Whittington's Speaker Series

Last week many in the design world attended a lecture on The Psychology of Furniture for Designers hosted at Whittington & Co.with Gordon Peteran a professor at Ontario College of Art and Design and an award winning artist and scholar. Aside from the presentation we enjoyed a light lunch and had the opportunity to browse the showroom.  Tony Belbeck & Dan William, furniture designers at Whittington also joined in the conversation about designing and making exceptional furniture.

Below are some photos of their latest pieces .....

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Design Event At Toute Suite in Mississauga

Yesterday was not such a great day with all the rain we experienced but last evening turned into a great night.  The rain ceased and the fun began with a Spring Open House Event at Toute Suite Custom Decor.  Many of the public and Designers/Decorators were seen enjoying the  incredible hors d'oeuvres from Rocos Plum Tomato Catering & Restaurants which can be found on Islington Ave and The Queensway;  while viewing the great Canadian Made furnishings as well.  Toute Suite has everything including beautiful ready made drapery from Faab.   To top that off Jane Lockhart, well known and extremely talented designer was on hand to present some spring design tips and her new line Jane by Jane Lockhart which will be available at Toute Suite.  

Some of the Design Tips shared were that we will be seeing a lot of colour and pattern.  She talked about graphics, geometric, and the all time favourite stripes.  You will also see a lot of furniture with the nail head treatment, contrast piping, tufting and once again yellow metal is showing up as in brass and copper.  As for colour there is an abundance with Pantonne's Colour of the Year being Emerald Green leading the way. We also see mirrored case goods which really help to expand a space.

One can start small with the accessories to add colour to our neutral larger pieces.  White will always be popular and when you add colour and pattern it really gives it some impact.  Below I share some of the photos from last night and you will see I selected mostly grey and light neutral pieces, which I am personally fond of, but there is a myriad of colourful and patterned fabrics available to have smaller custom pieces created to work with your neutrals. If you are ready to go full out any of the pieces below and in the showroom can definitely be fabricated in a bright and colourful pattern!

As we had a chance to network, check out the newest in home decor and of course eat very well, we were also treated to live music from Angelica Ganea who has the voice of an angel.  Check her out on you tube as well.  www.youtube.com/AngelicaGanea

Wow, I would say that Toute Suite really knows how to host a party!!  Thanks to Vish and staff

  

 

I just had to add this one of a kind piece - Wow!

The View Window Fashions at SOFA

Yesterday was quite the day and being Valentines Day I had a great day.  Starting of the day was a presentation by The View Window Fashions who have 3 locations, one in Vaughan, one in Toronto and just opened another location, this time in the Marketplace at SOFA.  The view consists of three people who have been in this business for many years and they know window coverings.  They will carry Hunter Douglas www.centurianwindowfashions;  MaxxMar  www.maxxmar.com,;  Levelor www.levolor.ca and Graber graberblinds.com.
The presentation commenced with three "Men in Black"  entering and then 'one man in black' strutted his stuff.  The view provided chocolate roses and eye candy for valentines day.... and later refreshments in their kiosk.  Danny Tulino, speaker for the group presented some of the newest offerings and there are many great ways to 'Dress' your windows.  All in all a great presentation and more great knowledge.

Gotta love SOFA, www.visitsofa.com for arranging all these educational and fun events for us decorators and designers and thanks to The View for the great refreshments and to the wonderful showrooms for the way they welcome us and also the great prizes.

Thanks to Linda and Lailyn!

Bringing the world of Fashion to Furnishings presented by Whittington & Co.

We have all heard that everything in design starts on the fashion runways.  Well last week Whittington & Co. www.whittingtonfurniture.com hosted an event that really brought this alignment of fashion & furnishings to the forefront.

The evening started with wonderful food and a lot of mingling while viewing the mannequins placed throughout the space and dressed in the newest fabrics, including the new Jonathan Adler collection.  Many of the fabric reps were there and their fabrics on mannequins as well.  My first career was fashion design so being around fabric always gets my creative juices going and of course mixing fashion and interior design is just perfect.  Fashion + Design = Happy

Love these mannequins






There was a `fashion show` with models wearing various upholstery fabrics to really emphasize the point and a grand unveiling of three spectacular chairs designed by Jason Mota in collaboration with Whittington artisans which were auctioned and funds going to Peel Children`s Aid.

Looking so Mysterious, shrouded in black cloth, couldn't wait to see what was underneath

My photos do not do these creations justice, but you get the idea

 

 
By the end of the fashion show, people were taking turns posing in the chairs.

GTA West have lessons on Bathrooms....

The GTA West Chapter of CDECA visited the Watermarks Showroom, www.watermarksboutique.com in Burlington recently and got the goods on all things 'bathroom'.  Many of the representatives from the companies who supply the great products to Watermarks were on hand to give us info on what is new and coming up as well as explaining some of the 'technical' and 'functional' aspects of each product.  This is important to designers and decorators so we are knowledgeable and can offer suitable solutions for our clients.

Many thanks to everyone at the Burlington showroom

 and all the representatives who came out 

and presented such great information.

Below is just a teeny peek at all the wonderful items you can source for both kitchens & baths at Watermarks which has several locations.  Check them out if you like luxury and quality!!