In The Workplace

This is a very special but sad week. The internship is coming to an end! I’m going to miss my time in the House & Home office. Working in this urban environment has been a dream. Check out this view from our building, for instance!

What other opportunity will ever come my way where I get to work on planning events for the Princess Margaret Lottery House, liaising with amazing designers and going to photo shoots?

Plus, visiting the best places all over Toronto for furniture and accessories…

…and watching an awesome product line come together?

As well, what other opportunity will offer encounters with the Lynda Reeves when she emerges from her beautiful office behind these doors?

The House & Home internship has offered me greater experiences than I ever could have imagined. I’ll carry with me all of the valuable lessons I’ve learned from Mark Challen, Lynda Reeves, Kirby Miller, Trish Snyder and so many other members of the H&H team. And no matter where I end up next, you know I’ll be subscribing to House & Home and visiting Houseandhome.com!

In The Loft

Saying farewell to the internship also means parting with the loft — my top-notch home for the summer. I’ll be saying goodbye to dinner parties in the city…

…and that’s because I’ll be deprived of my kitchen, outfitted with the sleekest Samsung appliances. At least I’ll still be able to whip up some great dishes using these easy to follow House & Home recipes!

I will also be parting with a space all my own, where I had the luxury of changing the look almost every week. Here’s the space in its latest state. Most things are packed up for home, but a few things are kept out for the last visitors.

In The City

To end off my week, I took a final stroll through the Harbourfront gardens, a short walk from the loft.

There was a pretty fun mix of technology and gardening. A positive spin on the phrase, “it’s like watching grass grow.”

There were also a couple more design destinations I really needed to check out before leaving the city. In a soon-to-be-trendy area in Toronto — The Junction — a neat store exists by the name of “Smash”.

They carry restored vintage fixtures and salvage materials.

One great lesson learned from working at House & Home is how important it is to bring character into your space with great investment pieces that transcend trends, and help balance old with new. Keeping up with great design isn’t hard, especially when you check House & Home’s design section as often as I do.

I thought it would be a nice finish to this design internship with a visit to the Design Exchange. It’s an educational design centre and museum that promotes the value of design through displays of historical design objects, as well as new and groundbreaking work.

I love this table by Thien Ta Trung and My Ta Trung, made of laser cut nickel-plated steel. It is such a solid piece yet the treatment is delicate at the same time. It’s all about balance.

This quilted covered shelving console by Frederic Galliot and Vincent Hauspy is really playful. If you like to sew, perhaps a tamer version of this would be something to consider for basic or bare shelves that you may own!

Design Exchange also showcases and sells some of the best Canadian designs. I loved the Totem Cups by Rob Southcott from IMM Living, pictured below. Stacking cups are taken to the next level: form and function fuse beautifully! It’s also great if you have glass-fronted kitchen cabinetry, since you’re going to want to display cool but useful objects.

Another lesson learned from Samsung Canada and House & Home is an emphasis on designs that are eco-smart. These Log Bowls by Doha Chebib for Loyalloot, for instance, are made from reclaimed trees. They demonstrate that completely natural accessories can still have a contemporary edge.

Thank you so much for keeping up with my adventures during my internship with Samsung Canada and House & Home Media. Please come back soon to see the last video posts but in the meantime you can check out a ton of inspirational videos on the House & Home site. Also be sure to visit other amazing House & Home blogs updated daily by our designers, editors, and writers. Keep up your love for design!

In The Workplace:

This was quite the design-oriented week! I spent most of my time helping to put together a product photo shoot for a spread about luxurious living. Our main stop was the very classy Teatro Verde in Yorkville.

I then had the chance to work on set with photographer Anna Sang to capture our beautiful finds.

In The Loft:

Being unable to paint the walls, wallpaper any surfaces, or hang any art in the loft, makes the space become even more of a white cube once I pull the shades down.

If I were in the loft for a longer period of time, the solution to make roller shades more exciting is to get patterns or graphics printed on them. A company named Sun Glow does this, but I’d prefer more of a wallpaper look or abstract art print.

In The City:

I managed to visit a few locations from Yorkville to the Distillery District where I came across some fun finds.

In one stores window in Yorkville I spotted this wall decoration made simply from pins and measuring tape. The possibilities are endless and it would be fun to create in a connect-the-dots sort of way.

On King St. East is a very design-forward store, Nienkamper. These fabric kites are so playful and would add interest to a high ceiling. Another do-it-yourself possibility.

