
DAN AND SHANTI ARE CONSUMMATE TRAVELLERS. The Oakville couple has visited over 70 countries, often with their three children in tow. Unsurprisingly, their home – a modernist abode clad in charred cypress – reconciles design elements from many culture
DESIGNLINES2 min readArchitecture
New Horizons
A HOUSE BUILT WITH JOHN PAWSON-ESQUE MINIMALISM – rift-cut white oak floors, walls washed in light – and Peter Zumthor-style craftsmanship – an exterior clad in handmade clay brick tiles, each uniquely mottled – might seem impossibly unlivable for a
DESIGNLINES20 min read
Contemporary Furniture
Designers flock here for exclusive continental furniture and lighting. The showroom packs avant-garde Spanish seating from Beltá, Oi Side and CasaDesús alongside poufs, benches and poolside furniture by Ross Lovegrove, Javier Mariscal and Karim Rashi
DESIGNLINES1 min read
Closet Systems
CC’s consultants develop customized organization and storage solutions that will maximize the potential of any closet or room in your home. Think: Murphy beds, garage workbenches or tailored wardrobes with adjustable shelving, baskets and pull-out ha
DESIGNLINES17 min readFashion
Design Accessories
The brainchild of graphic designer Chris Hanz, Average is an ode to functionalist sensibilities, specializing in high-quality desk supplies and housewares with a timeless aesthetic and clear purpose. Among the standouts are concrete soap dishes and b
DESIGNLINES9 min read
FLOORING, SURFACING & TILES
Low-maintenance quartz surfacing is everywhere – but have you touched large Caesarstone slabs while consulting a pro about its many uses? Here you can do just that. A long wall showcases all 60 varieties – including the latest additions, Cloudburst C
DESIGNLINES2 min read
Home Entertainment Systems
Private residence or showroom? This immersive outpost for statement-making high-end electronics combines the atmospheres of both. Situated within its luxurious living-room setting you’ll discover TVs and speakers more akin to sculpture than technolog
DESIGNLINES3 min read
Kids’ Furniture
Refined and cozy with a rustic edge, this Rosedale boutique carries everything that caters to the design-loving parent. Personalize your nursery with linens, rugs and throws from artistturned-designer Caroline Z Hurley, and painted woven baskets with
DESIGNLINES5 min readArchitecture
Lighting
Home to intricate and imaginative lighting, AMS features ready-made and custom work. Swarovski crystal creations are on display, as are luminaires in metal and glass that has been fused, blown and drawn into dramatic sculptural forms. For a softer lo
DESIGNLINES3 min read
Outdoor Furniture
ARD has all the upscale patio furnishings and accessories you’ll need to transform your backyard or balcony into a resort-inspired retreat. Find abundant seating, including sectionals, loveseats, orb-shaped club chairs and wavy-seated wicker benches.
DESIGNLINES12 min read
KITCHEN & BATH
AC’s focus is squarely on kitchen and bathroom fixtures. Among the 50-plus brands in store are faucets by Blanco and Hansgrohe, rain showers by Aquabrass and Dornbracht, commercialgrade sinks by Elkay, elegant freestanding soaker tubs by Porcher and
DESIGNLINES4 min read
RUGS & CARPETING
ARC’s 1,200-square-metre showroom boasts a staggering selection of versatile contemporary flooring solutions, from carpet tiles and area rugs to hardwood, laminate and luxury vinyl. Find innovative products from custom and handmade rugs to extra-wide
DESIGNLINES7 min readFashion
VINTAGE & RECLAIMED FURNITURE
Lawrence Blairs recently expanded his collection of mid-century pieces (heavy on the Eameses, Verner Panton and Pierre Paulin) to include refurbished 1950s and ’60s originals and postmodern designs from the ’70s and early ’80s. AD’s smaller decor acc
DESIGNLINES2 min read
Textiles
This trade-only showroom specializes in fabric, wallcoverings, furniture, drapery and hardware from such Canadian and international brands as Pindler, Maxwell and Worlds Away. The whimsical Abundance line of wallpaper by JF Fabrics includes prints of
DESIGNLINES2 min read
WALLCOVERINGS & PAINT
This Annex shop stocks striking floor coverings and wallpaper otherwise impossible to find in the city. It’s the exclusive Canadian retailer of Object Carpet, whose residential- and commercial-grade carpet tiles, broadloom and area rugs come in a mul
DESIGNLINES6 min readArchitecture
WINDOWS, DOORS & FIREPLACES
Here, it’s business in the front, beautiful sliding barn doors in the back. All custom wooden doors and furniture are made on site using varieties ranging from pine to teak, and finished with made-in-Canada hardware. Highlights include a walnut slab
DESIGNLINES2 min read
Workplace Furniture
The dashing task chairs, desk sets and storage options found in this showroom channel the verve of Suits, courtesy of such design stars as Marcel Wanders, Jasper Morrison and Patricia Urquiola. The Italian-designed, U.S.- produced Lotus chair, availa
DESIGNLINES2 min read
King Klaus
HE LOOKS AND SOUNDS LIKE SOMEONE born wearing a well-cut suit. (The voice, still urbanely German in its inflections, is a marvel – the aural equivalent of a fireside brandy savoured within a club chair’s leather-upholstered depths on the coldest nigh

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