After 10 days of art and events, the 2019 DesignTO Festival comes to a close. Yonge + St. Clair was the proud home of 12 installations and events, together with a DesignTO tour and ideas forum.

Thank you to all of the businesses that participated, the artists who contributed to the festival, and the organizers of DesignTO for another successful year.

Here’s a summary of the installations and events that came to Yonge + St. Clair for the DesignTO Festival, from January 18 – 27.

2 St. Clair W
Installation: “Morpheus”
Artist: Gensler Toronto
Presented by Slate Asset Management

30 St. Clair W
Installation: “Faux Garden”
Artist: Studio Hi Thanks Bye
Presented by Slate Asset Management

Delisle Parkette
Installation: “ReflectLive”
Artist: superkül
Presented by Slate Asset Management

55 St. Clair W
Installation: “StrataSphere”
Artist: IBI Group
Presented by Slate Asset Management

1 Delisle Ave
Installation: “PULP: Exhibit + Home ”
Artist: pulp: art party
Presented by Slate Asset Management

New Balance
1510 Yonge St
Installation: “Furnishing Balance ”
Artist: Pablo Munoz
Presented by New Balance

New Balance
1510 Yonge St
Installation: “Raising STEPS, an Auction of Artist-Designed Shoes”
Artist: Various, in collaboration with The STEPS Initiative
Presented by New Balance and The Steps Initiative

95 St. Clair W
Installation: “Sparkle Squish Plush Pond”
Artist: Studio F Minus
Presented by Desjardins

45 St. Clair W
Installation: “Dissipate Like a Cloud or Smoke or Wintery Breath”
Artist: Derrick Piens
Presented by Manulife

CNIB Community Hub
1525 Yonge Street
Installation: “The Accessibility Experiment: Navigating the World in an Alternative Format”
Artist: CNIB
Presented by CNIB

Mary Be Kitchen
21B St. Clair W
Installation: “The Trees Amongst Us”
Artist: Nicola Woods
Presented by Mary Be Kitchen

Delisle Court
1560 Yonge Street
Installation: “Pro-Tem”
Artist: Janine Miedzik
Presented by Delisle Court

DesignTO Tours: Exploring Art at Yonge + St. Clair
January 20, 2019

DesignTO Ideas Forum: Watershed to Waterfront
January 24, 2019

The DesignTO Festival (formerly the Toronto Design Offsite Festival) returns to #YongeStClair from January 18 – 27th, 2019. The event features 10 days of art and festival programming anchored by immersive installations designed by local artists, architects, and design firms.

We spoke with Rotem Yaniv, Director of PULP: Reclaimed Materials Art and Design, on how his team of artist have brought recycled materials to life at the Delisle Space (1 Delisle Ave) for PULP: Exhibit + Home.

Can you describe PULP and why you wanted to get involved with DesignTO at Yonge + St. Clair? 
PULP: Reclaimed Materials Art and Design is a Toronto based not-for-profit corporation set to encourage community building and environmental awareness.  In the fall of 2018, PULP, The Delisle Space, and Yonge + St. Clair began collaborating on PULP : art party and its continuing exhibit during DesignTO. We were very excited to work with a beautiful venue just across the street from a subway station. We were thrilled to be part of the artistic expression happening at Yonge + St. Clair, pieces like Equilibrium and the Tunnel of Glam , and now PULP: Exhibit + Home, in collaboration with At Odds Collective.

Can you describe the installations and how they came about?

 

Another piece is Sky-scrapper by Daemon K Retren and Hillary Predko which consists of Pre-cut and drilled geometric shapes made of scrap wood are provided for a playful sandbox experience. Guests at the exhibit are encouraged to take existing constructions apart and create their own. Then there is Fated Forest by Alisha Sunderji and Brianna Smrke (A_B Collective). This piece invites participants to sift through old National Geographic magazines and add to a hanging, kaleidoscopic forest of mini-collages. Each floating leaf in the forest will capture different views of the past, present or future of someone’s life or the state of the world. Guests entering The Delisle Space will pass through Ksenija Spasic’s jelly fish made of old tomato cages and printed mylar, followed by paper ropes woven by Mona Dai and Evan Brock and hung above the stairs.

The DesignTO Festival (formerly the Toronto Design Offsite Festival) returns to #YongeStClair from January 18 – 27th, 2019. The event features 10 days of art and festival programming anchored by immersive installations designed by local artists, architects, and design firms.

We spoke with Nicola Woods, the artist behind “The Trees Amongst Us” at Mary Be’s – 21B St. Clair W, about her unique process and why trees are so important to neighbourhoods.

Can you describe your practice and why you wanted to get involved with DesignTO at Yonge + St. Clair?

