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4 PUBLISHER KING WEST MEDIA LTD.
ART DIRECTOR CLAYTON BUDD
PRESIDENT PETER FREED
CREATIVE AGENCY artform*
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF KAREN VON HAHN
GRAPHIC DESIGNERS MICHAEL BOZINOVSKI VISHANA LODHIA
MANAGING EDITOR RONNILYN PUSTIL CREATIVE DIRECTOR CALLUM MACLACHLAN
EDITORIAL ASSISTANT KATE GERTNER COPY EDITOR ERIN LAU
CONTRIBUTORS JANE APOR FRANCO DELEO DAVID DREBIN MARIO FIORUCCI ROBERT GRAVELLE GEOFFREY KNOTT COREY LADOUCEUR SHEETAL LODHIA ARASH MOALLEMI LEWIS MIRRETT MARILISA RACCO RUSSELL SMITH DAVE TODON
DIRECTOR OF MARKETING AJ MANJI DIRECTOR OF BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MORAD REID AFFIFI KING WEST MEDIA LTD. 552 WELLINGTON ST. W. PENTHOUSE SUITE 1500 TORONTO, ON M5V 2V5 kingwestmag.ca
CONTENTS Editor’s Letter 11 Contributors 13 Proclaimer 21-31
Local Talent: David Drebin by Leanne Delap Meet your Meat: Cheap Cuts, The Dish & Libations The List: From Cindy Sherman to Grace Kelly Micro Trend: Indoor Games Mr. Smith’s Good Times Guide by Russell Smith
Sound Academies 37
The city’s concert halls are more than just a pretty face by Alex Bozikovic
Keeping It Real 42
How Design Within Reach got its groove back by Tim McKeough
Field Trip: King Street East 46
A tour of the design mecca by Karen von Hahn and RonniLyn Pustil
Nuit Blanche Notebook 49
Sophie von Hahn hits the streets and tells
Problem Solved 52
5 gallerists on how to buy art
Ladies Man 54
David Drebin does the Thompson
Someone’s in the Kitchen with Scott 61 Leanne Delap gets cooking with Scarpetta’s Scott Conant
Bitchin’ Kitchen 64
Tasty treats for everybody’s favourite room
The Pour 66
Robert Gravelle’s sips for the season
Superfly 68
Porter: The little airline that could by Anne O’Hagan ON THE COVER AND HERE: ON SARAH: Maillot: Wildfox at Riant / riantboutique.com, Vintage fur stole: Stylist’s own ON TAYLOR: Snakeskin swimsuit: Salem Moussalam at REmix / remixclothing.ca, Fur jacket: IZMA / izzycamilleri.com ON NIKKI: Bikini: Chanel vintage at Lynda Latner Vintage Couture / vintagecouture.com, Fringe leather skirt: Joeffer Caoc / joeffercaoc.com
Take a Little Trip 73
5 King West insiders on their dream destinations
On the Town 89-97
Nights in the Hood The Playing Field by Marilisa Racco Test Drive: Hotel bars by Charlene Rooke Street Style, Snapped! The Deal: Glen Baxter’s Pioneering Power Play
Visionary 110 Joe Mimran
PHOTO: MANGO STUDIOS
THE FEELING THAT SOMETHING SEISMIC HAD SHIFTED started back in the summer. Not only did we enjoy an unprecedentedly beautiful one that extended long into a glorious fall, everybody seemed keen to take advantage of it. From wherever I looked, the streets of downtown Toronto seemed to buzz with a newfound energy: Pretty people were strutting their stuff, skipping into stores and galleries and spilling out of new cafes and restaurants. So much seemed to be happening every night, everywhere—even the financial district was rocking after dark with committed downtowners—as if there were some secret, undeclared campaign to take back our streets and make them our own. This brash new attitude only seemed to take on more gravitas with the arrival of TIFF’s debut season at its new King West HQ, where an entire radius around the TIFF Bell Lightbox seemed to be transformed into a sort of cultural utopia—complete with a cast of Hollywood’s A-list swanning through hotel lobbies and swinging by late-night parties as enraptured fans filled the streets and parks and bars like extras in a film. Toss in Toronto Fashion Week, celebrated this year for the first time in David Pecaut Square as well as at the neighbouring Ritz-Carlton, along with the public art happening Nuit Blanche, which our intrepid reporter Sophie von Hahn writes about in this issue, and it seems that not only is King West having a moment, it’s one that smacks of a confident new cultural sophistication and maturity. This point is driven home in Anne O’Hagan’s fine profile of Porter Airlines, which after only five years at the island airport has not only emerged as the discriminating downtowners’ choice for business travel, but has significantly altered the way we view the distance between ourselves and other North American cities. Toronto-born photographer David Drebin, who turned his lens on the Thompson hotel and is profiled by Leanne Delap in this issue, had no hesitation that his own way of seeing was worthy of international recognition—his bravura is a part of what has made him an art-world darling. From where KingWest Visionary Joe Mimran sits, Joe Fresh may be based here, but that’s no bar to taking on the fashion biggies in Manhattan. Increasingly, it seems, this new confidence in ourselves and our city is leading us to look outward beyond our borders to international audiences and markets, and to consider brave new ideas that can be shared with the rest of the globe. What these stories tell us is that what is afoot here right now is increasingly bigger than ourselves—a bold emerging downtown that is becoming confident enough in its vision to take its rightful place in the world. And, happily, that King West is at the very epicentre of this movement.
/ 11 A
Toronto photographer Arash Moallemi, who got his first Nikon at the age of 12, prides himself on being versatile. He’s shot fashion, beauty, architecture, food, portraits and landscapes for such glossies as Hello! Canada, Glow, Sphere, EGO Miami and Gioia. His assignments for this issue of KingWest took him from the city’s finest concert halls to its swankiest hotel lobby bars to its newest airport. What he wants most for the holidays this year is “some actual downtime to spend with my friends and family.”
Naughty or Nice?
“I have definitely been nice this year! I did all sorts of grown-up things, like get married and run my own business.”
Jewelry designer Jane Apor, who appreciates all things fabulous, hits the pavement for every issue of KingWest to find pretty products for our pages. Her wish this holiday season is “to travel, be inspired, be healthy and happy—and to share all these moments with the people I love.”
Naughty or Nice?
Nice—but she admits to having shown her naughty side “on certain occasions and with certain people.”
As the general manager/ wine director for Jacobs & Co. Steakhouse and an instructor for the International Sommelier Guild, KingWest wine columnist Robert Gravelle knows his way around a carte des vins. “Unless Santa can come up with an Italian villa on the Amalfi coast, I’ll settle for some time off this holiday to relax with family and friends,” he says.
Naughty or Nice?
“I’ve been a bit naughty. I played hooky from the restaurant to travel to some of the wine regions of France, Italy and California. Mind you, the year isn’t over so there’s still some time to redeem myself.”
Recently repatriated from London, stylist Stacy Troke, whose clients include Steven Tyler, Simon Fuller and certain members of the royal family, let the fur fly for “Ladies Man.” On Troke’s holiday wish list: “A cute little house with a wood-burning fireplace.”
Naughty or Nice?
“This year I’ve definitely been on the naughty side— with good intentions, of course. I took two months off work to relax and probably drank a glass of wine at least 355 out of 365 days. I spent too much money on clothes, travel and beauty products. The rest I can’t tell you.”
Canadian journalist Tim McKeough lives in New York City and writes about design and architecture for such publications as The New York Times, Elle Decor, Fast Company and Wired. For this issue, he reported on the iconic merchants of style Design Within Reach. For the holidays, McKeough wishes for “odd and unusual vintage finds from junk shops, especially for the kitchen, because I love design and I also like to cook.”
Naughty or Nice?
“I would have to say I’ve been nice this year because I’ve been busy as a new dad. But I wish I could say the opposite.”
/ 13
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THURSDAY FEB 23RD, 2012 The exclusive Thompson Hotel private penthouse level Founded by Glen Baxter, host of CTV’s In Fashion benefiting Right To Play Limited tickets. Please visit www.righttoplay.ca
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THE HELP: © 2011 DreamWorks II Distribution Co., LLC. WATER FOR ELEPHANTS: © 2011 Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved. "Twentieth Century Fox," "Fox" and their associated logos are property of Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. 50/50, TREE OF LIFE: © 2011 Entertainment One Films Canada Inc. All Rights Reserved. DOLPHIN TALE: © 2011 Alcon Film Fund, LLC. © 2011 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved. CRAZY, STUPID, LOVE: © 2011 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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PEOPLE • PLACES • PICKS
THE PRACTICE 889 Yoga and Wellness Spa
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Imagin e a gall ery wit bench, h r fu Brothe ll-grain table ich floors, a 1 rs Dre s and w 7-foot ssler tree-tru oo houses nk Canada . Now imag den chandeli er by t ine tha crafted ’s mos he t metic t such chocola ulously a galle that wil te. SO ry M cu l art form convince you A is an exp ltivated han derience that fin . That , and e choco Castell was pr one an ec lat Cynthia , Canada’s p isely the goal e making is a r n e o m f L o ie e w u r ng. Th ne chocola the kin e co tier, an rs David d d arch can co of shop cultur uple wanted itect nn To e to bar.” ect with how found in Euro ronto to hav pe, whe e Hence chocola re peop the sho pristine te is m le p a ’s d k e it e , c x from “ hens a pansive their W bean nd w win il says Ca ly Wonka thin hite-clad ch dows exposin stellan, ocolatie g g. “Mag a rs doin ic is los of choc t in wa olate c believer in tr g r a o e n me in freshne houses sparenc cle ,” ss y back fo . The truffles, ar envelopes, . Even the ba rs at $2 a s r more h o w c a p s . op, will Grey ch ing the Try Be ir ke o rg year-old cs to shame. O amot, which ep you comin g r be ad Balsam p u t s o v ther E ic —Sheeta en arl l Lodhia Vinegar versio turous with the eig n, full b htodied a nd tart.
Walk through the doors marked 889 on the third floor of the Thompson and you’ll discover the sleek hotel’s blissed-out soul. “It feels very spiritual,” says Christine Russell, cofounder of 889 Yoga and Wellness Spa. “We did an energy clearing with sage before we opened.” Indeed, there’s no place like om. The space is bright and airy; natural sunlight streams in through floor-toceiling glass doors with a view to the treetops in the park across the road and there’s an outdoor deck for sunny salutations. Thirty-something sisters Russell and Emily Ridout opened their first studio at 889 Yonge in 2007 with a mission to inspire happy, healthy lives. 889 (whose numbers symbolize prosperity and longevity, according to Ridout) quietly checked into the Thompson in August. Now up and running with 30 classes a week—including vinyasa, fundamental and brunch flow (weekends only)—the studio is especially appealing to hotel guests and condo residents, like Joanne Harrop, who says: “It’s a wonderful opportunity to go to practice when I have a free hour, without even putting on a coat!” Candles, cosmetics, cashmere blankets and coconut water can be had in the boutique. And a wellness spa, opening in early 2012, will offer massages and facials. “It’s one thing to get a massage,” Russell says. “And it’s another to get a divine, full, conscious, therapeutic massage.” Don’t know your ass from an asana? Fear not! 889 offers beginner workshops and this advice from Russell: “Get on the mat. Get breathing. Get in your body. And your yoga is going to take you to places you’ve probably never imagined.” —RonniLyn Pustil
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PHOTOS: (YOGA) LEWIS MIRRETT, (SOMA) FRANCO DELEO, (MAP) GEOFFREY KNOTT
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PEOPLE • PLACES • PICKS
THE MIXER Paint Colours Unlimited
502 Adelaide St. W. / 416.703.5500 paintcoloursunlimited.com
You don’t have to be a decorator to enter Paint Colours Unlimited, a 35-year-old fixture of the KW neighbourhood that also happens to be downtown’s biggest paint store. But know that this is where experts and designers go to find the best selection of paints, wall treatments, veteran expertise and service. Bill Eagles has been at the helm for 20 years and is a rare breed in the current climate of box-store, computertinted paint: He mixes by hand. “Old-school is the best,” says Bill, who insists that even the most precise computers are no match for a keen (eagle’s?) eye. Paint Colours’ wall treatments grace some of Toronto’s grandest interiors—the National Ballet of Canada, Canadian Opera Company and TIFF Bell Lightbox. Benjamin Moore and Para are favourites, though Paint Colours carries brands you won’t find elsewhere, such as Devine, which hand-paints its swatches for a true estimation of colour. According to Bill, colour trends change by the decade, and this one is all about grey. —Sheetal Lodhia
THE VENUE The Hoxton PHOTOS: (PAINT) FRANCO DELEO, (HOXTON) COURTESY OF THE HOXTON
69 Bathurst St. / 416.456.7321 / thehoxton.ca Local entrepreneurs Jesse Girard and Richard Lambert have a knack for creating “it” spots. And the buzz is on with their newest venture, The Hoxton, which aims to bring a new level of culture (art, music, design) to the King West hood. The 19th-century printing house that is now home to this ambitious endeavour was first spotted by Kenny Hotz (of Kenny vs. Spenny fame), who is a third partner. Traces of its history can still be found in the basement; otherwise the design, by local firm Castor, remains minimal and modern. Named for the east-end area of London where Lambert’s favourite museum is located, The Hoxton was envisioned as a “blank slate” to be used for edgy expressions from concerts to art shows and “even sporting events,” the pair only half-jokingly remark. This fall, Kate Moss’ beau’s band The Kills played for the Topshop Toronto opening. While the duo hesitate to boast about upcoming acts, their reputation guarantees that The Hoxton will become both a choice intimate venue and a hotspot on the burgeoning KW scene. —Sheetal Lodhia
/ 23
LOCAL TALENT
David Drebin is not feeling public. After all, when in Toronto, the bad-boy artist is based frontrow at the Thompson hotel, sleeping over as many as 100 nights a year. And here we are, meeting at the lobby bar, where everybody knows his name, and what he drank last night. “That’s the problem. Red. Tall. Glasses. Many.” She was, they had. When we try sitting in the lounge to do the interview, random people— PR execs, receptionists, a tiny Japanese teen in purple satin hot pants— come over to talk to him and he obliges, oozing charm and easy sincerity. But as they leave he says, sotto voce, “I feel like hiding.” So we take up a defensive post at the rear barstools, backs to the passing parade in front of the hotel windows. And then the conversation with our ostensibly shy protagonist explodes. Dude is one intense human. Which is exactly the way Drebin describes the current state of his skyrocketing career. “The art side has exploded. But I still feel like I’m struggling,” says the 41 year old, raised at St. Clair and Avenue Road and now based mainly out of New York City, though he spends so much time tending jobs and shows of his work at galleries around the globe that he feels like he lives on a plane. “I have this big personality when I’m being ‘David Drebin the photographer,’” he says, deepening his voice and rubbing his clean-shaven head. “But the real me is humble. There is not so much a disconnect as a firm distinction in my mind between the real person and the brand.”
