Style & Decor Blog

I was chatting with Tommy Smythe from Sarah Richardson Design the other day, and he told me I just had to stop in at Decorum Decorative Finds to check out their malachite accessories.  (Tommy’s crazy about the colour of malachite, and his passion is highly contagious.)

Look at those whorls! The fascinating patterns on this malachite plate remind me of a whacked-out contour map. And that rich blue-green combined with the gold key motif absolutely screams luxe…

A smaller hit of malachite, but no less luxe is this little sphere on a gold dragon/fish plinth. Pure Art Deco deliciousness.

Decorum Decorative Finds, Toronto, 416-966-6829

Think you know Leon’s? You may want to take a peek at the new Leon’s location at Toronto’s historic John Street Roundhouse to see what the big box furniture and appliance behemoth has been up to on its centennial…

My colleague Lauren McPhillips and I were invited down to see how the epic-scale reno of this old locomotive service shed (a National Historic Site built way back in 1929) was progressing, and we were in awe of the painstaking attention to historic detail. Under the supervision of heritage architect Don Loucks, those raw Douglas fir beams were beautifully restored, blasting away 80 years of locomotive steam exhaust buildup. What I love best about the space is that the structure wasn’t compromised in any way to accomodate Leon’s needs – the supersexy polished concrete floor actually “floats” above the train servicing pits, and lighting is clipped to supporting rafters to avoid unnecessary drilling.

I also love dressing up in hardhats. (Not required for normal Leon’s shopping.)

And why is it actually called the Roundhouse, you ask?

Well, the showpiece of the little park in which Leon’s is situated is a fully operation locomotive turntable – a lazy-susan type carousel that could rotate steam engines 360-degrees depending on which of the service bays it was to enter. We got to go for a spin (sorry, couldn’t resist)  on this historic gem, and it was absolutely amazing… I was actually so cited I didn’t think to take a picture. Here’s a shot from the Toronto Railway Historical Association.

Leon’s at the Roundhouse

Toronto, 255 Bremner Blvd., 416-642-0630

A confirmed sucker for stylish window displays, I’ve come to expect a lot from William Ashley, downtown Toronto’s destination for glam tableware. But I was hardly prepared for this…

Yep. That’s an actual Tesla Roadster – the world’s only 100% electric sports car – perched on top of just four Wedgwood teacups outside Ashley’s flagship location on Bloor Street.

Although we often think of it as being delicate and dainty, bone china is actually the hardest and most durable ceramic, and stronger than any other dinnerware on the market. Strong enough to…well…withstand this…

Why an electric car, you ask? Well, if you consider the longevity of quality bone china, and amortize the cost of the initial purchase over the years (and even generations!) of use you’ll get out of them, they’re actually quite a “green” product. I think that’s something we tend to forget when considering how environmentally-responsible a purchase is – how long will we be able to enjoy it before it ends up on the landfill?

Check out William Ashley’s “Tesla On Teacups” until September 21st at William Ashley China, 55 Bloor Street West, Toronto.

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I’m feeling very Scandi today.

Having come straight from CityLine, where I styled a very merry Marimekko-inspired tabletop (the episode airs Tuesday, July 28th - check it out!), I’m seeing Scandinavian style everywhere - including (new this week!) the stunning Muuto collection at Hollace Cluny.

Muuto is a Nordic design company that hand picks designers from Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark for a high-impact line of furniture and accessories that follow a “less is more” approach – products that are light, bright and airy, but also pack wholloping great bucketloads of punch.

Just check out some of the Muuto pieces that Hollace Cluny is carrying…

As I mentioned in Home & Style in the August issue of Style At Home, origami-inspired whiteware is totally hot, and Julien De Smedt’s “Crushed Bowls” is another architectural twist on this trend. “The Crushed Bowls show big-scale architecture applied on small scale objects,” says Julien. “The bowls are composed of equilateral triangles and principles we use for big-scale computer modeling.”

Louise Campbell’s “The More the Merrier Candlestick” marries baroque decadence with spare Scandinavian style - two forces normally at odds with each other, but melded together, make for a striking centerpiece. “As the saying goes, the more elements you join together, the merrier the result,” says Louise. “The design is a blend of the formal and informal.”

Although it’s a sculpture in its own right, Jakob Wagner’s “Flow” is actually a fully functional jug. “With the shape of the jug I wanted to tell a straightforward story about its functional anatomy,” Jakob explains. “A large hole to fill up the jug, a small hole to pour, a low centre of gravity, and a middle area to get a firm grip.”

And how’s this for a splash of summery brights? (After the summer we’ve been having, we can all use a touch of this uplifting hue…) Jens Fager’s “Raw”collection of chairs, side tables and candelabras are made from wood that’s hand-carved with a band saw machine, and finished in an array of vivid colours.

For a “virtual tour” of Susan Fowlie’s impeccably curated collection at Hollace Cluny in Toronto, check out the September issue of Style At Home – on newsstands soon! (Subscribers will be getting their copies this week!)

Muuto at Hollace Cluny, Toronto, 416-968-7894

When I was browsing the aisles of Copenhagen’s Illums Bolighus – hands-down the most impressive store I’ve ever been in…EVER – I came across these impossibly pretty little fine bone china bowls. I was running low on Danish Krone at the time (it tends to happen in the land of the $6 coffee), and I couldn’t put my finger on where, but I was sure I’d seen them somewhere much closer to home…

Only about 3.5″ high, “Gold Dots” designed by great Dane Rikke Jakobsen, stood out from the rest of the amazing offerings at Illums as a super-sweet “small”.

Check out the pretty “Silver Abstract” design, too… Stunning!

So dainty, but such captivating detail in the metallic designs… You can understand my dilemma - to buy, or to wait until I got home to find out if it is indeed available in my home and native land?

Luckily, Rikke Jakobsen fine bone china is indeed available right here in the Big Smoke – just pop down to the 7,000 square-foot Shop at the Art Gallery of Ontario for a dose of these Danish delights!

Art Gallery of Ontario, 877-225-4246; Toronto, 416-979-6660