For several years I have been photographing trees and in particular street trees. In May 2018 as part of the Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival, I exhibited 75 portraits of street trees in the Junction neighbourhood where I live. This exhibit grew from daily walks with my dog where I noticed the street trees that were part of an Adopt-a-Street-Tree program a joint collaboration between LEAF, the City of Toronto, Green 13 and the Junction BIA. And so, a concept grew in my mind to both record and pay homage to this group of trees cared for by various businesses, organizations and volunteers in the Junction. I wanted to honour how the trees knit the neighbourhood together.

When I saw the call for submissions for DesignTO at Yonge + St. Clair, I thought what a great opportunity to discover and highlight another neighbourhood’s trees.  I was especially pleased that Mary Be Kitchen offered to host my exhibition because they have a striking maple tree growing beside the restaurant.  In the summer and fall the tree’s leaves provide shade to the side of the restaurant and at street level in the winter the bare branches reveal the amazing mural by Phlegm.

In addition to the maple tree my exhibition highlights sixteen other trees, mostly the ones planted along Yonge Street.

Why is this installation important in the context of Yonge + St. Clair? What do you hope visitors take away from the experience?

I hope my installation heightens an awareness of the benefits that street trees provide and show how they bring colour and life to the neighbourhood. And I hope it will have the same effect that the trees have on me — that viewers become more mindful of the trees that live amongst us.

Can you describe what the build process looks like for your installation? How did the idea come about, and what did it take to see it come to life?

I started by exploring the neighbourhood and photographing the trees. Yonge and St. Clair has an interesting combination of old and new buildings and the trees mirror this. I found an interesting mix of mature trees (mostly honey locusts) and some new plantings in attractive wooden containers.

Once I finished photographing the next step in my process was to edit my photographs and digitally render them so that the trees are in colour and the surrounding streetscape is in black and white; a technique that results in a digital version of the hand coloured photograph.

To add another vintage element to my work I used metal leaf as a background.  I applied the metal leaf to 7-inch wooden circles or rounds.  The gold, silver and copper metallic backgrounds shimmer and change according to the light conditions and resemble early photographic processes such as daguerreotypes and tintypes.  And then I finished up the pieces by printing my photographs onto transparent film which allows the metal leaf to shine through the image.

The final step in the process was installing the framed pieces in Mary Be Kitchen.  I consulted with the owners to make sure they were happy with the placement of pieces and after several hours of work I’m happy to say my installation is up and ready for both restaurant patrons and DesignTO festival goers to enjoy.

The DesignTO Festival (formerly the Toronto Design Offsite Festival) returns to #YongeStClair from January 18 – 27th, 2019. The event features 10 days of art and festival programming anchored by immersive installations designed by local artists, architects, and design firms.

Studio F Minus, the visionaries behind the celebrated Tunnel of Glam at Yonge + St. Clair, are returning to the neighbourhood with a brand new sequin-inspired installation for #DesignTO19 entitled ‘Sparkle Squish Plush Pond‘. We sat down with Brad Hindson and Mitchell Chan, principals of the studio, for their thoughts on the community, design, and what it takes to see vision come to life.

Can you describe your firm and why you wanted to get involved with DesignTO at Yonge + St. Clair?

Studio F Minus makes public conversations through art. Our work is often tactile and/or interactive and/or kinetic. We are always excited to insert artworks into spaces that don’t typically have them. We find it reaches a broader audience and are often discovered unexpectedly.

Why is this installation important in the context of Yonge + St. Clair? What do you hope visitors take away from the experience?

We hope that visitors who work in these spaces get to see their place of work differently. Further, we hope that residences of the surrounding area come out and explore buildings that typically thought of as closed off to the public.

Can you describe what the construction process looks like? How did the idea come about, and what will it take to see it come to life?

Reverse sequin fabric is mesmerizing and very underutilized as a material. We first explored it as a medium when we built the 80′ long ‘Tunnel of Glam‘. Here we are studying how it works in a sculpture that undulates and swirls while still allowing it to be touched by the viewer.

Sparkle Squish Plush Pond runs from January 18 to 27th, 2019 at 95 St. Clair W in the lobby. An opening reception will be held on January 18 from 7 – 10pm.

The DesignTO Festival (formerly the Toronto Design Offsite Festival) returns to #YongeStClair from January 18 – 27th, 2019. The event features 10 days of art and festival programming anchored by immersive installations designed by local artists, architects, and design firms.

We spoke with Alexandra Lavallée, an architectural designer at superkül here in Toronto for her views on the art coming to Yonge + St. Clair, and for more details about their installation titled “ReflectLive“.