24 /
David Drebin In Toronto, and at international art fairs, he has to live with the muddling of the two Davids. “But in New York, bless it, you never quite feel like you’ve made it.” Drebin moved to New York in 1994 to attend Parsons. He soon developed his distinctive style “that looks fake but is real,” as he puts it. And despite the exaggerated, intensely saturated effects, Drebin claims to do “very, very” little retouching. “It is all in the camera.” He started out doing commercial stuff, ad campaigns and magazine editorial, but soon butted heads with most of his clients. “They say be yourself, but then they try to take control. Well, you are hiring me for my look, and it only gets to be my look one way—my way.” Drebin’s painterly style makes the world feel bright and hyper-real as a 3D film. He uses racy to get hearts racing, but even the sexiest, skimpiestclad girl’s behind filling his lens never comes off tawdry. The effect is less candy floss than a Meisel, and less louche than a David LaChapelle. But less, in his case, is more. And it is why he is now primarily known as an artist, with his limited edition prints fetching record prices. Drebin far prefers real people to supermodels. “With supermodels, my hands are tied. You don’t want to know where I find some of my models,” he shrugs toward the street pointedly. “But if the light is right, you can take the seedy and make it classy. It’s the high-low. I think smart is what is sexy.” The art photography arose almost by accident. One of his most famous shots, of Central Park from above (which is hanging, mega-mural size, in the Thompson’s lower level), was taken while he was shooting an annual report from high up in a skyscraper boardroom, waiting for the brass to nod approvals. “I looked out and saw this glittering city and knew I had something special.”
PHOTOS: DAVID DREBIN
THE SHOOTER By Leanne Delap
LOCAL TALENT
Amazingly, the landscapes Drebin does (he did a Jerusalem skyline that now runs some $100,000 for limited edition prints) are as easily identifiable as his work as are the shots of girls bent over desks or draped across bus stops. “Look, a chef can make a steak or fish but you can tell it is made with the same sensibility. Every photograph is filtered through the way I see the world.” Here is where he gets all Yoda. “Some people need to see to believe. I need to believe to see.” He cites a favourite shot, of boxer Manny Pacquiao, who is also a congressman from the Philippines. “Pound per pound he is the equivalent of Muhammad Ali. I love the struggle, perseverance, drive to win. Having an idea and making it happen.” It was this series of photos that made things happen for Drebin. In 2004, a singer-songwriter named Elton John walked into the Fahey/Klein Gallery in LA and scooped up his first Drebin, a piece called “The Girl in the Orange Dress.” “I knew I had something then. It’s like when a guy has sex with a girl, he walks out of the room and feels he can do anything. Elton John buying my stuff made me feel like that. I just made a cold call to a gallery in Berlin and they gave me a show, then I was at Art Basel and it hasn’t stopped since then.” And then, refueled, he sets off to meet a girl he met in the street with F-You spelled out on her fingers. “Probably not a prospect for Mom,” Drebin admits. “But it is all about context, isn’t it?”
David Drebin’s latest book is called The Morning After (teNeues, 2010). He turned his lens on the Thompson for this issue on p.54. For info on international dealers go to daviddrebin.com
/ 25
Cheap Cuts
It’s that time of year again: Temperatures are dropping and we’re craving good ol’ comfort food. The delicate flavours of summer lack the oomph that our palates (and padding) require during winter. Enter the magical cooking technique called braising, the method behind France’s famous coq au vin and boeuf bourguignon and Italy’s osso buco—chef talk for the slow cooking of cheap cuts of meat. “Braising” sounds like a complicated culinary term, but really all it means is slow cooking in a flavourful liquid. The key is to start with a tough and inexpensive cut of meat—like a beef blade roast, cross cut roast, shanks or brisket or even pork shoulder roast. These cuts aren’t only less punishing on the pocketbook, they are best enjoyed through braising. The ultimate cooking pot for braising is an enameled cast iron pot like a Le Creuset; if you don’t have one, any heavy pot will do. Season the meat generously with
salt and pepper and sear until browned all over. Remove it and set aside. Toss in chopped onions, celery and carrots (a mirepoix), then turn the heat down to medium to let the vegetables cook slowly and release their yumminess. After about five minutes, deglaze with some wine or stock. “Deglazing” is the process of loosening those browned bits (the fond) stuck to the bottom of the pot after searing. Return the meat to the pot and add liquid to cover at least three-quarters of the meat—a combo of flavourful stock and wine is perfect. Many recipes call for the addition of water; feel free to throw in spices, fresh herbs, garlic…you are limited only by your imagination. Bring the liquid to a slow simmer (not a boil!). Cook it on the stovetop or, if your pot is oven safe, pop it in at 300°F. The meat is ready when it is “fork tender”—if you stick a fork into it, the meat falls away. Total time: around 2.5 hours. (Beware: The meat will get much tougher during the
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Despite having been adopted as a status symbol by rappers and SNL’s The Ladies Man, cognac has retained its elegant heritage with nary a blemish on its reputation. Perhaps it’s too smooth for anything negative to stick. Or perhaps it has to do with the fact that the spirit has been linked to such historical heavyweights as Louis XIV and Napoleon. For Hennessy, the producer that supplies more than 40 percent of the world’s cognac, appreciation comes with the gradual refinement of one’s taste. But unlike other snooty spirits—Armagnac, par exemple—there’s no
er cktail shak ients in a co ed e gr rv in se d il Bu usly and ake vigoro h S e. ic h it w s. in rocks glas
shame in mixing cognac in a cocktail, adding some soda water or dropping in an ice cube. It is to be enjoyed, as the French say, à chacun son goût. Hennessy brand ambassador Cyrille Gautier Auriol advises holding the cognac glass— preferably a tulip or balloon snifter—away from your nose and gently swirling it closer to your face, allowing the palate to prepare for it. Never stick your nose right in; at 40% alcohol it’s sure to give you an unpleasant start. While it has normally been associated with postmeal digestion, cognac can just as easily pair with a main course, although Gautier Auriol
PHOTOS: (COCKTAIL) COREY LADOUCEUR, (BOTTLE) SHAUN STUART FOR HENNESSY
MEET YOUR meAt
cooking process before it gets tender, but once the internal temperature is high enough it will fall apart.) How does braising work its magic? Tough cuts of meat come from well-used muscles that contain a higher amount of connective tissue called collagen. When cooked slowly in liquid, collagen is converted to gelatin, the substance that brings body and decadence to your palate. The “wet heat” from cooking in liquid is essential in this process because the liquid transfers heat more effectively than dry heat. If you were to use a dry-heat cooking method, such as oven roasting, on a tough cut, the outer portions of the meat would become overcooked, dry and tough long before the internal temperature of the meat becomes high enough to break down the collagen. Our mothers may not have known the science behind their Sunday night pot roast but it was still magic.
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Alimento Mozza Bar 522 King St. W. / 416.362.0123 alimentofinefoods.com
PHOTOS: (BAR MOZZA) FRANCO DELEO, (PRODUCTS) GEOFFREY KNOTT
If you, like us, began to wonder if the sign at King and Brant promising a mozzarella bar was just a tease, ta-da!, the big reveal has occurred. And the hood, starved as it has been for a quality food emporium, is in for a treat. Housed inside a vast former warehouse space, redesigned by OfficeArchitecture, are three good things at once: BAR Mozza—a marble-counter trattoria where King Westers can pop in for a quick espresso or a simple Med-style repast; an exceptionally wellstocked Italian alimentari, or grocery store; and on the lower level, Forno Cultura, an artisanal Italian bakery headed up by Laura White (formerly of Susur and Xococava). The clever brainchild of the cheese-making Contardi brothers, whose parents founded Woodbridge-based Grande Cheese after arriving here from Puglia, and Andrea Mastrandrea, whose family are longtime Italian bakers, Alimento conveys a second-generation savvy and sensibility: Everything on offer in the retail end of the umbrella operation is either imported from Italy, locally supplied by small producers or made on the premises. And everything on the menu in the adjoining restaurant hails from the shop next door. Not to miss are the fresh fior di latte and burrata flown in almost daily from Italy and the killer biscotti (both bitter almond and hazelnut).
warns: “Don’t drink it like wine. Cognac is an association of taste, not to quench your thirst.” Try a V.S.O.P with fish or an X.O with red meat. Select LCBOs recently started carrying two of Hennessy’s most prestigious blends, Paradis and Richard Hennessy. The former undergoes an aging process of up to 130 years and elicits what Gautier Auriol describes as a “beachy sensation with waves of flavours that start floral and gradually roll to sweet and deep.” He advises pairing it with a highquality white or milk chocolate to enhance the experience—and feel free to drop in an ice cube to open the spirit up. Richard Hennessy, however, is not one to be trifled with. “You don’t put anything in this cognac, nor do you pair it with anything,” Gautier Auriol says. “When you drink this, you are face-to-face with Monsieur Richard and you are having a conversation. He has a lot to express.” As the oldest cognac in the world (aged 200 years), M. Richard will likely express his earthy, woody and mushroomy notes and fresh finish, and he’ll definitely want to share his Baccarat crystal vessel. He may even mention that he runs about $4,850 a bottle. All told, it’s a good chat. —Marilisa Racco
The Art of Living According to Joe Beef: A Cookbook of Sorts dishes on more than just the meat, Montreal style. $40. Indigo / chapters.indigo.ca
Raise a toast to the beatnik classic with this stainless steel and leather “On the Road” flask. $36. Drake General Store / drakegeneralstore.myshopify.com
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PEOPLE • PLACES • PICKS
The Second City
70 Peter St. / 416.340.7270 / secondcity.com Eager to amuse? The Second City offers improv, acting and writing classes, all with a focus on comedy. Keep in mind that many a career in film and television was launched right here. From $280 for an 8-week series.
Studies show that learning new things and integrating different routines into our lives keeps our brains healthier and our bodies younger. This time of year, when temptations to hibernate are high, is the perfect time to get off the couch and take that class you’ve had your eye on. The good news is you don’t have to stray very far.
Calphalon Culinary Center
Lee Valley Tools
590 King St. W. / 416.366.5959 / leevalley.com Wish you (or your partner) were more handy? Lee Valley offers seminars and workshops in handiwork and handicrafts—everything from woodworking and carving soapstone to restoring your own furniture. From $40 per class.
Danceology
425 King St. W. / 416.847.2212 / calphalon.com/centers Sharpen those knives and get out your apron. This King West cookshop offers classes in every technique and cuisine from butchering and braising your own meat to food and wine pairing to celebrating your root cellar. Sign up for a single class or a series (starting at $150).
171 East Liberty St. / 416.588.0111 / danceology.org Learn to cut a rug. Danceology offers classes in ballroom, swing, salsa, mambo and more. Or channel your inner Travolta and master the hustle. First lesson and consultation is free; classes range from $20 for drop-in to $299 for a series.
Toronto Image Works
Sears and Switzer
80 Spadina Ave. / 416.703.1999 / tiwi.ca Calling all shutterbugs: Toronto Image Works provides an array of classes in photography, print, design and multimedia. Some courses require prior knowledge (like the one on InDesign, which asks for solid Mac skills). Classes start at $90.
626 King St. W. / 416.516.4612 / searsandswitzer.com Get ready for your close-up. For those who want to hone their performance skills, Sears and Switzer, which boasts a loyal following from industry insiders, offers classes for stage, screen and performance art. From $20 an hour. —Sheetal Lodhia
THE LIST Heads-up on what not to miss Sundance Film Festival
Park City, Utah Lyonel Feininger: From Manhattan to the Bauhaus
Montreal Museum of Fine Arts Interior Design Show
Metro Toronto Convention Centre War Horse
Princess of Wales Theatre, Toronto This Will Have Been: Art, Love & Politics in the 1980s
Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago Carnival
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Cindy Sherman
MoMA, New York City Fashion Week Grace Kelly: From Movie Star to Princess
TIFF Bell Lightbox, Toronto November 4 - January 22, 2012
Paris, France SXSW Music Festival
Austin, Texas Keith Haring: 1978–1982
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Brooklyn Museum
Jan 19 – Jan 29 Jan 20 – May 13 Jan 26 – Jan 29 Feb 10 – May 6 Feb 11 – June 3 Feb 18 – Feb 21 Feb 26 – June 11 Feb 28 – Mar 7 Mar 13 – Mar 18 Mar 16 – July 8
PHOTOS: (GRACE KELLY) MAGNUM PHOTOS, COURTESY OF TIFF, (RING AND CUFFLINKS) GEOFFREY KNOTT, (WATCH) AUDEMARS PIGUET
Where to Learn New Tricks
StufF IT Tiny trinkets, big statement
PHOTOS: (DJ JEDI) KERI KNAPP
(Clockwise from below) Equestrian Charms in Hunter Cowhide. From $470 / hermes.com; Remedy Aspirin Cufflinks. $130 / simoncarter.net; Millenary Hand Wound Minute Repeater. $475,770 Royal de Versailles Jewelers / audemarspiguet.com; Kara by Kara Ross 18K Gold-Plated Stingray Crescent Ring. $170 / holtrenfrew.com; Untitled by Maison Martin Margiela. $110 / thebay.com
DJ Jedi’s Top 10 Holiday Tunes
PEOPLE • PLACES • PICKS
ACADEMY OF SPHERICAL ARTS 1 Snooker St. / 416.532.2782 / sphericalarts.com Tucked away in Liberty Village, this Academy can lay claim to a long billiardball history. Well before local sharks were racking them up or indulging in a scotch (140-plus varieties stocked), the venerable Brunswick Balke Collender (BBC) manufactured tables, cues and all things pool in this former factory for almost a half-century. Today the atmospheric post-industrial warehouse has been re-imagined as a 20,000-square-foot games room complete with vintage pool tables that were once manufactured by BBC in the very same space decades ago. With its well-stocked bar and full menu (brunch, lunch and dinner) this most meta pool hall is the perfect spot for both novices and super novas to come in from the cold and hone their game. Players can call the shots seven days a week; table rentals from $20 per hour.
