Page 1
HUNTING FOR ANTIQUES CAPTURING MOTHER NATURE PLAYING WITH DIMENSION
SUNDAY, APRIL 29, 2007
Décor
.www.thestar.com/decor
On the
half shell
A NEW SPIN ON
DENMARK’S CLASSIC
EGG CHAIR/G8
RITES OF SPRING
6 FRESH IDEAS, JUST RIGHT
FOR YOUR HOME/G2
FEELING
SHAGADELIC?
MISSONI LAUNCHES
HOME DECOR/G4
UNSTUCK IN TIME
A TOUR OF MAUS PARK
ANTIQUES/G6
LET’S GO ANTIQUING, FIND FABRIC, TAKE STUFF TO THE DUMP, PICK UP NEW CHAIRS, GET A FLOOR LAMP,
BUY DRYWALL, RE-DO THE DECK, GET ARTICHOKE GREEN PAINT, RETURN ARTICHOKE GREEN PAINT
AND GET ASH GRAY OR MAYBE CHOCOLATE BROWN OR MAYBE OCEAN MIST OR MAYBE BLOOD ORANGE.
letsgochevrolet.ca
Page 2
H
G2
TORONTO STARHSUNDAY, APRIL 29, 2007
BRIGHT IDEAS
Spring fling
Seize the day and invite spring into your
home. Here are six upbeat ways to rid your
house of winter ballast and create a
lighter, more spacious environment.
KEITH BEATY/TORONTO STAR;
STYLING BY FLORIS FLOWERS , FLORIS.CA
CRYSTAL CLEAR
Cut crystal, formerly the staid dowager of the china
cabinet, is chic this spring, now that designer Marc
Jacobs has included it in his new line of tableware
for Waterford Wedgwood, in stores this June. Impress your guests with an elegant bouquet of tulips,
freesia and other spring flowers. Cathy Cox, director of horticulture for the Toronto Botanical Garden suggests bringing in branches pruned from apple or other fruit trees, placing them in water and
1
watching the blossoms unfold.
THE OFFICE
Revitalize and expand your workspace with a great
new chair, like the Dialogue, whose broad arms
provide a perch for a laptop, lunch tray or the hefty
report you’re ploughing through. Inspired by retro
design, particularly the Womb, designed by Modernist icon Saarinen in 1948, and featured in this
Norman Rockwell painting, left, it’s elegant enough
for the living room as well. And unlike Rockwell’s
2
hapless-looking fellow, the elevated seat height is
supposed to encourage the user to sit slightly forward, and maintain better posture. The Dialogue is
available in fabric and leather at UpCountry, 310
King St. E., Toronto, 416-777-1700 or Vaughan
Mills mall, 905-760-8108. Prices start at about
$2,700, and for matching ottoman, $850.
IN THE BEDROOM
Lighten up your bedroom with a new set of sheets
in a contemporary floral design, such as Au Lit Fine
Linen’s new Swedish Collection. With its restrained cherry-blossom motif, this breezy blue
bed linen is made from 250 thread-count cottonpercale, and is available at Au Lit (2049 Yonge St.,
3
5
Toronto, aulitfinelinens.com, 416-489-7010). A
queen-size duvet cover sells for $283, a flat sheet,
$141; a fitted sheet, $136; standard and queen pillowcases, $77 a pair.
COLOUR YOUR WORLD
Bored with cool spa colour schemes? You’re not
alone. Melanie Rice, colour advisor for Para Paints
and a member of the Color Marketing Group,
which tracks colour trends internationally, says
consumers are moving away from neutrals. “People want a punch of colour, especially clear, clean
colours that are evocative of nature.” So go ahead,
add a jolt of spicy red or warm yellow to your interior landscape. If you’re wary of strong hues, start
with subtle shades, like Para’s Cream Custard and
Ming Gold, in a powder room. Or go big and bold by
painting the family room in deep shades of red. Try
Para’s Paris Red washed with Heart’s Desire.
UNCORK IT
Celebrate the season by sharing a bottle of wine
with friends. Serve in a decanter, such as Reidel’s
new Colori, $80, at William Ashley. Wine snobs
may debate the merits of decanting, but Konrad Ejbich, author of A Portable Guide to Ontario Wines,
Wineries, Vineyards & Vines, says they’re useful
when you want to aerate a wine, filter sediment, or
simply put together a pretty tabletop. His only ca-
4
veat: Don’t leave wine in the decanter overnight. If
there’s any left when the party’s over, he advises
pouring into the smallest bottle or jar possible, and
saving it to cook with — or drink — later.
