Postcard from DesignTO, Toronto

The organisers of independent design festival DesignTO could not have predicted that Toronto’s heaviest daily snowfall on record would coincide with the opening weekend of its 2026 edition. Held in the immediate aftermath of the more commercial trade fair IDS Toronto, the festival takes place in the depths of winter – when conditions are at their least hospitable – but Canadians, as we know, are a hardy bunch and, undeterred by freezing temperatures, headed out onto the streets to seek out the best of independent Canadian design. This year, Wallpaper* joined them.

With a programme of workshops, talks, exhibitions and window installations scattered across the city, a car proved essential to covering ground – and cover ground we did. What follows is a selection of highlights.

Pot-au-feu by Ensemble at The Plumb

The strongest showcase of homegrown design came courtesy of Quebec collective Ensemble and its group exhibition Pot-au-feu. Hosted by art space The Plum, the show is the third in an ongoing series bringing together emerging and established designers hailing from, or working in, Quebec, underlining the collective’s role as a conduit for new talent.

Spread across the basement space, which the team reimagined with clever scenography, works included riveted rubber upholstery, shelving and lamps by Atelier Fomenta; stools upholstered in psychedelic corduroy by Sangaré Studio; and some new independent work by Alex Joncas, co-founder of Montreal lighting brand D’armes. Called 'Sorry for your loss' the lighting series features diffusers made from blown-glass offcuts cradled within bronze frames that resemble thorny brambles.

'It's a pretty small and tight-knit creative community in Montreal,' explained the show's curator Anaïe Dufresne of Studio Jeta. 'Everyone included here is a friend, or a friend we’ve made along the way, so the curation feels very natural.'

All Light at Gallery 1065

A ten-minute drive south of The Plumb, at Gallery 1065 in Toronto’s Bloorcourt neighbourhood, was All Light, a show featuring 15 Ontario-based artists and lighting designers. Designer Kate Tessier (Kilowatt Kate), who curated the exhibition alongside Common Good Studio told Wallpaper* that the Canadian maker movement is ‘one of experimentation and audacity’. Among the highlights was 'Gathering Light', a wall lamp created by textile artist Khadija Aziz in collaboration with Tessier, made from structured linen intricately hand-stitched to create a softly glowing surface.

Tape at 8 × 7 

Toronto designer, and Wallpaper* regular, Jamie Wolfond opened up his studio and workshop for a special tour, while his adjoining gallery space, 8×7, hosted a studio-curated exhibition titled Tape, which saw nine designers experiment with the ubiquitous material. Pieces included a stained-glass lamp by Copenhagen-based Canadian designer Persia Mckinney Duncan held together with duct tape instead of solder, a kite by Dutch designer Bertjan Pot, and a series of colour studies made using washi tape by Rotterdam-based Earnest Studio.

Slow Furniture at Craft Ontario

At Craft Ontario, housed within the city’s warren-like 401 Richmond building, Eastern Ontario furniture maker Heidi Earnshaw presented an immaculately detailed collection of wooden furniture and cabinetry, recalling Japanese and Scandinavian joinery traditions.

Norm at Mjölk

Continuing this Scandinavian-Japanese thread, Danish firm Norm Architects showcased a selection of their work at Toronto design showroom Mjölk, where a Saturday talk by Norm partner Frederik Werner drew such a crowd that attendees spilled out onto the pavement. Presented in partnership with the studio’s collaborators, Japanese furniture brand Karimoku, the furniture and objects on show reflected Norm’s signature ‘soft minimalism’, with an emphasis on craft and natural materials, including carved wood, thrown stoneware and carved stone.

Ace Hotel

In the Garment District, the Shim-Sutcliffe Architects-designed Ace Hotel Toronto joined in the fun with a sultry duo of DesignTO events. The first was an exhibition by architect Quan Thai, TO.BE.LONGING: portraits of queer living, which explored ideas of home and identity. Installed within one of the hotel’s suites, redesigned by Thai using sheer curtains to redefine public and private space, the exhibition was furnished with everyday objects collected from queer communities across North America. In doing so, the exhibition positioned the hotel suite as a flexible domestic setting – a more intimate experience – shaped by adaptation and chosen family, rather than by fixed or normative ideas of home.

In the hotel’s event space, Wallpaper* Design Award-winning design substack For Scale injected a note of mischief with a nude life-drawing class featuring design classics. The sold-out event saw aspiring artists sketch male model William Miguel striking poses across various iconic furniture pieces – including a 1970s modular sofa manufactured by Overman of Sweden and a 1960s Platner lounge chair for Knoll – supplied by Toronto collectible design store In Corso. The class served as a playful exploration of the parallels between the human body and the ergonomics, curves and proportions of modern furniture – putting the body back at the centre of objects so often discussed in abstract terms.

Pressing Matters

We also enjoyed Pressing Matters, the debut exhibition from a collective of recent graduates, which emerged from a shared brief exploring compression-defined forms. Pieces included the 'Lila' lamp by Kai Luk Laughton made from spun thermoformed plastic; Mary-Beth Scully’s 'Bound' lamp made from washi paper using a process inspired by traditional bookbinding; and chairs made from bent plywood and reclaimed springs by Patrice Temush.

Tactil by Futil Studio

DesignTO listings also included window displays, ensuring the festival was accessible beyond gallery walls. One standout was Tactil by Montreal-based artist and designer Alexandre Berthiaume of Futil Studio. The four sculptural lighting pieces are produced using large-format 3D printing to generate their complex, biomorphic forms, before being finished with a thick layer of scagliola – a 17th-century Italian technique for creating imitation marble, stone and alabaster. Made from plaster, glue and natural pigments, Berthiaume has spent 18 months refining his own recipe to suit local materials and contemporary production methods.

Across the programme, exhibitors and curators noted that amid growing political tension internationally and across the border, there has been a renewed enthusiasm for Canadian design, and for Toronto as a city capable of generating its own energy, programming and community, without seeking validation from traditional design centres such as New York, Milan or Copenhagen.

‘I want to establish that Toronto is enough, you know?’ said Jamie Wolfond at his studio space. ‘The turnout was huge, people were excited – it feels like a really good year for design week.’

DesignTO runs until 1 February, 2026 designto.org