THE BALLROOM
SPiN GALACTIC 461 King St. W. / 416.599.SPiN / toronto.spingalactic.com Bring your A game: Toronto’s newest nightspot, SPiN Galactic, aims to bring back old-school fun to the local nightclub scene with a hip, young twist. Fourth in a chain of North American ping pong clubs made famous by celebrity cofounder Susan Sarandon (who was there at the opening and says she loves the game because “it cuts across every de demographic”), SPiN’s 12,000-square-foot lower-level King West location—a former printing house— boasts two bars, 12 ping pong tables, a private party room and, natch, retro-classic comfort food. Membership will run table-tennis toffs $300 per year—perks include the luxury of booking a table in advance, discounted fees and priority access to SPiN events. You can also just pop in and play (table rentals cost $28 per hour after 5 pm). Glowin-the-dark ’pong, anyone? — —Kate Gertner
Think 21st-century hipster bowling: no smelly rental shoes, guys in wife-beaters or stale food here. With 10 state-of-the-art lanes, a fully stocked bar and over 20,000 square feet of nonstop fun (10-pin! dancing! karaoke!), this two-storey entertainment complex is not your typical suburban bowl-a-rama. The Ballroom, which opened last year in the former Montana’s at the corner of John and Richmond, seems to have already struck a chord with locals looking for some action in their nightlife. One could say the combination of top-notch chef Tawfik Shehata’s gourmet menu, the strict “all rock, all the time” music policy and the urban chic decor is bowling over patrons one strike at a time (lane rentals from $25 per hour).
Cire Trudon’s “Grande Bougie” gives you 200 hours of scented bliss. $480. AVENUE ROAD / avenue-road.com Crack a cold one with the Brass Antler Bottle Opener. $14.50. Indigo / chapters.indigo.ca
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Show your true colours with North Star’s Crazy Canuck Toque. $30. Drake General Store / drakegeneralstore.myshopify.com
PHOTOS: (BOTTLE OPENER AND TOQUE) GEOFFREY KNOTT, (SPiN) ROXY HUNT AND TONY CASTLE
145 John St. / 416.597.2695 / theballroom.ca
PEOPLE • PLACES • PICKS
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Ortolan restaurant In just the past year, the gritty crack-and-strip-club-infested strip around Lansdowne known as Bloordale has become the latest fertile soil to sprout vintage clothing and conceptual art and organic almonds. It’s the perfect climate—the ideal combination of abandoned storefronts and a subway line—for hipsters to cultivate their beards in. Now there is a tiny, fabulous, grown-up restaurant, opened up by refugees from Ossington, right in the shadow of the House of Lancaster. It’s named after a rare game bird and serves simple, somewhat rustic Franco-Italian dishes with the occasional creative-international twist, using local meats and cheeses. Its very simplicity is sophisticated. Grab the window seats to watch the colourful street life.
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THE BLUE
Jean Sibelius Symphony #5, Op. 82
For over 10 years now, English-speaking nerds with a leftist/intellectual bent have kept ahead of the news by logging on every day to a community weblog called Metafilter—nicknamed The Blue for its bright background colour—where links to investigations and essays and new artworks are posted. The posts are about politics and science and pop culture in equal measure; the only thing they share is that they are all fascinating. These are crucial new ideas that usually are not covered in The Globe and Mail or on the CBC. (For the most part, they haven’t received mainstream coverage because to explain them would take too long.) The difference between this and all other aggregators is that membership is limited, the comments are strictly moderated and the level of debate is adult and learned. I get so much new information from The Blue that I start to wonder what other big stories TV, print and radio simply ignore.
The winter swoops down on us, and this grand, melancholy Finnish soundscape is its backdrop. You’ve probably heard the majestic melody from the last movement many times without knowing what it is; it’s sometimes called the “swan-call” motif because legend has it the composer was inspired by watching 16 swans taking off at once. It’s a giant, brassy anthem with the French horns rearing up en masse like an airstrike. The rest of the symphony—and indeed all of Sibelius—is worth listening to as well, particularly as the days grow dark and empty. This is boreal music. It’s uncomplicated, musically, and clearly an inspiration for the sombre minimalism of the Estonian Arvo Pärt (also a northern-landscape freak). Sibelius was a conservative, steadfastly refusing modernism; this Romantic piece was composed in 1915. Maybe he had black chandeliers, too.
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A BLACK CHANDELIER
THE WALLACE AVENUE FOOTBRIDGE
It’s jet, it’s baroque, it’s goth-y, and it hangs over my little dining room table in my narrow little house. The space is really too small for something so grandiose. Yes, we looked at all kinds of clever modernist fixtures, all kinds of brainy lamps made of steel mesh and Mason jars, white balls and grey boxes, but it made me realize I’m tired of everything being slick and clean and geometric. My house was built in 1898, we painted the rooms dark colours and crammed it with books and unframed paintings—and now it’s stacked floor-to-ceiling with children’s toys, too. There’s just no point for us to try to resist its natural affinity with the archaic and the ornate. If you can’t help going Victorian cabinet-of-curiosities, don’t be ashamed. We got the chandelier at Châtelet on Queen West for around $300, and there are lots more in different sizes, not all of them black.
This tall wrought-iron structure, crossing the tracks north of Bloor and Dundas West, appears in about 1 in 10 TV commercials and music videos shot in Toronto because it has so much industrial charm. Built in 1907 and recently refurbished, it’s got Dickensian lamps hanging from curlicued posts, it’s got graffiti, it’s got teenage lovers, it’s got a giant mural at its base (and, guess what: chandeliers). It’s the gateway to the Junction, that isolated yet cheery zone that still looks like a small Ontario town in 1935, and there’s certainly a Depression vibe to it, as if a gangster in a fedora and two-tone shoes might be smoking a cigarette on the lonely street below. It offers a vista of factories both abandoned and renovated, a snapshot of the changing city. It’s quiet. I climb up on weekday evenings to stand in the wind and stare down at the empty tracks and the weeds.
Russell Smith writes novels set in Toronto. His latest is Girl Crazy. He also writes two weekly columns for The Globe and Mail, one on style and one on culture, and is one of the founders of the online men’s magazine DailyXY.com. / 31
WHERE PIZZA MET COCKTAIL
King West’s neighbourhood restaurant INSPIRED IN ITALY, MADE IN CANADA
333 King Street West T: 416.599.6585 | 3827 Bathurst Street T: 416.631.6585 www.paeseristorante.com
PHOTOGRAPHY BY DAN COUTO
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11-11-14 12:01 PM
PHOTOS: THE CORPORATION OF MASSEY HALL AND ROY THOMSON HALL, (FOUR SEASONS) STEVEN EVANS, (KOERNER HALL) ARASH MOALLEMI
By Alex Bozikovic here is a tradition of talking about concert halls as grande dames. And, indeed, just like great performers, they each have their own signature style. In the King West hood, we’re close to some of the finest in the city: the Romanesque grandeur of Massey Hall, the concrete and glass glamour of Roy Thomson, and the glossy new Four Seasons Centre and Koerner Hall. “They all have different personalities,” says Globe and Mail music critic Robert Everett-Green. “They serve different types of performance, and it has to do with the shape of the hall and the acoustic reflections.” Between them, these venues make the city’s downtown come alive with every form of performing art, contributing, both architecturally and culturally, to the city’s increasingly vibrant streetscape.
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MASSEY HALL
PHOTOS: (INTERIOR) THE CORPORATION OF MASSEY HALL AND ROY THOMSON HALL, (EXTERIOR) STEPHEN CHUNG
Finished in 1894, this 2,765-seater was Toronto’s first great auditorium— built by the manufacturer Hart Massey, who wanted to boost the city’s cultural fortunes and encourage virtues like patriotism and godliness. He got part of what he wanted: This is where the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and the Mendelssohn Choir got started, and now it hosts rock acts like Wilco and Feist. Crowded onto the corner of Shuter and Victoria, it’s one of the most vitally urban places in the city. On a show night, the crowds out front— smoking, buzzing, buying and selling—mix with Eaton Centre shoppers and St. Mike’s Hospital visitors on the narrow sidewalk. And through its evolution from a temple of high culture to a hangout for hipsters, Massey Hall retained its central position in Toronto’s cultural scene. Its classic shape always made for fine acoustic sound. But some of the great performances over the years have been amplified and recorded for the ages— think Neil Young’s classic performance in 1971 or the legendary 1953 gig led by Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker that’s known to jazz fans as one of the great shows of all time. So what’s the quality that brought out greatness in all of these performers? Atmosphere. “Massey is this amazing old place with a tremendous history,” says music critic Everett-Green, who has enjoyed performances of all kinds there. “And architecturally, it’s incredible, although it’s a bit scarred.” Indeed, the hall needs work and now some of its original features are missing (the ceiling, once ornate plaster, is now bare concrete). But the dramatic Moorish-style arches and colonnades—and even those cramped wooden seats up in the balconies— only add to the vibe.
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PHOTOS: (INTERIOR) THE CORPORATION OF MASSEY HALL AND ROY THOMSON HALL, (EXTERIOR) ARASH MOALLEMI
ROY THOMSON HALL Opened in 1982, it was conceived as “the new Massey Hall,” a fresh home for the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. The late B.C.-born Arthur Erickson, one of Canada’s great modernists, designed a bold building with an innovative round shape and a glass facade that covers it like a jeweled shawl. A finely landscaped garden below-ground circles the building. This graceful combination no doubt contributed to its official heritage designation. Inside, the foyer has a slightly back-to-the-future feel, with its mirrored walls and many landings of glass and concrete. It wraps all the way around the hall, so intermission crowds can make an endless circuit in search of a companion. As for the hall itself, it was always a looker but didn’t sound as good; high-tech round sound reflectors never did much to bounce the music back to the audience. A $24-million renovation in 2002, by locals KPMB Architects, introduced plenty of Canadian maple to the interior, with sound baffles around the walls and a new canopy. “It was a tremendous transformation of the hall between seasons,” says Marianne McKenna, partner-in-charge of KPMB. Today, Roy Thomson is still home to the TSO and is well liked by the orchestra’s audience. For smaller-scale performances, though, Roy Thomson can seem a bit daunting. Elizabeth DeGrazia, a classical and musical-theatre performer who has appeared onstage there, puts it this way: “You really have to stretch yourself out to reach the edges of the hall.” And that sort of feeling—a combination of space, visual cues and the sound of the place— is hugely important to performers, she says, particularly singers. “We are really affected by the place we go into,” she explains. “It affects the place you have to go inside yourself to connect.”
FOUR SEASONS CENTRE FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS
PHOTOS: (INTERIOR) TIM GRIFFITH, (EXTERIOR) ARASH MOALLEMI
Designed by Jack Diamond and his firm Diamond and Schmitt Architects, this University Avenue edifice answered Toronto’s decades-long need for a proper opera house when it opened in 2006. As a work of architecture, the $150-million building is rather restrained, as Diamond and Schmitt buildings usually are: On three sides it’s a well-proportioned box of eggplant brick, steel and modest expanses of glass. But then there is its one very bold move: a tall atrium, called the Isadore and Rosalie Sharp City Room, which faces the avenue with a tall shimmering curtain of lowiron glass. As dressed-up patrons ascend the hall’s grand staircase—also made of glass—they become performers in a silent processional. This is an architectural showpiece, but it gathers its verve and its energy from the people within. It’s a very democratic opera house, and very Toronto. Inside, nearly the entire building is filled up by a 2,000-seat hall with five balconies and a classic horseshoe shape. The acoustics have won love from critics, but music critic Everett-Green praises the venue most highly for the great views of the stage. “It does its job well of presenting an art form,” he says. “They really went out of their way to improve the sightlines. It’s designed for visual art forms: You want to see the opera, and you certainly want to see the ballet.” There’s also visual delight in the hall itself: Undulating panels of beech wood wrap each section of seats and each balcony. It’s a beautiful room, and clearly Montreal’s orchestra thought so as well. That city’s brand new symphony hall, by the same architects, bears close resemblance to its Toronto cousin.
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PHOTOS: (INTERIOR) TOM ARBAN, (EXTERIOR) ARASH MOALLEMI
KOERNER HALL Happily, since 2009, the city’s had a hall that’s ideal for a more intimate kind of performance. Attached to the Royal Conservatory of Music, Koerner Hall—part of a renovation that’s won a pile of architectural awards for KPMB—is a new building that balances the Gothic stonework of the 1881 Conservatory with glass, black brick and 21st-century wood. And since the hall is attached to the busy music school that is the conservatory, “there’s a 24/7 quality to it,” says KPMB’s McKenna, who led the design of the project. “The students come in the morning for rehearsal, and performances go right into the evening.” She compares it to New York’s famous Juilliard School, which is attached to the Lincoln Center complex. “But here, because they’re so close, the two aspects—performance and education—are right on top of each other.” Inside, Koerner Hall strikes a familiar note. With 1,135 seats, it’s similar in scale to Carnegie Hall or Amsterdam’s beloved Concertgebouw. And, for many classical and jazz performances, that seems to be a magic number. “The volume is large enough for a symphony orchestra, but it also sings with small groups,” says McKenna, who has taken in note-perfect performances by the conservatory’s orchestra with local stars as well as global A-listers. “It brings together people into a community around music.” And she credits this to qualities of space, particularly the way the seating wraps the stage. “For musicians, there’s the embrace of the hall: Your audience is literally around you. There are good vibes in the room.” Another happy attribute is the presence of so many natural materials. Koerner’s interior is graced, like an instrument, with curvy “strings” of oak that stretch out over the audience. Performer DeGrazia is deeply enthusiastic about the hall for just this reason: “The materials and the textures make it so warm! Your voice sounds warm. Your body feels warm.” And then when the embrace of the music is done, you step out with the rest of the crowd, into a foyer that’s a spectacle of its own. An intricate puzzle of steel mullions and glass, slate walls, old brick and rusticated stone, your reflection dancing on the windows as towering trees and the bright lights of the skyline crane up to the stars. This is what Toronto’s culture looks like at its sharpest and most ambitious. Look. Alex Bozikovic works in the Arts section at The Globe and Mail and covers architecture for magazines in North America and Europe, including Dwell, Azure, Spacing and Frame. He also writes about design in Toronto for nomeancity.net.