RAY OF LIGHT
Replace heavy winter drapes with sheer drapery
panels. If the view is more urban grit than bucolic
splendour, cover them with a translucent, reusable
decorative window film, such as Artscape’s Bamboo or Magnolia designs, both $27 for a 24- by 36inch roll. Artscape products are available at The
Home Depot stores and at homedepot.ca.
6
EDITOR: ELIZABETH HOLLAND
EHOLLAND@THESTAR.CA
DESIGN BY SHARIS SHAHMIRYAN
AND NEIL COCHRANE/TORONTO STAR
DIY corner
THINK PINK, TOOA GREEN RENO
If you’re planning a spring renovation and are eager to know
more about living light on the
planet, the Kortright Centre for
Conservation in Woodbridge is
offering a series of seminars on
environmentally friendly resources, technology and practices for the home. Topics range
from concepts for green living,
to a hands-on workshop on how
to install a renewable energy
system. For more information,
visit kortright.org or call 905832-2289.
They say it takes a woman to
do a man’s job, so why not
look like one the next time
you take a sledgehammer to
the kitchen wall? Tomboy
Trades offers a full line of
made-for-women work
clothes and tools, including
toolbelts, gloves and these
pink construction
boots. Pamela Anderson, Home Improve-
ment’s Tool Time
Girl, would have
loved them.
Check tomboytrades.com for
buying information.
KEITH BEATY/TORONTO STAR
Page 3
EQUINOX
SUNDAY, APRIL 29, 2007HTORONTO STAR
H
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The highest U.S. government safety ratings** – 5-Star Crash Safety. A fuel efficient
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†
.
.
THERAPY:
*Whichever comes first. See dealer for limited warranty details. Applies to 2007 models. Excludes Medium-Duty Trucks. †For OnStar terms and conditions, privacy policy and system limitations and details visit onstar.ca. **U.S. Government ratings are part of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) New Car Assessment Program (safercar.gov).
Page 4
H
To find it, find us.
find it
find it
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find it
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find it
INTOUCH. INSTYLE. INSPIRED
.
2575 Dundas Street West
(just east of Winston Churchill Blvd.
)
www.homeanddesigncentre.ca
From major pieces to finishing touches, you'll find it all at over
20 inspiring shops at the Mississauga Home & Design Centre.
G4
TORONTO STARHSUNDAY, APRIL 29, 2007
NEW LOOK
Missoni goes home, again
THE ITALIAN
LABEL
RETURNS TO
ITS ROOTS
WITH HOME
FURNISHINGS
BY DERICK CHETTY
The fashion runways and home
interiors have always had a lot in
common. The trends from your
wardrobe, sooner or later, find
themselves splashed about your
house. So it’s no surprise that
more fashion designers are expanding their brand and capitalizing on their esthetic with
home collections.
But as the list of designersturned-interior decorators
grows, a few of these fashion
brands get lost in translation.
Let’s just say some designers’
distinctive signatures and brand
identities seem more tailormade than others for the home
arena. (Can you picture what
bedsheets from the über-hot
but difficult-to-wear label Balenciaga might look like?)
But one contender whose
strong fashion vision seems just
right for home décor, is the venerable Italian label Missoni.
Known for its colourful graphic print knits, the family business actually started in textiles a
century ago, providing home
Now you can wrap yourself — and your living room — in designer stripes from the newly launched Missoni Home line.
furnishings like linens, sheets
and hand embroideries. It
wasn’t until almost 50 years later that it entered the fashion domain, with T-shirt designs.
And those famous zigzags and
lines were born. But it was no
major design feat. The knitting
machines back when they start-
ed the company couldn’t do anything else but simple stripes.
Today, those knitwear prints
prove to be architecturally
pleasing lines — they work wonders on small spaces by giving
the illusion of height and width.
Returning to their roots a few
years ago with a home décor
line, the company has just
launched Missoni Home in
Canada. The 2007 collection
features an expansive lineup
that includes textiles for upholstery for sofas, home linens,
rugs and furnishings. The home
collection also takes the company’s rich mosaic of colours to the
outdoors with fabrics that can
be used for cushions, hammocks and patio furniture that
would be perfect for upscale cottage country or to add some
glam to a poolside deck.
But lest you think it’s all about
those famous eye-popping colour bars, less adventurous home
Stars in stripes
The Missoni Home
Collection can be found at:
*
Missoni Home Gallery at
Castlefield Design Centre.
1400 Castlefield Ave.
Toronto
*
Finn Boutique
1 Yorkville Ave.
Toronto
*
Nord Sud Home
20 Hazelton Ave.
Toronto
*
Prima Lighting
51 Jevlan Dr.
Woodbridge
decorators can find other patterns such as herringbone, plaid
and some luscious florals. This
cacophony of prints can be anchored by the range of solids also offered in the line.