1. Can you describe your firm and why you wanted to get involved with DesignTO at Yonge + St. Clair?

superkül is a Toronto-based architectural studio founded in 2002 and headed by Meg Graham and Andre D’Elia. The firm’s portfolio encompasses a wide array of project types, ranging from residential, commercial and institutional buildings to master planning and feasibility studies. While diverse, all undertaken projects display an immaculate attention to detail and material resolution, regardless of scale, and a profound connection to their built and natural contexts. The practice prioritizes a thorough engagement with all clients and stakeholders, and a belief in long-term sustainability guides the direction of the firm towards creating a brighter future.

This type of festival brings on a high energy project under a relatively short time frame, not to mention that installation projects are really fun! It is an opportunity to explore and expand upon conceptual design ideas, and get our hands dirty. Participating in the DesignTO festival is an obvious choice as Deborah Wang, the artistic director and a founding member of DesignTO, worked at superkül for many years – she recently left to work for the festival full-time.

2. Why the Delisle Parkette?

Last year, superkül designed an installation for the lobby of 40 St. Clair W. This was an interesting location as it made our installation visible to people who wouldn’t generally seek out design installations. However, the installation was mainly targeted towards the building’s users. For 2019’s edition, we really wanted to engage with the Yonge + St. Clair community. Designing an installation for Delisle Parkette means it’s accessible during the evenings and on weekends. Our installation becomes more accessible to people living in the area – passersby, children, dog-walkers, transit-takers.

3. Can you describe what the construction process looks like? How did the idea come about, and what will it take to see it come to life?

Starting an installation, much like starting larger projects, begins with an understanding of the site it is to occupy. We were first inspired by the trees of Delisle Parkette and how delightful it is to amble through this urban forest. We set out to increase its density and extents by introducing reflective “tree-trunks”, adding an element of whimsy and playfulness to the parkette.

Following the concept was the realisation: figuring out how to easily build, transport, install on site. We tested several materials and structural systems by building a number of mock-ups at a park by our office. Budget and constructability constraints necessitated a creative and resourceful approach to the use of materials, and structural systems that support them. For example, we considered using emergency blankets as the reflective film. By trying it out, we discovered that we couldn’t remove the fold marks. We ended up finding reflective film at a gardening store – it’s used to reflect light back onto plants.

Finally, a larger team is recruited to help with the assembly and, after more issues are discovered and resolved, the assembly process is streamlined. The first of our 30 reflective tree trunks must’ve taken two days to assemble, disassemble and reassemble…the last took under an hour!

The design, construction, and execution of this year’s DesignTO installation is a true embodiment of design as an iterative process: to evolve and develop a concept into a realisation, all while adopting a creative, and sometimes unorthodox, approach to achieve the desired outcome.

ReflectLive runs from January 18 to 27th, 2019 at the Delisle Parkette – 17 Delisle Avenue. 

DesignTO, formerly the Toronto Design Offsite Festival, is Canada’s largest cultural celebration of design with over 100 free exhibitions and events forming Toronto’s design week, January 18-27, 2019. Going into its 9th year, DesignTO transforms Toronto into a hub for creativity, taking design and art out of the studio and into the urban sphere, bringing people together to celebrate contemporary culture.

The Yonge + St. Clair BIA is a proud sponsor of the Festival, and will play host to 12 installations and two events across the neighbourhood. Installations include brand new work by Studio F Minus, designers of the Tunnel of Glam.

Use the map below to find all the festival programming, and click the links below for more information.

INSTALLATIONS

1 – ‘Morpheus’ by Gensler (2 St. Clair W)

2 – ‘Faux Garden’ by Hi Thanks Bye (30 St. Clair W)

3 – ‘ReflectLive’ by superkül (Delisle Parkette behind 30 St. Clair W)

4 – ‘StrataSphere’ by IBI (55 St. Clair W)

5 – PULP: Exhibit + Home (1 Delisle Ave)

6 – ‘Furnishing Balance’ by Pablo Muñoz (1510 Yonge St)

7 – STEPS x New Balance (1510 Yonge Street)

8 – ‘Sparkle Squish Plush Pond’ by Studio F Minus (95 St. Clair W)

9 – ‘Dissipate Like a Cloud or Smoke or Wintery Breath’ by Derrick Piens (45 St. Clair W)

10 – ‘The Accessibility Experiment: Navigating the World in an Alternative Format’ by CNIB (1525 Yonge St)

11 – ‘The Trees Amongst Us’ by Nicola Woods (21 St. Clair W)

12 – ‘Pro Tem’ by Janine Miedzik (1560 Yonge St)

EVENTS

13 – Tour: Exploring Art at Yonge + St. Clair (January 20, 11:00am – 12:00pm)

14 – Ideas Forum: Watershed to Waterfront (January 24, 6:30pm – 8:30pm)

Use #DesignTO19 and #YongeStClair when you share your photos, and we’ll feature them here.