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PHOTOS: (PORTRAIT) FRANCO DELEO, (LOCATION) CLAYTON BUDD
DESIGN
KEEPING IT REAL How Design Within Reach got its groove back
PHOTO: ARASH MOALLEMI
By Tim McKeough | Photography by Arash Moallemi
tylishly situated in a heritage building on King West, the Toronto flagship of Design Within Reach is the Canadian arm of one of the continent’s largest retailers of modern furniture—the go-to source for everything Eames, George Nelson and Arne Jacobsen. Just two years ago, however, it looked as though the company was about to implode. Its stock price had plummeted (it was delisted from Nasdaq in 2009 and rescued by a hedge fund), it was closing stores and laying off staff, and it began selling more and more knockoff items—almost unimaginable behaviour for a company that many consumers had considered the premier source of authentic designer furniture. Things really seemed to be unraveling when Heller and Blu Dot—two American furniture manufacturers that had previously supplied hot-selling pieces to DWR—separately sued the retailer for carrying obvious copies of their creations.
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DESIGN
“I used to call the Design Within Reach
c
design. If you read that every month,
y
But over the past couple of years, with a new leadership team in place, DWR has achieved a dramatic turnaround. In January 2010, the company’s new CEO John Edelman and new COO John McPhee—both of whom had previously managed the designer resource Edelman Leather—took over with the goal of righting the ship. “It was in complete shambles,” Edelman says. “For a period of time, they had no direction. The management, rather than trying to find those next authentic, modern, iconic pieces, did a lot of knockoff things. They’d find something and they’d copy it. That’s a very slippery slope.” Edelman had been a longtime fan of the retailer and remembered its glory days. Founded in 1999 by Rob Forbes, DWR’s original mission was to provide access to manufacturers like Herman Miller and Knoll who previously sold only to the trade. As a consumer, “it was the first time you could buy an Eames lounge and ottoman or a Knoll Womb chair or an Emeco chair,” Edelman says. Just as inspiring, he notes, were the company’s catalogs. “I used to call the Design Within Reach catalogs the Monarch Notes of modern design. If you read that catalog every month, you could discuss the classics.” Of course, the retail landscape has changed significantly since 1999. Not only can you now find an Eames Lounge with a quick search on Google Shopping, but such mid-century modern icons have become so familiar that they sometimes feel tired. Edelman’s vision—now being implemented across DWR’s 44 “studios,” online shop and catalog—is once again to position the company as the source for authentic pieces, while also introducing customers to the very best of 21st-century design. “We came in very clear—we would have no knockoffs, just 100 percent authentic design,” he says. “And, rather than copying, we would hire designers, make them famous and develop, on our own, the next iconic pieces. There’s a void in the North American market for companies with the size and girth to not only hire a designer but to have enough retail locations to actually sell their pieces.” The result is that DWR’s stores and catalogs, which were not too long ago largely predictable, are now looking surprisingly fresh. In addition to offering the pieces that modern loft owners know and love, Edelman and his team have been working to bring back long-forgotten classics. For instance, in collaboration with the Verner Panton Estate, DWR recently reintroduced the Danish designer’s groovy 1973 System 1-2-3 dining and lounge chairs, 1963 Barboy rolling bar cart, and 1975 circular Panton Rug. “We’re going to re-educate North Americans about those pieces,” Edelman says. “For me, that’s an honour.” At the same time, the company has been developing exclusive
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,
catalogs the Monarch Notes of modern you could discuss the classics.”
PHOTOS: ARASH MOALLEMI, (CATALOG IMAGES) JIM BASTARDO/DESIGN WITHIN REACH
h
DESIGN
products with both emerging and established designers that customers won’t see anywhere else. That includes the clean-lined Raleigh sofa and chair by New York’s Jeffrey Bernett and Nicholas Dodziuk, the angular wood Primary Desk by Singapore’s Nathan Yong, and soon-to-bereleased products by the renowned American designer David Weeks. The company is also working with 96-year-old Danish designer Jens Risom, who created mid-century modern classics for Knoll in the 1940s, in hopes of developing new iconic pieces some 70 years later. “He’s as cutting edge as anyone,” Edelman says. “I don’t care if a designer is 96 or 30—it’s more of a mindset than an age.” DWR’s most surprising move might be its recent partnerships with young, edgy companies such as Muuto from Denmark, Skitsch from Italy, and Roll & Hill from Brooklyn, giving widespread distribution to a curated selection of those companies’ cutting-edge goods. “With Muuto and Skitsch, we’ve become their exclusive distribution in the U.S. and Canada; we’ve become partners,” Edelman says. Recognizing that it would be a nearly impossible task to stay on top of design developments in every country, partnering with companies that already filter new talent has been, in Edelman’s words, “a great help to us.” The result is that shoppers are being surprised by pieces like Muuto’s playfully squishy silicone Unfold Pendant Lamp by the design firm Form Us With Love, Skitsch’s dainty Midas collection of gold-dipped glassware by Swedish design firm Front, and Roll & Hill’s cheeky ceramic Superordinate Antler chandeliers by Brooklyn designer Jason Miller, which bring deer antlers out of the hunting lodge and into the home. Consumers aren’t the only ones noticing the shift—professional designers are, too. “I’m so excited by what John Edelman is doing,” says Jayne Michaels of the Manhattan interior design firm 2Michaels. “He’s changing the look. It really got a little stale when they were only doing mid-century icons. It got to a point where I would never look at the catalog because it was just the same old stuff.” Now that’s changed, she says, because “he goes out, finds new talents and supports them.” Equally important, says Michaels, is that the company is offering a wider range of styles, which generates more design possibilities. “Not everyone is going to be into mid-century. Design Within Reach has a really broad spectrum now.” According to Edelman, that change is by design. “We’ve launched more new pieces in the last 18 months than the company did in the past six or seven years,” he says. “We want to be the home of modern—not just mid-century modern. I believe in living with an eclectic style.”
Design Within Reach 435 King St. W. / 416.977.4003 / dwr.com
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1 Grange
150 King St. E. / grangeny.com On the hunt for well-made classics? Fine cabinetmakers in the French tradition, Grange has been designing and manufacturing everything from beds to bookcases in the classical repertoire for over a century. Some designs, such as the vividly hued leather- and wood-paneled Jacob collection, are surprisingly quirky and contemporary. This exclusive Canadian location shares a historic King Street storefront with its sister company, culinary “it” cast iron stove maker AGA (aga-ranges.com).
2 Modern Weave
3 Calligaris
170 King St. E. / calligaristoronto.ca If you want the Philippe Starck look at Home Outfitters prices, you might want to check out this 88-year-old Italian manufacturer’s new Toronto flagship. Jazzy and cool with a loungey, modern urban aesthetic, Calligaris offers options for every room in your abode, including a lot of clever expandable and stacking pieces, like the Baron dining table and the pretty plastic Parisienne chairs—style solutions for the space challenged.
4 Montauk
220 King St. E. / montauksofa.com We love Montauk for its comfortable seating that defies couch-potato convention. Pioneers in oversized shabby chic, the Montreal-based manufacturer has shifted to a leaner, more fashion-forward silhouette. The new Wingback sofa is a novel hybrid, and Julian is so sleek it’s hard to believe it offers the size and comfort of a single bed. The accessories, like the battered wooden coffee tables from Paris, are pretty cool, too.
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160 King St. E. / modernweave.com
Don’t come here looking for a classic Persian. Modern Weave lives up to its billing with a series of exclusive carpet collections that are all about the cutting edge. Hippie-chic Modern Vintage is a series of reworked and over-dyed antique rugs in soft washes of acid hues; Modern Culture is a graphic series that ranges from Jackson-Pollack-like drips and splotches to digital graphics to inspirational word art. All can be ordered to precisely fit and match your place in custom colours and sizes.
5 Condobox
232 King St. E. / condobox.ca One-stop-shop Condobox is a godsend for downtown dwellers looking for space-saving solutions. Here, all the furniture works overtime—sofas transform into beds, headboards have built-in lighting, and every one of these hardworking pieces cleverly conceals storage. For the design impaired or simply disinterested, Condobox offers not only interior design services but also full furniture packages.
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FIELD TRIP: KING STREET EAST
Our editors hop the King streetcar to explore a design mecca that’s worth the ride
6 Trianon Design
247 King St. E. / trianon-online.com Lovely Trianon is like a trip to a really cool design shop on the Left Bank. Owners Lesley Macmillan and Bernard Le Corre have created a whimsical French fantasy in their King Street showroom, with witty, offbeat takes on the classics. A Louis XV chair is upholstered in a penguin print, light fixtures sparkle with rhinestones and drip with feathers. These are serious investment pieces without the seriousness. The perfect place to head for the kind of sophisticated finishing touch that makes for an interior with a little je ne sais quoi.
8 Klaus
300 King St. E. / klausn.com Daddy Klaus made Nienkämper a household name back in the late ’60s by introducing Toronto to fine European manufacturing and a modernist aesthetic. The charming Klaus Jr. (“K2”) is taking the veteran King Street storefront into a whole new dimension. This is the place to bone up on what’s happening at the cutting edge of global design: Moooi, Moroso, Tom Dixon and Maharam fabrics are all exclusively represented here. Tatar Art Projects curates contemporary art on three levels. And on the third floor you’ll still find the well-made enduring classics of the Nienkämper line.
7 Kiosk Design
288 King St. E. / kioskdesign.ca Robert Sidi’s fab new threestorey glass showroom by Vancouver architect Omer Arbel is a contemporary design fan’s playhouse. Sidi’s commitment to bringing in the best of the European modern is well actualized here with vignettes of smashing pieces from the likes of Ligne Roset (love the Ploum sofa), B&B Italia, Zanotta and Benson. Statement lighting, too, from Flos and Luceplan, and fantastic floor coverings from Spanish designer Nani Marquina and Italian sensation Paola Lenti. We want it all.
10 studio b
380 King St. E. / studiobhome.com David Beaton doesn’t mind being all things to design fans. His brandspanking-new showroom houses both the lush classics for the well-appointed uptown home (Barbara Barry, Baker and McGuire) as well as the most innovative knockout pieces for the adventurous (Philippe Starck, Vitra and Kartell) in one airy, elegant space. For those eager to equip their outdoor spaces in the latest fashion, Dedon’s loungey wicker shares the floor here, too.
9 UpCountry
310 King St. E. / upcountry.com This homegrown force in the design scene has flirted with everything from shabby-chic looks to modern vintage to its current fixation, a clubby Oxonian-meets-Carnaby-Street look. Most novel on the floor are distressed tufted leather seating and a witty Union Jack upholstered sofa, both by British designer Timothy Oulton. Nice retro travel-trunk coffee tables and framed ship flags, too.