And it looks like this colourful
fashion company’s brand will be
further expanded. Up next on
the design horizon: Hotel Missoni. The company will be
launching its first hotels in Dubai and Edinburgh by next year.
Lovers of Italian design can also look forward to Fendi, when
the fashion powerhouse launches its home line in Canada later
this year.
Page 5
SPACE
Divide & multiply
SUNDAY, APRIL 29, 2007HTORONTO STAR
H
G5
THE MODERN
DIVIDERS
CREATE NEW
ROOMS
WITHOUT
LOSING LIGHT
BY VICKY SANDERSON
One of the biggest emerging
trends in home decor has no
shape, colour or texture. Despite that, it’s going to have a
huge influence on the way we
live in our homes, says William
MacDonald, a Toronto-based
interior designer.
“Creating privacy in architecture and design is a trend that’s
really strong in Europe and New
York,” says MacDonald. “I think
it’s partly a reaction to an Internet world, in which everything is out there for everybody
to see.”
It’s also partly in response to
the widespread elimination of
interior walls that occurred over
the last few decades, as homeowners embraced the openconcept design. MacDonald
thinks the same homeowners —
especially ones with noisy children or a family member with a
messy home office — are discovering that walls and doors have
advantages.
The urge for some room of
one’s own is behind a resurgence in the use of room dividers and screens, which were
originally invented to prevent
drafts, or to hide entranceways,
especially those used by servants. Now, they have a new task
— to delineate space.
While space needs to be carved
into livable chunks, most people
don’t want to sacrifice one of the
grandest benefits of an openconcept plan — lots of light. That
means unlike their sturdy ancestors, room dividers are now
showing up in semi-opaque materials, such as glass and paper.
Toronto glass artist Lucy
Roussel has already noticed
growing interest in the glass
panels she makes. Frequently
used as room dividers, Roussel’s
pieces are constructed from cast
glass about an inch thick, into
which she incorporates natural
elements, such as large fern
fronds, poppy blossoms or spent
milkweed pods, or industrial
materials, such as steel mesh or
sheeting. Available in a variety
of dimensions, from countertop
height up, prices start at about
$800 for smaller pieces and
about $3,000 for larger.
They’re especially popular
with those living in lofts.
“People want to create room
divisions without obstructing
the light,” says Roussel. In
smaller condominiums and
apartments, she adds, homeowners want to define areas
without producing a maze-like
effect.
Furniture maker Rob Brown
makes room screens inspired by
Japanese shoji screens, which
are typically constructed with a
wooden grid frame, to which a
layer of handmade paper is attached.
The paper can be left plain or
decorated with calligraphy,
paintings or other material,
such as paper collage. Brown
combines both methods in his
Mosaic Shoji, prices for which
start at about $77 for an unadorned folding model.
Ikea offers many affordable
options for dividing space:
There are the Agen, a simple rattan room divider, about $90,
and the Orgel lamp, which functions as a short, semi-opaque
room divider by day and accent
lighting in the evening.
It features a paper shade and
sells for about $60. Another option is to hang a light and pretty
fabric panel from a track attached to a ceiling.
Roussel’s work is on display at
Material Matters at 215 Spadina
Ave. (materialmatters.ca or 416977-3387), and the Living Arts
Centre in Mississauga (1-888805-8888 or livingartscentre.ca.
You can also get further details
on lucyroussel.com.
For more information about
Rob Brown’s work, check out
equinoxinteriors.ca or telephone 1-888-815-9663.
Privacy act. These glass
panels by Lucy Roussel,
interlock as dividers, and
bring the outdoors inside.
You could
Win
a
$
100,000
Kick Up Your Style with
PARA Paints dealers are here to help your projects
go smoothly. We offer everything from colour and
product selection to surface preparation and
application advice, all in a warm welcoming setting.
Home Make-Over
OR
over
$
30,000
in Stylish
Home Improvements
*No purchase necessary.
See details at a participating PARA Paints dealer or at www.para.com.
Contest closes June 3, 2007.
Page 6
H
G6
TORONTO STARHSUNDAY, APRIL 29, 2007
ANTIQUES
The time traveller
Douglas Stocks greets me at the
door of Maus Park Antiques
with a welcoming smile. At 58,
he cuts a courtly figure with his
thick silvering hair and well-cut
tweed jacket.
He would make a convincing
lord of the manor, and indeed,
he very nearly is one. Next door
to the huge interlocking barns
that house his extensive antique
collection, Stocks’ home — a 22room, 1850s-era stone farmhouse — is as classic as he is, dignified and gracious.
