Local artists revamp Junction storefronts to promote the burgeoning community of design-focussed businesses in the area.
Twenty artists have teamed up with 12 stores and galleries along Keele and Dundas West to spruce up storefronts and make passersby stop and stare. The window installations, which debuted Oct. 18 and will be on display until October 30, are part of
Show Off @ The Junction.
Organized by Mason, a multi-disciplinary design firm, Show Off @ The Junction aims to do just that: show off the talent of Toronto artists, designers and stylists and the wares of neighbourhood shops. A street party is also planned for Friday (Oct. 21), with retailers keeping their doors open until 11 p.m.
Ashley Rumsey and Stanley Sun of Mason rent studio space part-time in The Junction and were inspired by the neighbourhood’s architecture: a number of the stores have lots of storefront space to work with.
“We fell in love with The Junction and we’ve seen more and more retailers come into the area that are very design-focussed. So this was a great way for us to show it off to Toronto and say, ‘This is an area that’s worth taking a look at,’” Rumsey says. “It’s also an opportunity for us to promote those local retailers and show off our colleagues and fellow designers too.”
Gyulay says window dressing seems to be a dying art in the city and Paz agrees.
“It makes you stop and look, which a lot of people are too busy to do now,” she says, pointing out that storefront displays are more of a perk for pedestrians than the drivers zipping through the neighbourhood.
“It brings people out into the street and really maintains that human scale for a community.”
Playing into the store’s Canadiana-inspired giftware, interior stylist Jenn Hannotte created a camping themed display. Since September, Hannotte has run
Russet & Empire Interiors out of the shop.
Christine Kim and Lesley Look Hong created the paper-based display in the front of the book and music store.
Smash (2880 Dundas St. W.)
The showroom specializes in vintage materials, furnishings and fixtures. This ain’t IKEA, though designers Diana Watters, Bradley Marks, and Jennifer Nicevski seem to have taken liberties with the store’s catalogue.
Julie Chapman, Jeff Palmeter and Joanna Ferraro constructed this chilly scene.
A home décor style stocked with salvaged and repurposed pieces, Metropolis took into account Halloween’s approaching date. 1point0 Interior Design Consultants set up the store’s display, a post-apocalyptic assembly line for a human machine.
Studio1:1 designed the display for the antique lighting store.
The gallery went all out with a design spearheaded by Theo Gallaro, with assistance from Kristin Weckworth and Noel Middleton. The display focused on the Bald Knobbers, a band of vigilantes that tried to bring law and order to Missouri after the Civil War.
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