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P hotos
by Da
ve Tod
on
CULTURE t’s 9:30 pm and we’re forced to leave our packed streetcar because someone has puked. We are heading west on Queen Street when the driver tells us to evacuate due to “unsanitary conditions.” It’s barely dark and downtown is already inundated with drunk art enthusiasts taking over the streets. Abruptly thrown into the fray outside City Hall, we navigate the already accumulating throng of onlookers. Unsure of where to start, my friend Bri and I make our way to the first seemingly official installation—a promisingly deep circle of onlookers who are watching a guy play a drum kit in a hollowed-out car. The crowd seems mesmerized but we are mystified, so we wander toward Nathan Phillips Square. People are standing around looking confused, as dry ice and strobe lights give the square an eerie vibe. We are promised a zipline, so we make our way toward the scaffolding but there are no stunts in sight. We leave City Hall, cut through the Eaton Centre and stumble into a few cool installations on Yonge. Drawn in by a slightly creepy ambient noise, we encounter a scene from a thriller at Commerce Court. With police searchlights and chopper sound effects, the installation entitled “Soon,” curated by Nicholas Brown, is all about creating tension. The crowd seems enthralled by the sense of impending doom. Soon a few people wade into the pond, and the searchlights find them, and others join in under the lights. Eventually the fun is over when security arrives and tells the enthusiastic participants to come out of the fountain. Orchestrated or a moment of spontaneity? We will never know. Steps away at the Design Exchange, we join the massive line to get in without knowing fully what we’re lining up for. The line snakes in through the door, leading to a few disco-style light boxes on the ground that we step onto. Maybe the endless line is the actual exhibit? We end up in a huge ballroom filled with video projections of psychedelic waves set to ambient sounds. The vibe is very relaxed and couples are embracing in the pinkish glow. There is a collection of hanging disco balls in gemlike enclosures and people are lying down on the ground and staring up at the ceiling. Miles Keller and Michele Woodey’s “Je t’aime Alouette” is so mellow—almost the opposite of our Commerce Court experience—that we don’t want to leave. We finally pick ourselves up off the ground and head toward Queen Street. We end up singing a very spirited impromptu version of “American Pie” along with a karaoke group at Queen and University. We walk past two guys dressed up in foam brick outfits who are rapping on a stage, looking like
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big, chunky human Inukshuks. An impromptu dubstep dance party on the sidewalk takes over at Queen and John. In need of some refreshment, we stop in at 416 Snack Bar on Bathurst, downing apple fritters and beer for fortification. We sit on a couple of stools in the packed bar and debrief about the night so far before decamping toward Trinity Bellwoods. En route we notice tons of people dressed up like it’s Halloween, in bear costumes or wearing elaborate clownish makeup. Buskers, too, are dressed up and the drunken crowd is joining in. At 2 am we’re losing steam so we stop in at a Starbucks, which is open until 3 tonight. All the servers are dishing out lattes in cowboy hats. We walk toward a teepee set up in the middle of Trinity Bellwoods Park that turns out to be an exhibit called “We are Water” by The Doh.Crew. Around the teepee are clear trash bags piled high with cans of Pepsi and the crowd gathered round cheers as a guy launches himself into the garbage. We duck into the teepee and stand around a campfire with some hipsters wrapped in plaid and wool blankets. It feels like we’re intruding, so we head over to the other end of the park where a gypsy jazz band is rocking out on accordions and clarinets. After
their song ends, we join a group of tribal drummers gathered in a circle blowing whistles and dance to their beats. As we leave the park we bump into some friends head heading east. They tell us about the crazy things they’ve seen and we make plans to meet up later if we find something amazing. As the night draws on it becomes less clear who is actually part of Nuit Blanche and who is merely embracing the spirit of the night. Lots of the galleries are still open, letting the crowd filter in and out. We see a guy doing large-scale graffiti while a tent set up with DJs blasts tunes. Another gallery space has a DJ in the front window and a psychedelic video projection. One guy has a moment against the screen, clearly feeling the music, and does some solo dancing in the trippy colour show. The real interest, though, is in the night’s mix. Deckedout nightclub patrons in heels and short skirts trickle out of Nyood, while a guy uses a pylon as a megaphone to shout at passersby. It seems as though people are wearing progressively weirder outfits as we near the Drake. Somehow this night is an excuse for everyone to get wasted and put on their strangest garb. Eventually, sick of weaving around overzealous freaks, we head for a slice. The Pizza Pizza on the corner is overrun and the lone girl behind the counter is taking forever, but we score two slices and scarf them down before calling it a night and grabbing a cab. At one point in the night, a group asked us for a photo. The drunken friends posed as we took their picture. There was some confusion as to whether it worked or whether we should retake it. And then one girl spoke up, professing that she was happy “just so long as it’s out there.” From an artistic perspective, Nuit Blanche may not be a fully coherent presentation. Nonetheless, it is a chance for Toronto to put it out there.
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PROBLEM SOLVED
ASK THE GALLERISTS
HOW DO I START BUYING ART?
Art Interiors artinteriors.ca
When buying original artwork, the most important thing is to buy what you like. You will be the one looking at it and enjoying it, so you better really like it! Do not buy art to match your room— not for colour or theme or the style of your decor. Put away the paint chip and forget that the style of your house is contemporary— it doesn’t matter! All that matters is that you love it. Do your research! If you’re just starting an art collection, find a good dealer you can trust. You want to make sure to buy an original piece of art, done by an artist (not mechanical), and that will help justify the price you’re quoted. Do not buy art only if it will appreciate in value. It’s only an investment when you sell it! Buy a mutual fund instead and invest in art that makes you happy (or sad, any emotion will do). Lastly, buy a young emerging Canadian artist. Support those who are just starting out and feel good about it!
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Ron Moore Moore Gallery mooregallery.com
For the past 40 years dealing in Canadian art, my advice to collectors has basically stayed the same. Most importantly, find a dealer you trust and respect. Secondly, spend time reading about art and learning about the history and evolution of painting. In my case, this specifically applies to Canadian art. This study time is very important in developing your eye as to the type of art and imagery that appeals to you. Your dealer will then help you select works that satisfy your taste and budget. The more historically relevant your choices, the better long-term investment potential your collection will have. Spending time in public galleries viewing historical work will also help you develop your eye for collecting better-quality works. Finally, have fun and enjoy the work you select.
Manny Neubacher & Anya Shor
Alison Milne & Anthea Baxter-Page
The Art Stylists artstylists.com
The Alison Milne Gallery alisonmilne.com/studio
Knowledge is great ammo for your hunt for a new piece. It will help you feel more confident about your choices. Visit as many places and view as much artwork as your time permits. The more you see, the more your taste will refine itself and your boundaries will expand. Get online. Every gallery has a website featuring its artists’ work. Sign up with Akimbo. It’s free and will keep you up to date with art events. Put yourself on gallery lists and get invited to openings. Join art groups and check out gallery guides. Talk to artists and other collectors. If the pieces you see are out of your price range, the artist may have smaller works or limited-edition pieces that you can afford. Break convention— a modern piece looks fabulous in a traditional home, and vice versa. Fallen in love with a portrait? Hang it in your kitchen! Finally, trust your instinct. You know more than you think.
Whether you’re buying art for love or for money, it should raise the hair off your arm. The work needs to speak to you personally in order to have longevity and relevance. If a piece of art moves you, you’ll never regret the purchase. If you are redecorating, building or moving, establish an art budget independent of your design/decorating budget. Don’t be afraid to let the art define your space. The last thing you want is to buy a piece of art to match your furniture. Think of the two as complements: Your furniture is the foundation and the art is the emotion. Art brings your personality into the room, so have some fun with it! And do your homework. Don’t assume that the list price is fair. Talk to people, subscribe to auction sites, read blogs, go to galleries, shop around for comparable work. Your artwork should be a conversation piece. Get to know the artist and the story behind the work. Get the best that you can afford and get what you love.
Susan Hobbs Susan Hobbs Gallery susanhobbs.com
When starting a contemporary art collection, buy with your brain as well as your heart and eyes. Begin with research: Read magazines that profile contemporary art. Look at art—not just online but visit galleries. And, most importantly, ask. Gallerists are happy to answer questions and are a great resource. As your discerning eye develops, look for work that conveys something beyond the subject matter—a compelling work will transcend what is depicted. Lean toward work that you can’t quite figure out rather than selecting something as mere decoration. Works that mentally engage you will be the lasting acquisitions in any collection. Also, as a seasoned collector once told me, don’t make your physical space the determining factor in your decision. He said: “If you start with the physical constraints of your space, you will never think freely. Start with your love of the work and then move on to where or whether it will fit in your home.”
PHOTOS: (DIAMOND AND WOOD) PETER ANDREW, (NEUBACHER AND SHOR) KATHRYN GAITENS
Lisa Diamond Katz & Shira Wood
FREED SALES CENTRE
KING
STEWART WELLINGTON
SPADINA
PORTLAND
BATHURST
ADELAIDE
ON SARAH Python catsuit: Lynda Latner Vintage Couture / vintagecouture.com, Ring: Alex Fraga / alexfraga.com, Shoes: Christian Siriano at REmix / remixclothing.ca ON RICHIE Suit: J. Lindeberg at Harry Rosen / harryrosen.com, Shirt: Religion at Agency One / agencyone.ca, Tie: Sand, Shoes: Bed Stu, both at Gotstyle / gsmen.com
LADIES MAN A PHOTO ESSAY BY DAVID DREBIN
STYLIST: STACY TROKE HAIR: DANIEL VAITOVIC at FORD ARTISTS MAKEUP: RAPHAEL VAILLANCOURT at JUDY INC.
ON TAYLOR Dress: Chiffon asymmetrical gown at Carte Blanche / shopcarteblanche.ca, Belt: Izzy Camilleri / izzycamilleri.com, Shoes: Charlotte Olympia at REmix / remixclothing.ca ON JESSICA Dress: Halston vintage at REmix / remixclothing.ca, Shoes: Louboutin at Holt Renfrew / holtrenfrew.com, Fishnet tights: Hue / hue.com ON JULIA Dress: Albert Nipon vintage at Lynda Latner Vintage Couture / vintagecouture.com, Shoes: Brian Atwood / brianatwood.com ON RICHIE Suit: J. Lindeberg at Harry Rosen / harryrosen.com, Shirt: Religion at Agency One / agencyone.ca, Tie: Sand, Shoes: Bed Stu, both at Gotstyle / gsmen.com
ON TAYLOR Vintage Balmain catsuit: Lynda Latner Vintage Couture / vintagecouture.com ON RICHIE Jacket:J. Lindeberg at Harry Rosen / harryrosen.com, Shirt: Religion at Agency One / agencyone.ca, Tie: Sand at Gotstyle / gsmen.com ON SARAH Gown: Izzy Camilleri / izzycamilleri.com, Necklace: 69 Vintage / 69vintage.com
SOMEONE’S IN THE
WITH
KITCHEN
SCOTT
Leanne Delap gets down and dirty in the Scarpetta kitchen Photos by Geoffrey Knott
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“The most important thing people forget is the spaghetti water. Why do they dump it out? It adds body to the sauce.”
H
“
ey, fuggedaboutit.” Scott Conant is a big guy, solid unto husky softened by a neatly trimmed red-tinged beard. The Mafiosi tic is a result of a holiday weekend TV mobster marathon. Not that a chef-slash-brand with five marquee outposts dotted across North America’s “alpha cities” has much time for couch potato-ing, what with the Food Network hosting duties, the cookbook writing, the magazine coverboy-ing, oh, and an infant daughter. He runs a hand along the unctuous wooden curves of the low-slung booths of Scarpetta, which opened just over a year ago, a glittering glass cube taking up much of the streetscape of the Thompson hotel. Conant is here in Toronto on rotation throughout his locations only every six weeks or so, but this is not a man who drops pieces of his puzzle. “It’s all me,” he says. “It needs to have a singular voice, no matter how many different spaces you have in how many different places. A restaurant has the soul of its creator.” There is something about a TV chef come to life in his own kitchen that makes your life go meta. Conant is a big guy, but he moves with grace around a stove. Mysteriously, he also doesn’t seem to sweat, surely something the talent scouts have near the top of their telegenic checklist. Me, I’m worried about my forehead dripping into the neat rows of rainbow ingredients of the mise en place. “The most important thing people forget is the spaghetti water. Why do they dump it out? It adds body to the sauce. I use it for everything. Think of people who rinse the
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pasta,” Conant makes a face, and then, unmistakably American in his larger-than-life stove-side showmanship, hugs the room with his big smile. Canadian food culture has not traditionally traveled well. We have our own regional stars—in Toronto, the old-guard Susurs and McEwans, and the young guns with their low-fi Ossington boîtes—and our focus has mostly been on how our guys (and mostly they are still guys) are viewed in New York. We seldom think about why we have not been colonized by the big American chef-empire machines. Conant, a baby-faced 40 year old, was the first major American chef to open an ambitious fine-dining outpost here (soon to be joined by David Chang’s Momofuku at the Shangri-La and Daniel Boulud at the new Four Seasons). The recession has been rough on the food industry. Plucky little places are what are thriving across North America. But at the white-tablecloth end of the market, people are still drawn to marquee names. Chefs who want to be international brands have to work it big-time. Conant certainly
FOOD has the charm. A Connecticut Yankee (his father’s family settled in Salem, the witch-burning capital of Massachusetts), he comes by his Italian flavours honestly. He grew up watching his Neapolitan grandma Barrone making pasta for family gatherings. Conant, who veered to the Home Ec classes at school, started as a teen on the line at a local seafood behemoth. Defying his father’s whiter-collar aspirations, Conant ran away to New York and the CIA (Culinary Institute of America) and 100-hour weeks at San Domenico under Paul Bartolotta. Twenty years later, Conant has his name on a big place a few casinos down from Bartolotta in Vegas. But glamour is a relatively recent development for the chef. Conant struck out on his own quite early in his game, first with L’Imperio, then with a place called Alto. He got great reviews but it was a scrappy start. “It was like, I need to do this,” he says. “It was so tough finding money. I was evicted from my apartment because I always paid my staff first. But there is nothing I would change.” You can tell his staff is listening at this point. The silent chorus of prep cooks slow their blades and spoons for a half-beat when he talks about them. Conant is a guy who knows every name and isn’t inclined to lose his cool in the heat of the moment. He makes quick work of a side of yellowtail, each slice an exact one-eighth of an inch. “This is the first and last thing I look for in any cook, home or professional. Knife work is the grail.” He puts me on a second piece, fresh off a plane from Tokyo. I hesitate over the fish and he corrects my wrist angle then pushes the blade down for me. If you ever get the chance, have every chef you meet hold your hand while you cut: Years of sloppy knife skills melt away once you feel the right flow and click. “Your knife is an extension of your hand.” An early media darling, Conant graced the cover of Gourmet, was feted by the James Beard Foundation, listed as one of Food & Wine’s young chefs to watch. He did the modern thing, making the jump to TV (24 Hour Restaurant Battle, Chopped!), among other outings. But then he took off and traveled the world.
When he came back it was go big or go home. He opened the first Scarpetta, in the Chelsea district of Manhattan, in 2008. He drew raves, and opened another, very large, door at the Fontainebleau in Miami Beach later that year. Toronto followed in 2010, almost simultaneously with a double-header at the Cosmopolitan in Vegas. Beverly Hills completed the loop; he knew he was a hit in Hollywood when he was asked to do a cameo as himself on an episode of Entourage. Standing in Scarpetta’s meat freezer, Conant looks lovingly over the rows of beautifully labeled cuts. “A kitchen starts and finishes with order. If you make systems that work, there is never room for panic.” Conant has a rare skill: He can make stuff that reads as platitude— lots of “look to the heart” and “in my heart of hearts” pepper his conversation— sound like a big, fulfilling bowl of pasta. It is Conant’s spaghetti, in fact, that people remember. His niche is refined, rustic Italian, and it is exemplified by his signature dish: a bowl of homemade pasta (eggy, EmiliaRomagna style) in a dead-simple fresh tomato sauce—one of a few things that always appear on his menus. Like any celebrity chef worth his salt, Conant comes alive in his kitchen and plays naturally to any audience. “I don’t keep opening restaurants to feed my ego,” he says, as he gloops a spoonful of creamy polenta out of a gigantic pot into my mouth. “Only use the Bramata Imperiale from Bergamo, Lombardy, outside Milan,” adds Conant, making me think of Kevin Kline speaking sensuous restaurant Italian in A Fish Called Wanda to wind up Jamie Lee Curtis. “A very large grain. Simplicity is the ultimate luxury.” On the road “not quite 50 percent of the time,” it is a good thing his food is seductive. “I used it to woo my wife. But now, yes, it is tough with a young family. I do feel a bit like everything is happening at once. But then I get restless again.” So where will he go next? “I’m off to Rome next week. Of course that is a dream. Think about how ballsy that would be. An American opening an Italian restaurant in Rome.”