Set in the countryside on the
outskirts of Paris, Ont., Maus
Park offers, according to its proprietor, “the largest display of
formal 18th- and 19th-century
furniture and accessories in
Canada.” His regular clients are
not deterred by the store’s location; they fly in from Montreal,
Florida, Connecticut and even
Texas.
“People find it worthwhile to
come out here,” says Stocks,
who in the past has displayed his
treasures in various places, including Toronto. “It’s so big, it’s
a destination place. It’s one-stop
shopping. I can’t have this kind
of space in the city.”
One of the seven “core appraisers” on CBC television’s popular
Canadian Antiques Roadshow,
Stocks has had a lifelong love affair with the world of antiquity.
He recalls digging up shards of
pottery in his garden in England
when he was 5, and being “mesmerized” with visions of treasures and exotic finds.
Unfortunately (or perhaps
not), his parents did not subscribe to his early dream of becoming an archeologist; nor, for
that matter, to his later one of
becoming an artist.
But, he says, “I couldn’t avoid
my destiny” and by a “circuitous” route, which included a
university degree in art and history, he managed to become a
bit of both: an antique dealer.
“I love the hunt, the find,” he
confesses. “When I lose that, I’ll
be out of the business, because
I’ve never been a believer in doing something you don’t like.”
His family moved to Galt, Ont.,
when Douglas was 8. At 13, he
acquired his first antique, a
“primitive” Canadiana cider
press (for $11), which he paid for
over several weeks with money
from his paper route. By the
time he was 20, he owned so
many antiques that he had to
start selling them, and at 27,
Stocks opened his first store in
Plattsville, Ont.
“I’ve always had the passion,”
he explains. “I love the whole
history thing. It’s a big story of
people doing things. When I see
an object, it conjures up that
whole story: of politics, of wars,
of aspirations, the spirit of bygone eras.”
This passion is what lies behind his success with Roadshow.
As then-president of the Canadian Antique Dealers Association (he recently stepped
down), Stocks was asked four
years ago to help develop the
program’s format, and to audition expert consultants. Not
surprisingly, he ended up being
invited to join their ranks.
The show, in which people
brings in their heirlooms or
lucky finds to be evaluated by
experts, is taped during a solid
month of travelling from one
Canadian centre to another. Despite the exhaustion of being on
the road for such a long time,
Stocks enjoys the Roadshow tre-
mendously.
“It’s that discovery thing
again,” he says. “It’s exciting because you get to see things you
generally wouldn’t see. Most of
the people aren’t planning to
sell their stuff, so you’d never
see it otherwise. And you get to
see the diversity of people who
have come to Canada to live.”
Every item, he muses, has a
story behind it. They speak of
people’s personalities, their
lives, and the different cultures
behind these lives. “It’s great.
People open up to you, they tell
you all these histories, about
personal relationships . . .wherever you go, there are these
wonderful stories.” Some of
‰
Please see Object, G7
ANTIQUES DEALER DOUGLAS STOCKS IS DRIVEN BY THE THRILL OF THE
HUNT AND THE STORIES BEHIND THE FINDS, REPORTS DONNA YAWCHING
J.P. MOCZULSKI FOR THE TORONTO STAR
Douglas Stocks, a dealer in antique furniture, is also an appraiser for the Canadian Antiques Roadshow. “When I see an object, it conjures up the spirit of bygone eras.”
A trip to Paris
Paris, the White Horse Restaurant is a popular rendezvous point. Its renowned buffet is pure Canadiana.
Maus Park Antiques is on
the far side of Paris, at 289 Pinehurst Rd. (formerly Highway 24A). Look for the landmark flags. It’s open Saturday
and Sunday, 11a.m. to 5 p.m.,
or by appointment. For further information, go to mausparkantiques.ca or call 519442-7500.
J.P. MOCZULSKI FOR THE TORONTO STAR
KEITH BEATY/TORONTO STAR
Raspberry-red drapes and couches and a stunning Oriental vase in the Georgian-style living room.
Many of the pieces that cram the Maus Park Antiques store, near Paris, Ont., are museum-quality,
like the 18th-century cabinet, left. Three interlocking barns make up the massive two-storey
showrooms, with high-roofed beams and glazed woodplank floors, centre and right.
Paris, Ont., is about a 90minute drive west fromToronto. Those in a hurry will opt
for the 401, but a far more
pleasant experience can be
had on the smaller rural
roads. Highway 5 runs
through picturesque farm
country complete with barns,
horses and rolling fields.
Charming country villages
and the occasional museum
offer possibilities for exploring, and on the outskirts of
A French neo-classic bust of Zeus, foreground, ages gracefully
alongside a terracotta Austrian-Hungarian emperor.
