Busy design weekend - the IDS and beyond

The big news this weekend in design/décor is the Interior Design Show. Worth noting too, though, is the Toronto Offsite Design Festival, also happening this weekend. Actually, it’s been happening since Jan. 19, when it kicked off in The Junction a week of some 40 exhibitions and events across Toronto. Reinvented for the third year in a row, it remains — as far as I can tell —  a way to take advantage of the buzz created by the IDS, and to publicize a souped-up "what’s on in the arts in TO” guide. I say that in a  good way; there are lots of great things to see in the city right now and if more people thought about design more often, we might just have a more civilized, more livable city. Others may feel differently, of course.

Under the offsite festival umbrella are such exhibits as The Happy Show, created by Stefan Sagmeister (until March 3 at the Design Exchange). It’s supposed to reflect the designer’s attempt to increase his happiness using meditation, cognitive therapy, and mood-altering pharmaceuticals. (Please resist here your natural impulse here to add wisecracking editorial – Editor.)  

Jeff Goodman's lovely, lovely glass

The website also notes that you can see Jeff Goodman’s supremely beautiful glass until Feb. 27 at the Ontario Crafts Council Gallery.That will be worth catching, imho. If I wasn’t broke, I’d buy a few pieces of this lovely glass, made by a lovely man, who once graciously invited me into his studio, where I  made a glass paperweight. So very sad when he died last year.

 

 

 

  

I also like the sound of Snip, mostly because I’ve always admired Miriam Grenville’s kooky-pretty-clever work with paper. This time, see a series of patterns at the Hair Lounge until Feb. 18.

See the full list of events on the festival’s site 

My date book is jammy-packed for the next few days, but I will try to get down to the IDS trade-day to get a glimpse of Philippe Malouin.

Speaking of dishy, Philippe Malouin designed the lovely waxed concrete bowls below

 

 

His impressive CV includes a stint with designer Tom Dixon and a recent nod from Wallpaper magazine for a carpet hand- made from looped galvanized steel wire into an arresting geometric shape. The geometric motif shows up again in his "windows" - light fixtures designed like shutters and which mimic natural light, for which W Hotel lauded the Canadian-born designer.

BTW, For the full list of Wallpaper awards, click here 

 If you go, keep in mind that the OneXOne’s children’s charity is auctioning chairs customized by such designers as moimoidesign, WeKillYou, Monnet Design, Oeuffice, Doublenaut, Burton Kramer, and Marian Bantjes. Take a peak, and make an offer if you can.