If you ever get the chance, have every chef you meet hold your hand while you cut.
SCOTT CONANT’S CREAMY POLENTA WITH A FRICASSEE OF MUSHROOMS (Serves 4)
Creamy Polenta
2 cups heavy cream 2 cups milk 1½ tsp kosher salt, more to taste 2/3 cup cornmeal, preferably coarse ground 1 tbsp unsalted butter 2 tbsp freshly grated Grana Padano or Parmigiano-Reggiano 1 tsp chopped fresh chives (optional) In a heavy-based saucepan, combine the cream and milk and heat over mediumhigh just until small bubbles begin to appear on the surface. Add the salt and whisk until quite frothy. Add the cornmeal and continue to whisk the mixture as it comes to a boil. Continue whisking for an additional 3 minutes. Reduce the heat to very low, cover the pan and cook the polenta, stirring every 5 minutes or so, until the cornmeal is completely cooked and quite tender, about 1 hour and 45 minutes. Be patient—even if the polenta has thickened and seems good after an hour, longer cooking will make it even better. As the polenta cooks, a skin will form on the bottom and sides of the pan, giving the polenta a slightly toasty flavour. Just before serving, stir in the butter, Grana Padano and chives, if desired. The polenta should pour from the spoon as you serve it and will thicken as it cools. If necessary, you can thin it with a little milk just before serving. Divide the polenta among heated bowls or plates.
Fricassee of Mushrooms
¼ cup olive oil 2 medium shallots, thinly sliced 2 cups mixed domestic and wild mushrooms, cut into naturally occurring pieces ½ cup chicken reduction 1 tbsp snipped fresh chives ½ tsp white truffle oil In a large sauté pan, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the shallots and cook, stirring, until they just begin to colour on their edges. Add the mushrooms and cook until the liquid is released. Add the chicken reduction, bring to a boil, reduce to a bubbling simmer and cook until the liquid is reduced by half. Toss the mushrooms with the chives and drizzle a little of the truffle oil over them. Be careful not to cook the truffle oil for more than a few seconds, as the flavour and aroma dissipate quickly. Spoon some mushrooms and some of the cooking juices over each serving of Creamy Polenta.
Leanne Delap is a Toronto writer who works happily for anyone who will pay her to do so. / 63
FOOD
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Tasteful treats for everybody’s favourite room 1 LE CREUSET ROUND FRENCH OVEN
4 CALPHALON WOK
7 CHOP KNIFE
Cook up a storm in this cast iron classic in an appetizing new shade of fennel green. $269 for 5.2-litre pot / Healthy Butcher / 565 Queen St. W. / thehealthybutcher.com
Style up those stir-frys with this oven-safe nonstick bronze beauty. $100 for 12-inch wok / Calphalon / 425 King St. W. / calphalon.com
2 MOMOFUKU MILK BAR BY CHRISTINA TOSI
5 YAMAZAKI SUPPLE FRUIT BOWL
The highly anticipated follow-up from the folks who got you hooked on Crack Pie. $40 / Indigo / 142 John St. / chapters.indigo.ca
This flexible model folds up for easy storage when you find yourself fruitless. $30 / Neat / 628 Queen St. W. store.neatspace.ca
Ergonomic chopping courtesy of Normann Copenhagen. Designed by Lucidi-Pevere Studio, this blade puts a whole new spin on dicing and slicing. $45 / shopAGO / 317 Dundas St. W. ago.net/shop
3 ORIGAMI NAPKINS
The perfect table topper for fiddly types. Four designs, instructions included. $9 for 40 napkins / shopAGO / 317 Dundas St. W. / ago.net/shop
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6 KOZIOL LEAF SALAD BOWL
Designer Cairn Young conveniently built these salad servers right into the bowl. $70 / Neat / 628 Queen St. W. store.neatspace.ca
8 BAUER POTTERY BUTTER DISH
A fluted surface and pea-green hue make this handcrafted objet go down like buttah. $65 / Good Egg / 267 Augusta Ave. / goodegg.ca 9 KIKKERLAND KITCHEN TIMER
Is he an owl or an apple? Only time will tell. $20 / west elm / 109 Atlantic Ave. westelm.ca
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PHOTOS: GEOFFREY KNOTT
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10 BAUER POTTERY TEAPOT AND CREAMER
13 “TOAST IT” COASTERS
17 CHEMEX FILTER-DRIP COFFEEMAKER
Thanks to our buddies at Bauer, Russel Wright’s shapely Depression-era classic makes a comeback. $90 for teapot, $45 for creamer / Good Egg / 267 Augusta Ave. / goodegg.ca
Cool cork carbs to keep your tabletop from toasting. $15 for 8 / shopAGO / 317 Dundas St. W. ago.net/shop
First devised by Dr. Peter J. Schlumbohm in 1941, the classic Chemex keeps on brewing. Lid sold separately. $60 for 8-cup size / Swipe Books / 401 Richmond St. W. / swipe.com
11 GEO DISH DRAINER
Get cracking in the company of this curious bearded man. $20 / Good Egg / 267 Augusta Ave. / goodegg.ca
Designed by Jorre van Ast, this watery-hued dish drainer manages your overflow with its subtle topographical contours. $55 / shopAGO / 317 Dundas St. W. ago.net/shop 12 SAGAFORM RETRO STORAGE JARS
There’s nothing that says kitchen like these ’50s ceramic canisters by Lotta Odelius. $36 for tall, $22 for small / Drake General Store / 82A Bathurst St. W. drakegeneralstore.myshopify.com
14 DONNA WILSON EGG CUP
15 FOX RUN LEMON JUICER
Juice without the pips is a just simple squeeze away. $16 / Good Egg / 267 Augusta Ave. / goodegg.ca 16 COTTAGE PEPPER MILLS
Canadian artist Cam Lavers uses fallen tree branches to craft these woodsy mills. From $70 / shopAGO / 317 Dundas St. W. ago.net/shop
18 DONNA WILSON “USE MY BEEHIVE” TEA TOWEL
Dry your dishes on this perfectly pink coif. $20 / Good Egg / 267 Augusta Ave. / goodegg.ca 19 MARIMEKKO KITCHEN APRON
Go gastronomically graphic with designer Maija Louekari’s whimsical wrapper. $45 / Good Egg / 267 Augusta Ave. / goodegg.ca
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WINE PICKS
BY ROBERT GRAVELLE
The holidays are upon us, and with them come more opportunities to share great bottles with good friends. Here is what I’ll be drinking in the weeks to come: 1. Hidden Bench “Nuit Blanche” 2009 Niagara Peninsula, Ontario $40 – Le Sommelier / lesommelier.com Here’s a great winter white, a blend of Sauvignon and Semillon that really delivers. Bright acidity and full body with notes of citrus, tropical fruits, biscuits and creamy oak… and it’s organic, too!
2. Albino Rocca “Duemilasette” Barbaresco 2007 Piemonte, Italy $56.95 – Da Capo Wines / dacapowines.com Barbaresco is one of Italy’s great wines. Think cherries, truffles, rose petals and a hint of cacao. This Barbaresco is hitting its stride and drinking beautifully. Pair with a rich braised beef dish.
3. Bodegas César Príncipe 2007 Cigales, Spain $45 – B & W Wines / bwwines.com I look to Spain for excellent quality at reasonable prices. The small region of Cigales is getting critical acclaim as of late and for good reason. This wine is produced using ancient and natural winemaking techniques; the result is dense, plush and delicious.
4. And Co Ltd “The Supernatural” Sauvignon Blanc 2009 Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand $27.95 – B & W Wines / bwwines.com I don’t usually get excited about New Zealand Sauvignons, but this one is different. First of all, the peeps at And Co allow the grapes to mature on the vine until they reach very high levels of sweetness (think dessert wine). Then they vinify the wine dry, allowing some skin contact with the juice, which produces a higher-alcohol, full-bodied wine that is golden in colour with a great nose. It’s uniquely bottled with a crown cap but you wouldn’t want to put a cork back in it even if you had one.
5. De Martino Old Bush Vines “Las Cruces” 2007 Cachapoal Valley, Chile $34.95 – Halpern Wine Enterprises / halpernwine.com De Martino is one of the finest South American wine producers and is in part responsible for improving the reputation of Chilean wines. This beauty is made from a field blend of 70-plus-year-old Malbec and Carmenère vines. The result is densely concentrated and loaded with ripe fruit character, spice and savoury notes. The tannins are ample but soft. An excellent value.
Corkcicle Skip the bucket and chill your wine from the inside. $22 plus shipping. corkcicle.com 66 /
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PHOTO: ARASH MOALLEMI
PORTER: THE LITTLE AIRLINE THAT COULD
By Anne O’Hagan / 69
ESCAPE
Flying Porter, you feel like a business class passenger— and so does everyone else.
Whisking my way down Bathurst Street to the island airport one sunlit afternoon, the meter ticking and no time to spare, I had an epiphany. Twenty minutes from King and Spadina to the check-in desks: Porter makes Pearson not just suburban but practically Siberian. In the five short years since Porter Airlines launched its service, Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport (as it’s officially called) has shifted in the minds of us city dwellers into a fully viable and often preferred option for short-haul travel. What was, not so long ago, a musty little downtown airport has developed a certain élan along with a cool, superefficient $50-million terminal. So the city that never noticed it’s on the shores of a large and quite spectacular lake is finally awakening to a new, blue reality. Thanks to this alternative route in and out of downtown, our orientation has changed. When we think of jumping on a plane, we think island airport. We think Porter. Even since May, when Air Canada also started flying to Montreal out of Billy Bishop, the island airport still feels like Porter. That is because the purpose-built terminal, which opened in 2010, is Porter’s: They built it, they own it. That makes Billy Bishop a busy place: Porter alone offers 19 flights a day to Ottawa, 18 to Montreal, another 11 to Newark and six to Boston with regular service to various points east, north and south as well. And Air Canada is expected to add 300,000 passengers this year. But it’s busier all around. Today, there are more people using the island airport each week than there were all year five years ago, according to
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Suzanna Birchwood of the Toronto Port Authority—the federal body that owns and operates the airport, whose 2010 net income shot up 500% over 2009 thanks to Billy Bishop’s popularity. In 2011, the TPA expects approximately 1.5 million passengers, 75% of whom work downtown and are traveling for business. “I left the office at 8:35 this morning, I was in the air at 9:40,” says Susan McArthur, managing director of Jacob Securities who flies Porter regularly to Ottawa and Montreal. McArthur says it’s “the human scale” she loves, the “can-do attitude” of Porter’s staff and the sense of overall good value. She’s not alone. In Ipsos’ 2011 Canadian Business Travel study, Porter Airlines scored an 83% customer satisfaction rating, a vertiginous 23 points higher than the second-rated carrier. Like the little airline that could, Porter seems to have the ability to turn anyone who flies with them into a zealot. Just try to find anyone who has something negative to say about it. But then try to find anyone who objects to being treated well (without paying a premium). “You could argue that it’s all first class,” says Robert Deluce, president and CEO of the airline and ultimate keeper of the carrier’s vision. And that is really the essence of Porter: It makes flying easy and stylish and you don’t pay extra for it.
ESCAPE What Porter has done is democratize a premium experience. Flying Porter, you feel like a business class passenger—and so does everyone else. That makes you all members of the same club. “It’s like King West has its own airline,” says John Farquhar, president of Rain43, from his King Street office a scant hour before he’s due to fly Porter to Montreal. There is little mystery as to how the airline delivers on the premium part of the equation. Here’s the list: extra legroom, leather seats, free booze served in glass (not plastic), free Starbucks coffee and Wi-Fi. So while taking Porter may be fast and convenient, the extras seal the deal. The cool lounge factors in here, too. “A ‘see-and-be-seen’ space but also intimate,” is how Christopher Wright, creative partner at figure3, designers of the Porter terminal, describes it. With its smallish scale, glass screens and low-key modern furnishings, it’s not a scene from Pan Am, TV’s hot new paean to the “jet age,” but it does have its own quiet glamour. But there’s more to this alchemy. “The human part is what matters,” says Chris Valentine, president of ESC Corporate Services, echoing what others say. “You can tell Porter hires for customer service skills—the staff is very good, they’re empowered to make judgment calls and they’ll actually help you out.” In fact, it’s Porter’s “team members” whom Deluce credits with “setting us apart from our competitors, ultimately, and building a strong brand.” Having started with a handful of employees, Porter’s staff now numbers in excess of 1,200. (And to team members, he is “Bob,” by the way.)
