The Canadian woman who is frequently described as Canada’s first designer, Kate Reed (1856- 1928) the decorator of Canada’s Railway Hotels, was born nine years before Elsie De Wolfe (1865-1950), that famous American usually thought of as the first successful professional decorator in America. While De Wolfe had a very different life story and body … Continue reading Kate Reed in comparison – Canada’s first interior designer
Books about kitchens dominated my reading list this summer, and one of them featured an innovative approach to the subject. Toronto-based John Ota has worked in the field of architecture for over 40 years as a writer, designer, historic preservationist, and curator. In his recent book, The Kitchen – a journey through history in search … Continue reading Summer Reading: The Kitchen
Last summer (August 2017) saw the opening of a newly-renovated and expanded Broadview Hotel, situated on the North-west corner of Queen Street East and Broadview Avenue in Toronto’s east end. At that time, I stopped in for a visit and was prompted to write a series of posts about the design of the café interior … Continue reading Re-view: How Furniture Defines Interior Space at the Broadview Hotel Café
In the recent article “Taking on the World” (Canadian Interiors July/August 2017 vol. 54 No. 4), writer Leslie C. Smith provides a condensed interview with the three principals at DesignAgency: Anwar Mekhayech, Matt Davis and Allan Chan. DesignAgency is a renowned Canadian hospitality design firm currently earning international accolades. I have written about their recent … Continue reading Getting it Right: an Interview with DesignAgency in Canadian Interiors magazine
In this series of posts that explore a critical reading of The Drake Commissary interiors, I have enjoyed returning to the site several times. For this final installment, my focus will be the dining area. The main dining area is positioned at the back of the space, at the end of a series of spatial … Continue reading Revisiting a Bountiful Interior
In my last post I introduced the narrative capacity of signature material details we see at The Drake Commissary. Another aspect of narrative potential is the eclectic mix of lounge furniture that invites spatial movement. Recently, I listened again to an old 99 Percent Invisible podcast: Episode #139 entitled “On the Edge of Your Seat”. … Continue reading More Than Placeholders for the Perfect Party
To wrap up this serialized essay about how furniture functions as a key design element in DesignAgency’s interiors for The Broadveiw Hotel Café, we were able to ask Matt Davis – Founding Partner at DesginAgency – a few questions about the project. Whitestudiolo [Karen White] – I think that the interiors at The Broadview Hotel … Continue reading Feature Interview with DesignAgency
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