Perhaps trickier to do-it-yourself is one of many Rubik’s Cube mosaics on display at Lileo in the Distillery District. This is a great use for this old toy, but it’d be impossible for me to create. I can’t solve a single cube!

Also found at Lileo is this Plexiglas side table full of plastic toy guns. This is a fun idea and it wouldn’t be too hard to make yourself, but I'd use metal or wood for the sides.

At Bergo are these clocks selling for over $100. I’d make one for myself without the stuffed animals.

Bergo is one of my favourite spots for neat finds, especially for entertaining and dining. This gravity-defying chain-link wine holder caught my eye.

In The Online World:

On the subject of fun designs, I found these online this week.

Matthew Plummer Fernandez visualized this using sound waves sent in patterns to form the shape of a chair. It probably sounded better making it than the sounds your guests would make when sitting on it. Ouch!

The skilled craftsperson could make a version of this Anthony James installation. Because of its use of two-way mirrors and lighting, the few trunks of birch end up looking like a forest.

This Daniel Rozin interactive work combines the warmth of wood and technology. Little pieces of wood angle themselves based on the image received from the viewer’s position, transferred via video camera. This is the coolest mirror ever!

Sadly my time here as an intern is dwindling down and soon loft life will come to an end as well. I’m looking forward to packing the most in into the few final days!

Photo Credits:
1. Roller shades by Sun Glow
2. Sound/chair by Matthew Plummer Fernandez
3. Birch by Anthony James
4. Wooden Mirror by Daniel Rozin

In The Workplace

Working in the creative services department, especially on the layout of my very own article coming out in October, I found myself going back and forth to the graphics department. In this area I can get a preview of upcoming issues being pieced together. It’s looking great!

Just past the graphic designers’ desks is where the House & Home product designers can be found. Here’s just one of the sample boards they have with different fabrics and colours.

In The Loft

This week I’ve managed to make quick little additions that will be fun and easy to change up as often as I like.

Simple frames with lots of matting make any artwork appear clean and sleek. These pieces were purchased from West Elm. I was surprised they had a wide variety of fun art inserts for only $7 apiece!

I always need a recipe if I'm cooking anything besides stir-fry. Using this Samsung digital frame I uploaded screen shots of online recipes. This trick stores them all in one neat display while taking up very little counter space.

In The City

Every week I try to explore a different area of the city to visit well known high-end art and design locations or to find hidden gems. This week I went down Ossington Avenue – an up-and-coming trendy destination.

In the window of a design office is this neat treatment of basic fluorescent lighting.

I thought this wire chair at OneTwentyModern was unique. It is very sculptural and it hard to notice that it was a chair.

Also at OneTwentyModern is this cabinet, whose doors were cleverly used to add graphic punch to a space.

I fell in love with this table, but at first I did not see it. It’s a big table yet its presence isn’t overwhelming. Advantage: keeping the space airy. Disadvantage: you can’t get away with feeding unwanted food to a dog under the table.

Ministry of the Interior is full of playful innovative pieces with an urban edge.

Here I found a “fruit bowl” made of sculpted fruits. Clever.

There are so many lighting fixtures available but this one I admired for the fact that it incorporated the cord into the design.

In The Online World

Art is the easiest way to make any space personal. These online finds are completely customizable and truly personal.

Rollout Custom Wallpaper not only takes a pattern, picture or photo you submit and makes it into wallpaper, but they also print custom decals.

DNA 11 processes a one-of-a-kind scientific scan artwork based on your DNA.

DNA 11 can also enlarge your fingerprint. There are many colour and size options.

Using Google maps and through a company named Fluid Forms, you can make an elevation replica of your favourite location.

With only a couple weeks left, there’s still a lot to do. More videos to record, more photo shoots to attend, more stores to explore, and of course more fun!

Photo credits:
1. Rollout Custom Wallpaper
2. DNA Portraits by DNA 11
3. Fingerprint Portraits by DNA 11
4. Earth Bowl Pinstripe by Fluid-Forms

This week was truly special. A work assignment, city exploration, loft life and searching online for neat things all blended together into one amazing project: the big loft makeover! The makeover will be featured in the October 2009 issue of the magazine and I’m counting the days until I will see it in print. Check back soon to see the video tour of the space and behind the scenes of the shoot. I hope you’ll like how I tried to integrate technology with everyday comfort. To me, innovative technologies must function flawlessly with life, without the need for stiff and avant garde rooms.

Here’s how the space came together:

I recently spent one weekend painting and taking creative photos in the loft. Art has always provided the biggest inspiration for me and so I knew this space needed to be a bit on the eclectic side while still being comfortable.