PHOTOS: COURTESY OF PORTER AIRLINES
“It’s like King West has its own airline”
“The service we designed is meant to restore dignity to air travel,” Deluce says. Nothing captures that objective better than Porter’s smart tagline: “Flying refined.” But free cappuccinos and flight attendants in Pink Tartan pillbox hats aside, a clever tagline alone cannot build brand loyalty. “The quickest way to kill a brand is a lie,” says Phillippe Garneau, principal at Brand Engineering. “What Porter offers is absolutely consonant with its brand promises.” Even if it weren’t, it would be hard to fight the charm of Porter’s mascot, “Mr. Porter,” the most civilized raccoon you’ll ever encounter. He is everywhere: exuberant on the sides of Porter’s shuttle bus, coquettish on the in-flight snack boxes, beckoning in the print ads—all of which is the handiwork of Winkreative, Tyler Brûlé’s London-based agency, as is every inch of the airline’s brand. From the Mad Men-esque “Fly Me to the Moon” tone of its radio advertising to the perfectly pitched tone of re:porter, the airline’s magazine, Porter’s branding is consistently clever. “The brand isn’t detached from the product, it actually delivers, and it doesn’t let you down,” Farquhar says. In the biz, Porter’s branding is a case study of how to get it right. The ferry is another story. “Not everyone finds it charming,” says the TPA’s Birchwood, diplomatically. And with airport traffic having risen so dramatically, the long-debated underwater pedestrian tunnel to the island, which city council finally approved last summer, should be a welcome improvement. Porter had always been in favour of the tunnel—“an elegant solution,” Deluce calls it, “and a pretty progressive move.” After years of political wrangling, you can imagine the highfives in Porter’s C-suite when that decision was announced. Work will start next year on the $60-million project. We’ll be pulling trolley cases under the lake by 2014. But for now, the quirky ferry to the plane remains. What may be less welcome are late flights—a potential problem for Porter now with airport traffic increasing. But Deluce isn’t worried. He sees Air Canada’s presence as a good thing: The airport will get more exposure and Porter will convert some big carrier passengers, the ones less concerned with amassing Aeroplan points. “Our passenger numbers on the Montreal-Toronto flights are already up,” says Deluce, who sees no constraints to future growth. As downtown dwellers know all too well, the only problem with a good thing is when it catches on. Anne O’Hagan is a writer and communications strategist who advises clients on all things media. Taking the outbound ferry to the island airport always makes her happy.
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DISCOVER 1664 TODAY
TAKE A LITTLE TRIP
5
Well-traveled KW insiders on where they’d head if money were no object and they could unplug, kick back and get away By Kate Gertner
Paul Alexander
PHOTO: COURTESY OF TRADEWINDS EXPERIENCE
Photographer
My perfect winter escape would be sailing the French Caribbean aboard the TradeWinds Experience Catamaran “New Beginnings.” I’d rent the entire catamaran with a captain, engineer and chef to set sail and take us on an uncharted adventure. I’d bring along my parents. I love them! We would enjoy some idyllic sailing and scenery, discover islands and anchor in hidden bays. Swimming, snorkeling, scuba diving, eating, relaxing…it doesn’t get much better than this! A must-see would be the Isle de Saints and the Marie Gallant, majestic jewels of islands that pop out of the Caribbean. We’d spend our time listening to waves lap up against the hull or feeling the gentle roll of the boat. And at night we’d eat incredible food on the back of the catamaran, with a gentle breeze and breathtaking views, and forget the world.
In his suitcase:
• a sarong • Rayban aviators • a bathing suit (boxers, no Euro crotch huggers) • iPod • waterproof camera
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ESCAPE
Andrea Lenczner and Christie Smythe Fashion designers, Smythe Les Vestes
First off, we’d travel together with our husbands. It’s the best of both worlds— romance and time with your best friend. Our dream destination is Turks and Caicos. It’s nice and close, with guaranteed weather, and we’ve been reading for years about Donna Karan going there. We’d stay at Amanyara, of course. It’s relatively new and a sure thing. On vacation we are professional relaxers who do nothing but read, nap and spa. We love to shell, and shells are the only thing we’d bring back with us. Lunch would be by the beach or the pool; dinner would be room service. And if a “certain someone” wants to go off and play golf, that might be even encouraged.
In their suitcases: • full-length floaty muumuus • straw fedoras • the latest novel
Tony Cohen
My perfect winter escape would be Jackson Hole, Wyoming. I’d stay at the Amangani with my wife, ’cause I really dig her. We are Aman junkies. Aman resorts are incredible small luxury hotels in unique locations all around the world. They have incredible architecture and design and fantastic service. While there, for sure we would ski, maybe do some snowshoeing. The hotel is on a butte and the views are spectacular. For me, it’s all about the après ski cocktail—and nothing warms you up more than a properly shaken Vodka martini (or two or three). We’d eat local, local, local and lots of meat, because when in Jackson Hole, do as the locals do—a Bison burger, fries and a great glass of red wine would be the perfect combo. Jackson Hole has great artisans and we’d buy some pieces for our country house. On our way back, I’d bring everything I could because we’d be flying by private jet and would have no luggage restrictions.
In his suitcase:
• a stack of cashmere sweaters • scarves • a couple of great pairs of boots • long underwear
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PHOTO: COURTESY OF AMAN RESORTS
Hotelier, Hôtel Le Germain and Thompson Toronto
ESCAPE
Anwar Mekhayech Partner, The Design Agency; Cofounder, ArtHouse
A motorcycle tour of Southeast Asia—think the Long Way Round with Ewan McGregor— with my younger brother, probably starting in China and moving all the way down to Singapore. I’d fly to Shanghai and pick up my BMW R1200GS Adventure loaded with all the bells and whistles and gear I’d need. I’d hit Laos, Vietnam and Malaysia, stopping to visit some friends in Hong Kong. I’d end up at the Shangri-La Singapore, where I’d meet my girlfriend for two weeks of R&R after the long tour. I hear the place to check out in Singapore for French toast and coffee is the Killiney, and the coolest store I’ve heard about is Strangelets for great selective design items. This trip is all about pure adventure riding, exploring the most remote roads and the best beaches and sunsets. Plus, a little wining and dining along the way, some scuba diving in Thailand and even some rock climbing. In Singapore it would be nothing but relaxation on the beach! I’d ship back anything related to art and design that I could use in a project or my own house.
In his suitcase: • Swiss army knife • Canon G10 camera • GPS mobile phone
Brenda Bent
Partner, Bent and Gable; Manager, Susur Lee
PHOTO COURTESY OF JAKES HOTEL, VILLAS AND SPA
Warm! Warm! Warm! If it’s not warm, I’m not going…and it has to be no further than three hours away. So that narrows it to Jamaica. I’d bring my family because we all need a break, and we’d stay at Jakes, in Treasure Beach. Jakes and Treasure Island are just so laid back, zero pretension and yet very high end. I loathe expensive places where everyone is a snob! I don’t go south for the cuisine (except for the hot sauce). And I won’t shop down there, unless it’s a flea market. I go on a winter vacation to relax. All I’d bring home is free treasures I find on the beach.
In her suitcase:
• passport • face cream • flip-flops • Bain de Soleil SPF 4 (it turns your skin a great colour!)
/ 75
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500 Wellington Street W / info@contemporarydesignbuild.com contemporarydesignbuild.com
ON THE TOWN
NIGHTS IN THE HOOD
PHOTOS: VITO AMATI
ALLIANCE FILMS TIFF PARTY
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Cee Lo Green; Evan Rachel Wood; Philip Seymour Hoffman; Sarah Silverman; Jay Baruchel; Kate Mara and Max Minghella; Jian Ghomeshi.
PHOTOS: GEORGE PIMENTEL
DX BLACK & WHITE FUNDRAISING GALA
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Cambria Models; Shinan Govani, Cheryl Tiegs and FLARE ’s Mosha Lundström Halbert; honoree Karim Rashid; DLM dancer surprises guests; Sarah Nicole Prickett; Matthew Fode, Heather Kalman and Marc Contardi; Mosha Lundström Halbert and etalk’s Tanya Kim; revelers; George Antonopoulos, Mike Chalut and Sandy Ciuro; Tim Gilbert, Lise Anne Couture, Cheryl Tiegs, Hani Rashid and Karim Rashid.
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ON THE TOWN
PHOTOS: COURTESY OF RETHINK BREAST CANCER
BOOBYBALL 10
CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: MTV’s Aliya-Jasmine Sovani, Rethink Breast Cancer’s Alison Gordon and Charlotte Sullivan; CosmoTV’s Wilder Weir and DJ Brendan Fallis; Peacock Parade girl; Signey Ronca, Rachel Micay and Rethink Breast Cancer’s MJ DeCoteau; topless men flank guest; 90210’s Shenae Grimes and Jessica Stroup; Lindsay Grange and Sarah O’Regan.
PHOTOS: RYAN EMBERLEY
SPiN GALACTIC OPENING
CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: Susan Sarandon; Judd Nelson; Wally Green and Soo Yeon Lee; SPiN’s Ryan Fisher and Judd Nelson; Toronto Argonauts Kevin Eiben, Ronald Flemons, Mike Bradwell and Wes Lysack with Susan Sarandon; ping pongers; Stacey Farber and Angela Asher.
PHOTOS: GEORGE PIMENTEL, WIRE IMAGE FOR TIFF
TIFF GRACE KELLY EXHIBIT LAUNCH
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Exhibit entrance; Greta Constantine’s Stephen Wong and Kirk Pickersgill; Suzanne Rogers and Her Serene Highness Princess Charlène of Monaco; Princess Charlène and Prince Albert II of Monaco; TIFF’s Noah Cowan, Michèle Maheux, Prince Albert II and Princess Charlène of Monaco, Piers Handling and Paul Atkinson; FASHION’s Bernadette Morra; Andrea Bolley and Nolan Bryant.
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T
here is a mystique surrounding the bartender that extends beyond the obvious lure of a bottomless well of vodka. A friend recently explained it to me in terms of an elite hunt: Bartenders present themselves before a room full of people as extraordinary creatures, singled out for their physical beauty and personal allure. They thus attract the attention of many on the prowl, piquing the competition and heightening the thrill of pursuit. However, they are also protected by the bar itself, which creates a physical barrier between predator and prey. This requires the huntress to rely solely on powers of body language without the advantage of physical touch to lure them in. All told, such quarry isn’t for the faint of heart—or liver. Now, I’ve always been a sucker for a stiff cocktail and a pretty face. And for a time, I would cast my sights behind the bar for both. In fairness, you’d be hard-pressed to find a bartender who isn’t working toward a bigger picture—modeling, acting, dancing, trophy spousing—so, they’ve got, you know, big plans. Though it bears mentioning that none are plans that require the ability to differentiate between fission and fusion. I quickly learned, however, that bartenders come with a caveat. Turns out, when you work around booze, you can develop a weakness for it, which can lead to erratic behaviour. One night I sauntered into a local bar guns blazing—which is to say, I was wearing stilettos and enjoying a good hair day. The bartender was a fetching blond specimen with the face of an indie rock guitarist and the body of Thor, and halfway through the night I slipped him my number. The following week, we agreed to meet for a drink. One bottle of wine, four martinis and several shots later, we were making out on my front stoop like our plane was going down. In a moment of supremely poor judgment I invited him upstairs. What happened next can only be explained by an inexplicable burst of clumsy, drunken excitement (his) and the staunch belief
that this was not really happening (mine). Upon entering my studio apartment, he took a running start and launched himself kamikaze style onto the bed while at the same time kicking a hole in the wall with the heel of his boot. Thor himself couldn’t have done more damage. One month and several coats of plaster later, I fell into the sea-blue eyes of a Hugh Jackman lookalike who also happened to work behind a bar. To call our subsequent date “boozy” would be an understatement—he literally drank himself under my coffee table and as he grabbed hold of me to steady himself back up, I toppled under his weight. As I crashed to the ground, my mouth made contact with his stainless-steel watch chipping my front tooth. The ensuing dentist bills kept me away from bars for a while. Recounting these battle stories to a friend not long ago, she recalled an incident in Ottawa where she went home with a bartender who proceeded to drink himself into a state. In his stupor, he got out of bed during the night and mistook a corner of the bedroom for the bathroom. She ran out and never looked back. Maybe it’s not fair to pin these types of antics exclusively on bartenders. Surely there’s a lawyer out there who’s knocked over a lamp in a drunken haze, a staggering insurance broker who’s caused accidental spinal misalignment or a marketing analyst who’s mistaken the dishwasher for a urinal after painting the town red. But I think bartenders should take pride in their reputation for alcoholic mayhem. These are the legends that keep throngs of women coming back to the bar and scrawling their phone number on napkins every weekend. Only, not this one…anymore. Marilisa Racco is a Toronto-based fashion and beauty writer who prefers the company of her dog, Floyd.
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LOUNGE LIZARD King Wester Charlene Rooke hits the hood’s hotel bars. Here’s what she and her single-gal posse— we’ll call them Charlie’s Angels—encountered.
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PHOTO: ARASH MOALLEMI
TEST DRIVE
PHOTO: ARASH MOALLEMI
TEST DRIVE
TOCA BAR
SENSES BAR
LOBBY BAR
181 Wellington St. W. / 416.585.2500 ritzcarlton.com
318 Wellington St. W. / 416.599.8800 metropolitan.com/soho
550 Wellington St. W. / 416.640.7778 thompsonhotels.com
VIBE: Keep your eyes behind the bar, where head honcho Moses brings the gospel of flame (absinthe), dry ice (chilled martinis) and other miracles (like hand-cut ice cubes) to the cocktail faithful. The Wellington Street exposure creates an energetic window-on-thecity vibe; boudoir-style bar lamps provide rosy, flattering light. Good sightlines throughout the room, thanks to the low, lounge-y sectional groupings. And the suspended catwalk to the well-appointed ladies room on the mezzanine gives you a chance to strut your stuff across the lobby. But TVs behind the bar? I don’t think so. DRESS CODE: A well-suited, well-shod crowd. The two business-trippers in golf shirts and sans-pedigree jeans are conspicuously underdressed. We wished that our waitress, in her garnet jersey uniform, would be bringing it a little more than she did with lank hair, dowdy flats and mall makeup. “This is the Ritz, after all,” one of the Angels remarks. SIGNATURE COCKTAIL: The sexiest drink on offer is the blood-red Cherry Mule, a beautifully hot mess of crushed fruit and ice, Belvedere and ginger beer. The chili-lychee Collins is apparently the most popular, but much better was a Streetcar, all moderned-up with EarlGrey-infused Cointreau. BAR SNACKS: The complimentary bar snacks here are the best in the city: fried capers, corn nuts and maple-glazed bacon so good that one of the girls texted me about it the next morning! Top treat: the sustainable Canadian sturgeon caviar from New Brunswick. OVERHEARD: One fancy-frocked American woman to another: “Why are you shopping here? Don’t you know it’s more expensive?” POTENTIAL PICKUP FACTOR: 3/5. It’s the kind of place where gentlemen give up their tables for ladies and ask if they may sit down at an unoccupied seat nearby. But all this politesse does not a cruisy atmosphere make: lights, eye contact but no action. The closest we got to a pickup was from the hotel car (an Escalade), chivalrously offered by the doorman when we asked for a taxi to our next destination.