Page 7
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SUNDAY, APRIL 29, 2007HTORONTO STAR
Before you buy: What you should know
H
G7
Object
lessons
through
the ages
‰
Object From G6
them, like the pine travelling
trunk of a little Irish orphan girl,
still leave him emotional. (see
Tales sidebar at right).
Not everything that’s brought
into the Roadshow is a treasure,
but even when it’s not, Stock insists, “it’s not junk. What you
have to do is tell the people what
it is and why it looks like that.
You listen to the people, they tell
their stories, and really, it’s that
great thing of sharing.”
Self-taught in the field of antiques, Stocks’ specialty is 18thand 19th-century furniture because, he says, “the older the
better. The rarity is important.
And I like the sophistication of
design that you see in that period.”
His rural showroom, itself a
19th-century artifact, is a splendid high-roofed space with
rough-hewn beams and ancient,
highly glazed floorplanks.
Hundreds of period items —
Chippendale sofas, Regency
chairs, ornate gilt-framed mirrors, exquisite marquetry tables, and “enough lamps to open
a lamp store” — are attractively
set out amidst rich Persian rugs
and interesting artwork. Tchaikovsky plays softly in the background.
Two fireplaces offer cozy
nooks for clients to relax and
confer. Through the back win-
KEITH BEATY/TORONTO STAR
Stocks’ stone farmhouse is a designated heritage site. An
extension of the store, most of its contents are antiques, for sale.
dows, a serene little creek glimmers between the foliage. It was
silted up when Stocks bought
the property 20 years ago, but
he’s had it dredged to restore its
19th-century flow.
Stocks ’ farmhouse home is an
extension of his showroom.
It’s furnished with a choice selection of his inventory and, he
declares airily, “it’s all for sale!”
His décor, he admits, changes
every few weeks. As soon as an
item is sold, it’s replaced by another favourite piece from his
storerooms.
Some might find this a slightly
disconcerting way to live, but
Stocks is philosophical.
“We don’t ever really own an
object, we’re just custodians of it
for a certain amount of time, before it gets passed on to the next
generation.
"I think of antique dealing as
the first form of recycling.”
Douglas Stocks advises anyone interested in dabbling in
the antiques market to spend
some time first educating
themselves on the basics. Here
are a few things to consider
before making a purchase:
‰
Read a bit of history and look
at lots of pictures. Learn to
identify style and form, patina
and structure. “There’s a language of antiques,” he says.
“Doing the academics helps
because you understand the
hows and whys of the esthetics; then you start to apply it.”
‰
Look before you leap. Making mistakes is all part of the
learning process — and “it can
cost you money” — so take
your time before buying.
‰
Buy from reputable dealers.
It’s easy to be fooled by fakes
when you don’t have the
knowledge (China, Stocks
says, is doing a wonderful job
of producing fake antique porcelain.) Members of the Canadian Antique Dealers Association are required to authenticate and label their goods, providing a level of protection for
the inexperienced buyer.
‰
Try to define your personal
style. Even if you can’t articulate it clearly, you might find a
certain piece too fussy, or too
plain; and that helps your dealer help you. “Once you have an
idea of the style, you try to apply it to a certain space,” says
Stocks. “Function, form and es-
thetic appeal all need to be
considered.”
Novice buyers, he says, tend
to enter the market at a moderate price level, upgrading
and refining their collections
as they grow more comfortable.
Others, perhaps with greater
experience, may wait and
search for “the very special superb piece.”
He recommends rural antique-hunting as a good starting point.
“You get to see the countryside,” he says,“and you get to
meet people. And if you don’t
know anything about it, you
start to learn. It’s a great way
to get your feet wet.”
Tales from the Antiques Roadshow
The Canadian Antiques Roadshow is one of CBC’s most en-
during successes and Douglas
Stocks thinks it’s because of
the stories. Even the humblest
of artifacts has a history, and
some of them can still leave
him misty-eyed.
He recalls a Halifax woman
presenting a photograph of her
grandmother, a former slave
who married another former
slave. All their children grew
up to become doctors, lawyers
and schoolteachers, a testament to their parents’ struggle
and determination.
“As a personal history,” says
Stocks, “it was priceless.”
Another man brought in his
great-great-grandfather’s ornately carved walking stick
and a coat-of-arms letter seal,
thinking his ancestor might
have belonged to a secret
guild. The Roadshow experts
were able to tell him his 18thcentury relative had actually
J.P. MOCZULSKI
Stocks examines an English
Derby vase, circa 1835.
been the King of Sweden’s
prime minister and had been
presented with these gifts upon his retirement.
But Stocks’ favourite story
from the Roadshow (“I may cry
when I tell you this”) has to do
with a plain pine trunk,
brought in by a woman whose
92-year-old mother had recently died.