Drawing from some great shoots I’ve spotted in House & Home magazines while doing photo gallery sourcing for the web, staff designer Joel and I started piecing together the loft’s look and feel.

Walking along Queen St. West I stopped in at many galleries and unique home stores. Enlarged photos made a nice statement in this piece and I considered wall art based on closely cropped computer printouts.

This Wendy Walgate piece at the Beverly Owens Project was of inspiration because of its colours and playfulness.

Playdoh on display at the Drake Hotel General Store caught my eye as it could make a unique addition as an accessory, but perhaps too playful and not on par with the loft's polished feel.

At Style Garage this metal trough caught my eye since I loved the simplicity yet flexibility to change the objects inside – from plants to fruits to candy and to Lego.

Taking a step back, we scoped out big pieces. All the accessories would need great display surfaces. Here’s a piece we considered at Elte. We took many photos and sifted through numerous options for each piece.

I loved the architecture of this lamp at Elte and thought it would complement any artwork.

After driving to many stores in search of furniture that we’d borrow for the shoot, we focused on big statement art pieces. Renting art is an affordable way to make a big impact. There were many options at Gallery 133, including this still lift. This is where I learned that, in most cases, if an artist doesn’t sign the painting, there is freedom to have it on display in any direction, though this is mostly applicable to abstracts.

At Galerie Lausberg this Sophie Defrancesca sculpture was on display. I loved its form but also appreciated that its presence wasn’t overbearing since it was made of chicken wire. It is great for an airy and open space.

In a single day we scoped for items in many design pockets of the city that I’ve never been to. My favourite was Rosedale’s Main St. Many of the stores we visited were retailers that I had been calling to gather contact info, so it was nice to put a faces to names

Packing all our finds into a small car gave me that designer-on-the-go feeling.

Delivery day: what a task it was bringing up so many large objects in a small elevator!

Here’s a sneak peak of items we were considering for the shoot. It was interesting to learn how certain positions, arrangements and colours that work in real life, won’t read well with the camera.

It was such a new and exciting experience shooting with a frequently featured photographer in House & Home, the great Michael Graydon. His work with natural light is breathtaking, and with the loft’s huge windows, the shots were astounding!

I’m looking forward to the week ahead since I’ll get to be on set for more photo shoots!

Photo credits:
1. Fawn by Sophie Defrancesca provided by Galerie Lausberg

This was the highly anticipated week at the Canadian Samsung headquarters, where I was scheduled to work for one week. They packed a lot in and I was exhausted by the end of it, but definitely thankful I experienced life in many departments. You can get a better glimpse of the headquarters and what I did at Samsung in the upcoming video that will be posted here. As well, check out what I’ve done in previous weeks at House & Home in this video!

Here’s a brief summary in photos:

I was able to test products in the astonishing client showroom designed by Bruce Mau. It housed almost every Samsung product sold in Canada. There were sleek TVs, dishwashers, cooking ranges, video cameras, cellphones, fridges, and more!

I had the chance attend a lot of meetings. Creative briefings for ads, meetings for how to advertise in print publications, meetings for how to highlight products in flyers, and even a meeting to go over two awesome viral marketing campaigns to hit Toronto in autumn. I also had to do a big presentation of my own about an event I planned.

One of my big assignments of the week was planning a promotional party event for clients to get a sneak peak at Samsung’s upcoming induction cooking range. It’s so neat! It doesn’t have knobs and cooks using precise electromagnetic waves that transfer only to the cookware, meaning there’s no element that gets heated, just the pot or pan.

In this cubicle farm there was a lot going on. We worked on figuring out how to better position Samsung products in trade shows and to the target audience, making sure the notable designs and innovative technologies were highlighted.

In The Loft

Every week I’ve been shifting pieces around the space to see what may be more aesthetically pleasing as well as functional. I’m also preparing for the magazine photo shoot and website’s video shoot.

I pulled this sleek server out of a nook in the kitchen and it works perfectly to house the amplifier while my laptop is connected to play music.

Samsung so kindly lent me this projector and I’m working on connecting it to a digital frame to run the pictures from.

Here are two test projections, run from my computer, from when I was checking the positioning, angle, size and brightness. To achieve the rectangle-less projection like in the second projection below, use black as the image’s background.

