Shimmering street performer on Front St East. - Tanja Tiziana

Design

Art & Design showcased at the Gladstone Hotel - Tanja Tiziana

The Toronto area is Canada's largest design centre and has the third largest design workforce in North America (after New York and Boston). With a number of post secondary institutions offering training the workforce here is highly talented and often on the cutting edge of innovation, doing business around the globe. Design in and around Toronto focuses on six key disciplines: architecture, landscape architecture, interior, industrial, graphic and fashion design. On Bay Street in downtown Toronto the Design Exchange is Canada's only institution devoted to promoting Canadians' understanding of the value of design, hosting numerous education programs and exhibitions each year.

Design Features

Where art and architecture meet: the Beyond 3:30 mural program turns schools into canvases

Paul Gallant Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Beyond 3:30, an after school program introducing preteens to architecture and art, turns schools into community hubs and hopes to get a whole new generation of kids thinking about architecture as a career, especially young women.read on…

Got 3D? Toronto's Head Gear Animation is leading the film industry in new directions

Alexandra Shimo Wednesday, June 02, 2010

Head Gear Animation are known for their ground-breaking work that mix up a variety of different animation techniques. Their latest venture is the first 3D commercial in Canada and its production required pioneering a new stereoscopic technique. read on…

Living for the vintage city: Upcycling Bloorcourt and Queen West

Rea McNamara Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Kealan Sullivan spends a lot of time at the local dry cleaners. You could say it's the boardroom of her 69 Vintage Collective empire, where between giant loads of new-old clothes, she's leading Toronto's vintage scene in new directions.read on…

The entrepreneurial architect

Heidi McKenzie Wednesday, April 07, 2010

Heather Dubbeldam left the safety of one of Canada's premier architecture firms to follow her own path and start an independent and expanding green design company.read on…

Q&A with Brian Curtner on Toronto's adaptive reuse scene

Bert Archer Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Brian Curtner, a partner with the architecture firm Quadrangle, is one of the leaders of Toronto's adaptive reuse movement. Here he discusses why we should reuse our old buildings instead of tearing them down, and some of the challenges and rewards of doing so.read on…

A bike for Toronto: a Q&A with Curbside's Eric Kamphof

Alexandra Shimo Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Frustrated by the problems and oversight in the bicycle market, an Annex bike store manager designed a bicycle specifically for Toronto's geography and climate, realized he'd found a niche need, and started manufacturing and selling the two-wheeler across North America. read on…

Play leads to innovation at Toronto Hacklab

Ivor Tossell Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Part workshop, part tree house, and part revolutionary lair, the Toronto Hacklab is a home for geeks that mixes the urge to create with the ideals of a venerable movement. Also, there's a laser in the bathroom that plays the theme from Super Mario Brothers.read on…