She had discovered the trunk
while cleaning and sorting out
her mother’s house.
She said she knew it was old,
but that was all.
Taped to the inside of the lid
was a list that read: “2 pairs
socks, 1 coat, 1 good petticoat,
1 everyday petticoat . . .”
It turned out they were the
travelling items given to a
6-year-old orphan, sent from
Ireland to Canada to be
“adopted” into indentureship.
The mother had never told her
family about her heartwrenching history. “It was
quite an eye-opener (for her
daughter),” comments Stocks.
“It was very touching. Wherever you go, there are all of these
wonderful stories.”
Page 8
H
G8
TORONTO STARHSUNDAY, APRIL 29, 2007
ICON
Fresh
Danish
Verner
Panton’s
whimsical
Spiral lamp
garnered huge
attention
when it came
out in 1969.
HOW
THE DANES
HAVE IMPROVED
ON THEIR
ENDURING STYLES
BY VICKY SANDERSON
Great design wears well. That
may explain why works by Danish designers of the last century
are still winning prestigious
awards and why design junkies
are seeking out Danish home
décor and design products with
an enthusiasm not seen since
the 1950s, when Danish modern
(remember teak?) was all the
rage.
Probably the most recognizable modern chair designs come
from Arne Jacobsen, the granddaddy of modern Danish design.
Variations on his “Egg” chair,
designed in 1958, have been a
staple of homes and offices for
more than half a century. Designers, such as Tord Boontje
from Holland, are now giving
the Egg a new look with specially designed fabrics, as shown on
the Décor Extra cover. The Egg
is available both in classic colours and updated prints at Plan
B Office, (91 Parliament St., Toronto, 416-941–1010 planboffice.com), with prices starting at
about $5,300.
Jacobsen, by the way, was one
of the first designers to create a
full line of household or industrial products. He oversaw every
detail, including the look of door
handles and furniture, of the design of the Royal Hotel in Copenhagen, (now the Radission
SAS Royal Hotel), which opened
in 1960. The famous Room 606,
which has retained much of the
original furniture and cool greyblue scheme, is still rented out —
most frequently to fans of Jacobsen’s work.
Just how timeless Danish
modernism is became apparent
when an upholstered wing
chair, made in 1960 by the legendary Hans Wegner, was relaunched by Carl Hansen, a
Danish furniture maker who
collaborated with Wegner as far
back as 1949. Called the Ch445,
the reissued chair design was
shown at the International Contemporary Furniture Fair in
New York last year and was given the ICFF Editors Award for
Furniture. It, and other Wegner
chair designs, are now available
in Toronto at several stores, including Hollace Cluny (1070
Yonge St. Toronto, 416-968-
7894), where prices for the
Wegner series start at about
$6,300. For a full list of dealers,
go to carlhansen.com.
Verner Panton, who worked
The original “Egg” and “Drop” chairs (left and right), in Room
606 of the old Royal Hotel in Copenhagen. The Drop chair never
went into production and prototypes are extremely rare.
with Jacobsen, injected the
clean lines of Danish modernism with a Mod esthetic. His
whimsical Spiral lamp garnered
huge attention when it came out
in 1969. It, too, is enjoying newfound attention. Sold under the
brand name Verpan, the design
has become a hot seller at Eurolite, the exclusive distributor of
Panton’s designs in southern
Ontario (5 Lower Sherbourne
St., Suite 100, Toronto, 416-2031501, eurolite.com). A one-tier
Spiral in white sells for $1,200.
Panton’s Globe pendant lamp,
designed in 1977, has white reflectors held by steel chains. In
Toronto, it’s available at Eurolite by special order, where the
20-inch model sells for $3,200.
The current generation of
Danish designers is equally intent on creating beautiful, useful objects for the home and
houseware market. Take, for example, Lene Frantzen and Eva
Helene Rasmussen, partners in
Danish design company Zigzign. Their latest consumer offering, the Slice, marries great
design with practicality. The
Slice is 100 per cent felt wood
that has been dyed and then
rolled up and cut, or “sliced.”
The richly coloured material,
in lush shades of eye-popping
red, electric blue and tropical
yellow and green, is fashioned
into seat pads, cushions, pillows
and hot pads.
The Slice is also environmentally friendly. Its thick surface
rejects dirt, insulates, is heartresistant, muffles sound, and
can be easily wiped clean with a
damp cloth.
The Slice chair pad will be
available soon for $310 at Kiosk
(99 Jarvis St., Toronto, 416-6011661, kioskmobilia.com). All
other items can be ordered online through zigzign.com. The
price for the 15-inch table mat is
$52, not including shipping.