In The City

Being so busy this week I hadn’t had much time to explore and shop downtown like in previous weeks. Upon my return to Scarborough for a day I ended up at Lowe’s. I missed the hardware store experience that cannot be found downtown. Here I found aisles of many different lighting solutions. I liked this one with the three legs:

During a lunch break while at Samsung in Mississauga, I ended up at HomeSense. I searched for items for the cubicle makeover that will be featured in the upcoming video about my experience at the headquarters. Check back to see if these will make it on my desk:

There was something appealing about this sculptural ram head. Perhaps it would help me focus if my mind drifted since it would sternly stare back at me all day.

These letters are pretty fun. I wouldn’t go spelling out any words since that’s overdone now, but I like the coloured-scrambled look.

In The Online World

After much time playing with technology this week and moving electronics around in my loft, I became interested in wires and electrical outlet solutions. Sometimes the smallest design changes make a big difference.

I’m a fan of this subtle desk detailing that helps keep wires organized. Because of its solid back, wires are hidden (and your legs won’t get tangled in them). It’s by Studio Manzano.

Here’s an interesting find by Nendo, a Japanese company. Although it doesn’t try to hide the outlet, it at least holds small things that need to be charged.

And just for fun there’s this conceptual piece. It’s a wireless surveillance camera clothes rack by the Nothing Design Group. This is a design that will make you act differently in your own space!

This was quite an eye-opening week that helped me understand how even the smallest functional and aesthetic innovations make for noticeable change, especially with technological design. I’ll be taking this knowledge back to House & Home and back to my loft. See how the loft comes together next week as we prepare it for the editorial photo shoot!

Photo Credits:
1. Console Zeta by Studio Manzano
2. Socket-Deer by Nendo
3. Big Brother Hanger by Nothing Design

In The Workplace:

Having Canada Day off didn’t make for a less busy week, it just meant more to do in less time. The highlight was taking an excursion to Oakville to see the Princess Margaret Hospital Foundation Showhouse, designed by Lynda Reeves and the H&H design team. Although it was still under construction, the space was astounding and very homely, yet luxurious. I’m not able to display any pictures until the big reveal in August, but here’s what else I’ve been up to:

Working in the Creative Services department means I get to sit in the boardroom for meetings with sales reps and advertising clients. This week I sat in on a meeting with Samsung to go over the current advertising campaign.

After visiting the Princess Margaret Hospital Showhouse, we gained a better understanding of the events we could run at the house and the unique features to highlight in the print spread we are currently doing a mock-up for.

In The Loft:

Being thrifty was the theme for the past week and here’s why:

I’ve attempted making a tabletop greenhouse using zero dollars. An upside down vase and dish from the previous owner were used. I’m hoping this branch will start to root. I wanted to buy a real plant, but nurseries are hard to come by in the city.

I was taking the recycling out to the disposal room and the neighbours were disposing of this mortar and pestle. It’s nice enough to display.

Also in the disposal room was this sleek lamp that I didn’t want to see go to waste. I recommend also going down to the compactor rooms of condos where bigger objects are disposed of. There’s a lot that can be salvaged (especially if the other residents are rich and dispose of great things!).

I purchased these lightshade globes from Value Village. I liked their simplicity and reflectivity. I also wanted spherical objects to break up the angular space. With battery operated tea lights underneath, I love the atmosphere they create.

In The City:

My afternoon at Value Village also had me come across:

A wall of stove element trays that was so tempting to buy for a project to make either a huge ceiling fixture or wall backdrop. I love the shape and sheen.

This was an odd find and it strikes me as antique, but the repatched hole in the middle of the chair is a bit gross. I’m thinking of pre-toilet days. I love looking at furniture and imaging how it could be redone.

Value Village’s many shelves of glassware and trays are always intriguing, but I always have to stop myself and realize I don’t have a use for knickknacky additions like these.

In The Online World:

We’ve all seen old electronics turned into tables or planters and it could look a bit tacky. Turning to art for inspiration, here are some interesting alternatives to open your mind. I was thinking about what old electronics can be used for since Value Village and Goodwill stores have tons sitting there collecting dust.

Old monitors, wires and computers were used to put this Sandy Smith installation together. It would look neat in a large modern loft.

Canadian art star Michel de Broin used old batteries to create this fun sculpture. It would be so unique for a coffee table.

I also must note Michel de Broin’s use of an old TV that he turned into an outdoor wood burning fireplace – a statement on how we gather around the TV much like how we used to gather around a fire.

On the topic of electronics, it will be a big change of scene in the week ahead since I’ll be at Samsung testing products and appliances, working on ad campaigns and conceptualizing for promotions!

Photo Credits:
1. Mauritian Sunset by Sandy Smith at the Embassy Gallery, Edinburgh
2. Dead Star by Michel de Broin
3. Late Program by Michel de Broin