Collection by Miyoko Ohtake
Made Design Shop and Gallery
Canada is known for its love of hockey and its long winters but few people know of our neighbor to the north's wealth of innovative modern designers. Enter Made. The Toronto shop and gallery features pieces that are—as the storefront suggests—"Canadian made, hand made, custom made, and well made." It's a celebration of what Canadian design is all about.
Moore and Nicholson man the shop. Before opening Made, Moore, a trained furniture designer, worked in another design shop and Nicholson, an artist whose CV includes managing galleries and curating exhibitions in addition to managing design stores, was freelancing as a floral designer. "We had been decrying the general lack of support for and visibility of worthy Canadian design works," Nicholson says. "We began collaborating with other designers, and it crystallized for us that we would have to go the extra step and create a platform for ourselves and others."
These shelves are another piece designed and fabricated by Moore for Made. On display are a red Contour Bowl by Calgary native Brad Turner; the salt and pepper sets by Sheridan College students Laura Langford, Chris Vanderwal, and Kamal Fox and Tomas Rojcik, Mark Finnigan, and Joseph Bauman; hand-rolled Porcelain Message Vases by Katherine Morley; and an Owl Lamp by Coe + Waito, a Toronto-based ceramics firm now working as a design consultancy.
Designer Barr Gilmore played on classic Canadian iconography, combining hockey sticks to create his Shinny Standard Light. Next to it sits a Drawer Console designed by Jason Wheeler. Its metal front facade is actually just that: a facade. The entire piece is made of solid wood and wood veneer with the rusted metallic look painted on. The pillows at the far left are the Doilies Cushions and Home Sweet Home pillows by Shana Anderson.