The Danes have always been at
the forefront of developing alternative forms of energy, including wind power, which accounts for about 10 per cent of
the country’s energy supply.
Consumer interest in high-effi-
The clean linear lines and
organic shapes of this
Georg Jensen candelabra,
and wooden cheese
board, left, are typical of
contemporary Danish
design, famous for simple
form and function. The
elegant candelabra is
brushed stainless steel
and emulates a bouquet
of flowers, with
tulip-shaped holders and
six curved stems.
ciency, wood-burning stoves is
also strong, fuelling the growth
of Danish companies such as
Rais, which has been manufacturing high-efficiency, cleanburning wood stoves since the
early ’70s.
One of the most popular models sold locally is the Rais Pina,
which can be accessorized so
that it turns 360 degrees, offering a view of the flames from any
vantage point. It sells for about
$5,000.
Rais wood stoves are available
through custom builder and furniture designer Yuill McGregor
of North on Sixty, who acts as
the Ontario representative for
the company. A list of dealers
and more product information
can be found at northonsixty.ca
or by calling 1-877-985-2458.
Great contemporary Danish
design can even be found in
Verner Panton’s
Globe pendant
lamp, designed in
1977, has white
reflectors held by
steel chains that
seem to float
inside the
transparent
acrylic globe.
kitchen cookware. Popular in
Denmark and other Nordic
countries for the past 50 years,
Scanpan is a Danish manufacturer of cookware that’s recently come to Canada. The line includes pots, pans, dutch ovens
and woks coated with a nonstick ceramic titanium, applied
through a casting method that
uses pressure of more than 250
tonnes and temperatures of up
to 20,000C.
According to its makers, that
means the aluminum bottoms
of the pans stay flat, and therefore, better heat conduction.
The Danish design touch is reflected in the clean lines, and
high-end materials. Scanpan
products are available in professional and consumer-grade options at most Sears locations,
and specialty kitchen shops.
Visit scanpan.ca. for more information.
The Design Exchange will host
“Contemporary Danish Design,”
from May 15 to June 25, a homage to
post-war design. Call 416-363-6121
or log onto dx.org for details.
Page 9
PHOTO FINISH
SUNDAY, APRIL 29, 2007HTORONTO STAR
H
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Collaborating with nature
LEE DAVIS CREAL LOOKS FOR DRAMA AND WHIMSY IN NATURE, SAYS DONNA YAWCHING
Sitting in a bright sunroom in
her Danforth home, Lee Davis
Creal is surrounded by what she
calls “nature’s art.”
Old Mother Nature may not
actually have snapped the neatly matted photographs lying on
the couch, but she is certainly
responsible for the subject matter: surreal whorls of ice, with
glistening striations, formed in
sheets along the edge of a river
in the wilderness.
“Isn’t this amazing? I was just
blown away,” exclaims Creal,
with infectious enthusiasm. “I
was just fascinated by the formations. I’d never seen anything like it.”
Creal, 61, doesn’t consider herself an artist, but she’s always
had a “strong interest” in art,
and this is not the first time her
love of nature has taken her in
artistic directions.
Her little Sony digital camera
is her constant companion. In
the past, she has done series of
photographs on frogs, sheep,
starfish and ancient Scottish
stones. “I’ve always taken photos,” she says, “whenever I’m
just caught by something.”
Most of her past efforts have
been turned into cards, or
framed for gifts; but the “ice” series is destined for bigger things
— literally.
“I’m going to be working with
them for awhile,” she says. “I
want to explore how big I can
make them. I think these could
be spectacular framed photographs.”
AARON LYNETT/TORONTO STAR
Lee Davis Creal creates her own décor with nature photography, much of it taken around Sanctuary North, a rustic holiday escape for
refugees in cottage country. Her latest project is a series of photos of ice formations during spring thaw on the lake, top.
There’s little doubt that, eventually, they will be a striking wall
adornment in her home, amidst
her already-impressive art collection.
Creal’s affinity for the natural
world is nurtured by a property
called Sanctuary North, which
she and her husband, retired
humanities professor Michael
Creal, manage on behalf of a
non-profit organization they
started six years ago.
Situated along the York River,
near Bancroft, Ont., the small
cottage on 40 hectares offers
new refugees to Canada the opportunity to “experience the
Canadian wilderness” — during
the summer, obviously.
Small groups of refugees and
volunteers from five different
refugee communities reserve
days to visit the cottage, and
help to maintain and develop it.
“It’s community-building,”
Creal explains. “It brings together people from all over the
world. They just love it. And the
food is wonderful!”
The project is run completely
by volunteers and with no government funding.