VIBE: None of the Angels had been to Senses Bar in a few years so we were pleasantly surprised by the dark, louche vibe of this sexy space: long, soft banquette down one side, deep lounge chairs, flickering candles. The after-work crowd had disappeared by the time we arrived, but by 9:30 the lounge was full of second wind. What this resembles most is a grown-up clubhouse for you and your pals to hunker down as a group: the high-backed chairs, dense seating arrangement and dark intimacy don’t encourage mixing and mingling. Perch at the bar if you’re looking for a more lively, flirty night out. DRESS CODE: A suit parade passes through en route to Senses Restaurant, but the bar is more jeans and blazers, pretty dresses, casual. SIGNATURE COCKTAIL: “Who’s having the Affair?” We bet this vodka, pomegranate and lychee concoction is on the menu just for the pithy delivery opportunity. Loved the bluetinged Super Sonic Gin and Tonic, which bartender Dylan claims was invented here (and has since popped up on menus around town). The Soho Kiss (at $26) is one of the city’s priciest quaffs: Its fresh mix of Moet, Chambord and watermelon liqueurs is worth it. Maybe it’s just the fishbowl glasses, but despite the staff’s insistence that the drinks are standard two-ounce pours, these bevvies looked and felt most potent of the night. BAR SNACKS: The menu is also the most ambitious—as it should be, coming from the Senses kitchen—with small plates like seared tuna with radish slaw and spicy lamb kebabs on couscous. OVERHEARD: Asked of a Soho Met condo resident, who wanders in en route to her suite to see how the action is shaping up tonight: “What kind of poodle is that?” POTENTIAL PICKUP FACTOR: 2/5 (3/5 at the bar). In the best possible way, Senses Bar feels like hanging in somebody’s private living room. The downside of that is: You’d feel conspicuous turning on the full vavoom voltage in this kind of low-key, intimate space.
VIBE: A theatrically backlit bar and bottles take the spotlight in this spacious lobby with stadium-high ceilings and a blackboard-like wall mural. Still, the living-room groupings of eclectic seating (rockers to velvet chairs to sofas) give it a collegial and communal feel where approaching a stranger feels perfectly natural. This is the only bar to really get the music (low, groovy downbeats) right for putting us in a party mood. It’s also the only bar where waving a $20 bill won’t necessarily get you a drink: The young dude in thick hipster glasses will serve you when he feels like it, but nobody, including us, really cares. DRESS CODE: Smart. Casual. Cool sneakers and denim for him (ditch the caps, please, guys) and short and chic dresses for her (skyhigh heels mandatory). Um, dude, that sweater tied around your waist is a mistake. SIGNATURE COCKTAIL: The funky Aperol Sour is bittersweet and savoury with an egg-white froth. We also loved the similarly Aperol-tinged Verona (white wine and blood orange juice sparkled with Prosecco). Great, if pricey, selection of Italian wines by the glass. This is the only spot with bottle service— from a $200 bottle of JD to a $550 Krug—on the menu. BAR SNACKS: The famous Scarpetta spaghetti is served at the bar, but slurping noodles is only cute in 101 Dalmations. Warm herbed olives and fritto misto (Italian seafood meets veggie tempura) are snacky options, but the complimentary olive-oil chips with fried rosemary sprigs were so good we actually begged for them to be taken away. OVERHEARD: “How much does a hooker go for in Toronto?” POTENTIAL PICKUP FACTOR: 5/5. We spent the night fending off some Jersey boys who were generous with both drinks and compliments (“You’d kill in Joisey!”). The advantage of a lobby bar like this one is that it feels like a public space where strangers can interact in an Up in the Air, devil-may-care way.
THE RITZ-CARLTON
SOHO METROPOLITAN HOTEL
THOMPSON TORONTO
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SNAPPED!
by Lewis Mirrett
STREET STYLE
MAXINE WATERS, 28
Owner, Riant Boutique 35 Bathurst St. / 416.367.4567 / riantboutique.com
KW: What’s your look? Casual chic, often with feminine pieces. I always have to be comfortable and I like using accessories to add a unique touch to my look. KW: When it comes to clothing, what can you save on and what should you splurge on? Save on anything overly trendy. Splurge on items that can stay in your wardrobe for a longer period of time, like handbags and denim. If you love it... that’s the best time to splurge. KW: What are you splurging on for the holidays? My sister and I are on a mission for boots. KW: Why King West? We wanted to be part of an up-and-coming area with an appreciation for fashion and good energy. KW: What’s your favourite new discovery in the hood? Wabora sushi is about as good as it gets. And if I feel like I’m crashing, a vanilla latte from Thor always gets the job done.
RIANT GIRLS’ FAVE FASHION SITES:
7 For All Mankind Jiselle jeans. Splendid top. ElliePhont Creations necklace. Missoni scarf. Doma leather shearling jacket. Dolce Vita boots.
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shopbop.com, net-a-porter.com, whowhatwear.com, singer22.com, revolveclothing.com
PHOTO: LEWIS MIRRETT
ON MAXINE:
ELLIE MAE WATERS, 23 Partner and assistant buyer, Riant Boutique
KW: How do you describe your style? It’s always been very mix-match. I put brandnew with old, bohemian with classic, boyfriend style with very girly pieces. There’s usually a little tweak with my outfits. KW: Where do you invest and where do you get frivolous? I usually splurge on things that I know aren’t trendy and that will stay in my wardrobe for a while, like jeans and jackets. KW: What’s on your must-have list? I would really love a pair of leather pants! KW: Do you think there is an emerging King West style? The people in King West are very trendy in a “classy hipster” kind of way—very well put together, fashion-forward type of style. KW: Where do you go in the hood to refuel? Springbox and its custom-made salads and sandwiches. And, of course, my morning Americano from Thor.
ON ELLIE MAE:
Cynthia Vincent faux fur vest and boots. Red Equipment shirt. 7 For All Mankind blue jeans. Red Roses brown studded belt. ElliePhont Creations jewelry.
REAL ESTATE
THE DEAL Glen Baxter’s Pioneering Power Play Photos by Franco Deleo
KW: Wow! What a view! I know! I think it rivals the Thompson, which is why the after-parties always end up here. I have 70 feet of balcony along the north side facing King Street alone, and then it wraps around the east side of the building so it looks out onto downtown, the CN Tower and the lake, which means it’s always sunny somewhere. You can even catch the sunset every night behind the church in the far west corner. Since I moved in back in July, the first pieces of furniture I bought were the outdoor lounges. In the spring I want to put in a big garden on the deck outside the bedroom windows, so every morning I can look out onto something green. KW: Love what you’ve done with it, but no dining table? I live alone and I don’t really cook, which is why I live in a neighbourhood full of great restaurants. When I have people over, it’s for drinks before we go out or late at night after dinner. The great thing about this location is it’s a great pit stop. So I wanted this place to feel more like a lounge, with different areas to hang out in and more casual seating and furniture that’s versatile, like ottomans and side tables. For a guy like me, a big formal dining table and chairs would just be a waste of money and space.
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REAL ESTATE KW: That’s a terrific painting hanging over the modular couch. It’s by Ramon Ruig, a painter from Barcelona. It’s so massive, we actually had to take it apart in order to get it in here and then reassemble the whole thing once it was inside. I love its energy and the way that it picks up on the industrial cement grey of the ceiling. As you can see, I’m not a big colour guy. KW: This isn’t your first place in the hood, is it? Back in 1997, I was living in a 925-square-foot loft at 700 King West, above the old Amsterdam Brewery. It was a two-bedroom that I had converted into one larger space. The neighbourhood was completely different then. On weekends it was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. But I was so thrilled that I could walk to work! I’ve lived here 11 years now and I’ve never even thought about buying a car. KW: Is it really true that you were Freed’s first customer? One day on my walk to work at the old CITYTV building, I saw a big ad above KiWe for a new building that was going up at 66 Portland. I had never heard of Freed, but I recognized the architects—Core Architects—and admired their work. So I walked right into the sales centre, pointed to the model of an 1,130-square-foot unit and said, “I want that one.” Turns out, I was the very first.
(clockwise from left ) lounges by Andrew Richard; Nienkämper sofa; photos by Glen Baxter; accessories from AVENUE ROAD. (opposite page) chairs, lamp and Giles Deacon rug from AVENUE ROAD.
KW: What coaxed you away from 66 Portland to this new Freed building? I could have stayed where I was, but my old apartment looked right out onto the construction site of this one, and I just fell in love with the building—and then, once I looked inside it, this space. Getting in early on the planning stage each time has really been a good move for me because I was able to get exactly the design plan that I wanted. Here, I took two adjoining apartments and reconfigured them into one incredible living space with 1,700 square feet of interior space and 800 square feet of balcony. It’s my custom dream home, and because of the upside on both of my King West apartments, I was able to afford it with the exact same mortgage I took out back in 1997 on my first King West place. KW: These are beautiful photographs, Glen. This is my vacation every year: I backpack somewhere for a month that’s really off the track and take pictures. Places like Yemen and Pakistan, Ethiopia, Niger and Benin. For the past six years, I’ve held a show of my pictures from these trips and every cent I make goes to the Right to Play foundation. It’s a lot of pressure to take good pictures! But I guess it’s the perfect antidote to a life of working in fashion. Glen Baxter is the host of CTV’s In Fashion, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary.
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BEDROOM 12’ 1” X 9’ 3”
LIVING/DINING 22’ 3” X 14’ 3” IRREGULAR
STUDY
BEDROOM 15’ 0” X 10’ 6”
CLOSET UNDER STAIR
A WINTER ESCAPE AWAITS.
EMBRACE ALL THAT THE SEASON HAS TO OFFER WITH A WINTER GETAWAY AT MUSKOKA BAY CLUB. ENJOY LUXURIOUS ACCOMMODATIONS, ACCESS TO OUR RESORT-STYLE AMENITIES AND A VARIETY OF OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES THAT WILL LEAVE YOU LONGING FOR AN EVENING CURLED UP BY THE FIRE. • Cross country skiing on 5kms of private cross country ski trails • Skating and pond hockey on private outdoor rink
• Tobogganing on our private toboganning hill located at the 13th hole • Snowshoe anywhere on our expansive 850 acres of property • Snowmobile rentals available
Our Clubhouse amenities are also available for your use. • Fitness facility • Massage therapy • Manicures and pedicures • Steam rooms
To book your winter getaway call 705 687 7900 ext 404 or email playandstay@muskokabayclub.com
Winter getaway packages start at $185 per person per night, based on 4 person occupancy. Offer subject to availability.
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Lake Muskoka
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Muskoka Bay
Gravenhurst 11
90 min. from Toronto
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1217 North Muldrew Lake Road, Gravenhurst, Ontario info@muskokabayclub.com Homes, Villas & Lofts 705.687.7900 muskokabayclub.com Prices, sizes and specifications subject to change without notice. E. & O.E. Illustrations are artist’s impression.
I grew up with fashion. My mother was a couturier, a seamstress who worked for Simpson’s making wedding dresses and mother-of-the-bride gowns from our apartment. There was always a mannequin in the bedroom and straight pins in the shag carpet. I must have been around 11 years old when I asked my mother to make me a hounds-tooth jacket. These big plaid lumber jackets were popular at the time, but I didn’t like the shape of the jacket or the check, which to my eye was too big. My mother didn’t even blink. She found this gorgeous fabric and made this 11-year-old kid a beautiful custom-made hounds-tooth jacket. Not only did I wear that, I also had a yellow mohair sweater that I wore with bell bottoms and these Buddy Holly glasses—thank God I was a tough kid. I cut my teeth on manufacturing, which is a great way to learn how to really understand fabrics. I can look at a bunch of samples and merchandise a line in minutes. For me, it’s all gut instinct, a skill set I can turn on like a switch. You have to be able to see into the future. Three years ago I said, “We have to do clogs.” My chief stylist thought I was crazy. Six months later, Karl Lagerfeld sends clogs down the runway at Chanel and she runs into my office to tell me I’m a genius. My style has always been clean—not necessarily minimal, but classic, with an absence of detail. I’ve had to open up a lot for Joe Fresh and embrace colour. In my Club Monaco days, the only colour we worked with besides black and white was grey. The only art I would buy were black and white photographs. But now it’s about taking that clean, modern aesthetic and using it as a filter to edit the trends. The idea behind Joe Fresh was about edible colour. I had to think about how to approach selling fashion in a food store. So this idea of citrusy, fresh, appetizing colour became our signature orange. And the word fresh—in the way that is about fresh food and produce as well as fresh fashion and fresh deliveries of new styles— became the name. People thought I was crazy to add my own name to the brand because it was selling in a grocery store. But I knew that to make it a hit, it had to also have credibility. When we first opened our offices at King and Dufferin almost a decade ago, there was nobody here. Not a single restaurant. It’s crazy what’s happened since then. The energy is so young and creative. I’m in a beautiful old brick building, and in 10 minutes I can get to the island airport and hop on a flight to New York. If I was smarter, instead of the fashion business I’d have been in real estate. There is a limit to how much you can grow here in Canada and opportunity today is international. I started thinking about expanding to the U.S. about a year and a half ago. Yes, this is a brutal business. The world doesn’t need another sportswear brand. But we are already competing with the same players here. Why not take them on in New York? I’m very comfortable in Manhattan. Fifteen years ago, with Club Monaco, we opened at 5th and 20th. This fall we had a great opening for Joe Fresh at 5th and 16th. I’m working harder now than I ever have in my life. But then, in fashion, everything comes in cycles. At our last show, we played Eartha Kitt singing “Just a Little Bit of History Repeating Itself,” which I just loved because it’s so right on.
Joe Mimran is the visionary behind Club Monaco, Caban and now Joe Fresh, which just opened its first store in New York City as well as its first downtown Toronto flagship at Queen and Portland.
PHOTO: GEORGE PIMENTEL
JOE MIMRAN