Not surprisingly, Creal follows
through with her love for natural art even in the midst of the
wilderness. She has decorated
the cottage walls with a series of
framed photographs, taken by a
friend, of the wildflowers found
in the area.
“It’s a way of educating (the
visitors) about the environment.”
She thinks homemade art is
easy to achieve these days — digital cameras offer high-quality
images, and the photographs on
the couch beside her were
printed off her home computer.
“It’s something you could definitely do yourself, with today’s
technology.”
For Creal, the crucial ingredient to this kind of art is spontaneity — an openness to the
beauty that surrounds us everywhere.
“Nature is just full of surprises,” she says. “I guess you can
create your own images, but
when you think of so much
that’s already there. . .I think if
you actually go out looking for
photographs, you don’t get
them. It just happens.
“It’s just about being alert, visually, to what’s around you.”
Frame
work
PHOTOS ARE NOW A FOCAL
POINT FOR HOME DÉCOR,
WRITES CHRISTOPHER HUME
Until 20 years ago, when artists
started trading in their paintbrushes for cameras, photography wasn’t considered art. Now
it’s the stuff of curators, critics,
collectors and dealers around
the world.
“I think it’s exciting on a number of fronts,” says one of those
dealers, Toronto’s Stephen Bulger. “The surge of activity started when contemporary artists
started using photography as a
means of delivery. But then people grew interested in other
photographers, like Diane Arbus and Robert Frank.
“After that they started to look
at work done by European experimental photographers between the two world wars. Now
the market is huge.”
Though prices for photographs can’t match those for Old
Masters, Impressionists and
Post-Impressionists, one picture, by French photographer
Henri Cartier-Bresson, sold recently for $3 million (U.S.).
In other words, photography is
hot.
But as Bulger explains, there’s
more to the printed image than
meets the eye. For example, the
same piece by, say, the late
American landscape photogra-
pher Ansel Adams, can fetch
anywhere between $60,000 and
$600,000 (U.S.).
The critical factor is the date of
the print; generally speaking,
the earlier the better. Consider
that an unlimited number of
copies can be made from one
negative, and you can see why
connoisseurs prefer vintage. “A
vintage print is a photograph
made at the same time the negative was made,” Bulger says. “A
lot of people are interested in
the very first photograph. It has
more historical significance.
Andre Kertesz’s vintage prints
sell for $1 million, prints from
the 1950s and ’60s are $80,000
and prints around 1980 are
worth about $40,000. But because of its reproducibility, you
can always buy an original.
“Vintage prints have an authenticity to them, a patina. But
if you’re just starting, or working with a lower budget, you can
still buy an original photograph.
Each is worth its price.”
And as demand grows, so does
interest in photographers who
never thought of themselves as
artists. Arbus, for example, took
pictures for books and for magazine articles, some of which she
also wrote.
These pictures, by the late Canadian photographer Richard Harrington, documented Inuit life in the 1950s. With the interest in the
printed image growing, collectors of art are giving the brush to paintings while keeping a keen focus on the photography market.
“Though vintage Arbus works
are very hard to find – and very
expensive — posthumous prints
are now being made in editions
of 75.
“It’s a much more global market place now,” Bulger continues. “When I go to art fairs, 90
per cent of the material I put on
the wall in places like New York
is Canadian. Fifteen years ago, I
would only have put up prints by
famous photographers, such as
Ansel Adams and Cartier-Bresson.
“Ed Burtynsky is everywhere
these days. He overshadows everyone else in the field right
now.
“As for Jeff Wall, whom I don’t
even consider a photographer,
demand for his work is unbelievable. There are people
around the world who think he’s
the best.”
The Vancouver-based artist,
whose elaborate tableaux are
based on historical paintings, is
currently featured in a solo exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
One of Bulger’s other favourite
Canadian photographers is
Richard Harrington. Though
not as celebrated as some, Harrington was one of a handful of
practitioners hired by the National Film Board’s Still Division to document Canada.
Bulger rightly calls him “one of
the great figures of Canadian
photography.”
When he died in 2005, he was
best known for a series of portraits he produced in the 1950s
that depicted native life in the
Canadian Arctic. The pictures,
which showed starving Inuit,
caused a national scandal. Half a
century later, they have lost
none of their power to enlighten, engage, as well as to disturb.
“He was a humanist, and also
interested in culture,” Bulger
says. “He wasn’t just a journalist
but a social documentarian.”
Bulger has organized a retrospective of Harrington’s work
that will run at his gallery, 1026
Queen St. W., from June 14 to
July 21. It will include some of
the photographer’s famous Arctic pictures, as well as others
taken in China and the Far East.
Page 10
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TORONTO STARHSUNDAY, APRIL 29, 2007
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